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Peking opera actor Zhang Wanting, wearing a red and white warrior costume, stood with one foot on the narrow handle of the mahogany chair. She leaned forward, raised her other leg high, grabbed the two long pheasant feathers on her helmet, and assumed the flying posture of a swallow.
In Beijing’s modern theater, more than 100 audience members burst into cheers and applause.
It’s a Sunday afternoon in early September, and Zhang Zheng is starring in “The Masked Heroine,” a signature play of the Song School of Peking Opera, which was founded in the early 20th century as part of the Song School of Peking Opera. Chinese A centuries-old tradition. It’s the 30-year-old actress’ first time playing the role in a major production, and the culmination of more than a decade of hard work since she was a child.
“Ever since I first learned the play,” she said, “I’ve always dreamed of performing it in its entirety.”
The dazzling chair trick it took a decade to master
grew up in northern China Hebei Ms. Zhang first came into contact with Peking Opera when she was 7 years old, when she saw children practicing at the cultural center. Fascinated, she joined them and soon realized she had the talent and determination to pursue art professionally. After primary school, Zhang left home and went to a drama school in eastern China. Jiangsu Province.
Most Peking Opera performers—its name comes from the now-obsolete saying that Beijing English ——Start training from an early age to lay the foundation for good physical strength and flexibility. This repetitive exercise process soaked participants in “sweat and tears.”
The chair posture requires balancing on one leg, arching back, and extending the arm forward while remaining absolutely still. It is derived from a basic skill in Peking Opera called “tanhai”, which literally means “staring at the sea,” and which most performers learn at the beginning of their careers. This technique originated from Chinese martial arts and requires extreme balance, flexibility and control.
At drama school, Zhang starts training at 5 a.m. every day. “After every session, I would lie on the floor crying,” she recalls.
During the training at the school, Teacher Zhang came into contact with the Song Dynasty drama for the first time and was fascinated by it. In 2015, while in college, Zhang finally had the opportunity to study with Peking opera artist Song Danju, the daughter of the founder of the Song School. While Peking Opera troupes have traditionally favored characters such as Tsing Yi as protagonists, the Song School has brought martial arts characters to center stage with its creative movements and fresher performance styles.
The chair play is a unique skill of the Song family. Zhang’s teacher inherited it from her father and revived it by incorporating martial arts and acrobatic moves learned from northwest Chinese folk opera performers. This series of actions includes jumping over the chair frame in one breath, standing on the handle of the chair with one leg, rotating the chair with the palm of the hand, hooking the chair leg with the instep and jumping forward, etc.
Although Zhang has a good foundation in skills such as sea exploration, incorporating them into chair techniques is “another level,” she said.
“The first thing I had to overcome was my fear,” she said.
Zhang spent an entire semester repeatedly standing on the handles of a chair that was about 3 inches (8.5 centimeters) wide and more than 2 feet (70 centimeters) off the ground, just to overcome her fear and master her balance. “I carry a chair everywhere and practice every chance I get,” she said.
Each move can take several months to practice. For jumping movements, Teacher Zhang set a goal of jumping about 50 times a day in the narrow space of the back of the chair. By the end of the day, her muscles were shaking and her thighs were covered in bruises.
But the practice continues. At that moment, Zhang knew she had broken through. “The moment standing on the chair stops feeling so strenuous, that’s when I know I’m really making progress.”
Young actors continue to convey the charm of Peking Opera
Throughout much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Peking Opera had developed into a popular form of urban entertainment. However, its roots can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty, when the performance was closely associated with the imperial court in Beijing. Forbidden City.
Today, the art form faces fierce competition from digital entertainment and modern performing arts, and some fear it may lose its appeal. Yet a growing number of young Peking opera artists like Zhang continue to spend years perfecting their demanding techniques, and they hope to appeal to today’s audiences.
Yang Hecheng, 26, is a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy and came to see Zhang perform in September. “This was the first time I had seen the complete production and chair sequence,” he said, “and what attracted me most was the beauty and spirit of the performers’ skills on stage.”
In “The Masked Heroine”, Zhang Yimou plays Wan Xiangyou, a chivalrous woman who fights against injustice and protects the weak. She left her family and became a militia leader in ancient China. In a confrontation scene, Zhang strikes a sea pose on a chair handle while interrogating a male character. Zhang believes that the trick’s coherent integration with the dramatic plot makes it attractive to audiences.
“We have a classic saying: ‘A play without skill is not exciting; a play without emotion is not touching’,” she explained.
Zhang is now a professional actor with the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe, one of China’s top Peking Opera troupes, performing more than 150 performances in nine years. Every production requires learning new stunts, or perfecting old ones to perfection.
Zhang said improving her Peking Opera skills remains her lifelong pursuit. “I just want to make progress one step at a time and perform every show to the best of my ability,” she said. “The most rewarding moment is when the performance is over and the audience applauds.”
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Researcher Chen Shihuan in Beijing contributed to this report.