French writer Gide said: "Reading Dostoevsky is a lifelong event." Russian Aveman Ballet brought brothers karamazov to the 3rd China International Ballet Performance Season, which is a great event for the literary youth, opera fans and dance fans in Beijing.
Efman, who makes drama ballet into "contemporary"
Since 1980s and 1990s, Boris Efman has achieved the status of a world-class choreographer with his fiery psychological rendering. St Petersburg Aifman Ballet is also unique because of its "high altitude", high value and high ability in casting. It is precisely because of the excellence of the Evmanba Troupe, especially the joint efforts of choreography and performance, that Russian contemporary ballet quickly leaps to the forefront of the world, which not only contributes to the revival of Russian ballet culture on the world stage, but also represents a kind of "rebirth" of ballet.
There is a peak of literature or drama, but are you afraid that you can’t dance on the plateau of ballet? Of course not. For hundreds of years, although the development of ballet has something to do with the development of drama, it can’t be copied. Just as opera ballet in 18th century can’t copy the principle of "three unifications" of drama, the decline of Soviet drama ballet in 20th century is due to the mechanical application of "stanislavski’s drama system". One-sided pursuit of the story, ignoring the role of music and dance itself, no matter how vivid and true the "experiential school" pantomime is, it can only make the road of ballet more and more mediocre, and make the promising drama ballet become a pantomime ballet that "forbeares not to talk" and eventually end in the road. However, the concept of "psychological realism" in creation and performance is a feature of Soviet drama ballet, and the combination of actors and roles is also a magic weapon that Afman inherited. Therefore, in "brothers karamazov", Maria Abashova, the imperial heroine of Evman, bid farewell to the elegant and lonely Anna, and lived in the role of the integration of spirit and body in Glosinka, which makes people sigh, and the contrast is great! Of course, psychological ballet is also the credit of Russian psychological drama, which plays down the external plot and takes the inner world of the protagonist as the main performance space, so that the soul can stimulate a sharp edge in the collision.
Aifman inherited the exquisite tradition left by the predecessors and realized a thorough transformation. It is also quite important: Iveman turned the power of Russian classic literature into his own style — — Of course, there are also "ancestors" to explore the road. Just when the Soviet Union gave up drama ballet and found another way to create "symphonic ballet", the "modernity" in Russian literature ignited the inspiration of German drama ballet in the 1960s, among which the most famous masterpiece was the dance drama of the same name adapted from yevgeni onegin, the foundation work of Russian critical realism literature. The cooperation of duet, solo, four-person dance and group dance made ballet a wonderful combination of psychology, ideas, emotions and staged drama.
In the contemporary ballet stage, "expressing the human soul through dance", not just "telling a story by dance", has become the common aspiration of many outstanding contemporary dance masters. Both "human" and "soul" are key words that can not be ignored. It emphasizes the possibility of exploring human commonality and individual particularity with body language and realizing the work across time and space. Different from many European choreographers’ post-modern expansion of the classic "using the title to play", Evman still uses Russian literature as the medium to bring drama ballet into the "contemporary" field of vision. In the face of classics, Chinese accepted the re-creation of "respecting the original", not to mention Russian literature and Soviet literature, which once accompanied a generation of young people. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Evman’s psychological ballet is gradually widely accepted in China.
Evman created the polyphonic ballet.
In the dance world of Evman, ballet is still beautiful, but the focus is not on beauty, because ballet has become a means for the role and audience to meditate together. If in many modern drama ballets, you can still tell the difference between performance dance and emotional dance, and you can also find dancing pantomime in it, then in brothers karamazov, not only the beautiful "plug-in" dance segments are excluded from the drama structure, but also the pantomime actions that generally explain the nature are avoided as far as possible, and the design materials of actions and gestures are basically abstract, leaving only essential dramas such as kissing, fighting and throwing money. The "psychological ballet" pursued by Evman is to find "a body language that can express the spiritual life of human beings", and the most attractive feature of Tuo’s novels is his philosophical exploration of the dark and profound mind.
Structure determines the success or failure of contemporary dance drama. The ballet version of "brothers karamazov" did not show the disastrous events that followed, nor did it rely on the ups and downs of the plot, but grasped the key plot line of "lust struggle". Therefore, the four fathers and sons and Grushenka, who is an angel and a devil, are the heroes of the play. As for the two dead wives of old Carla Matsov and the real murderer in the novel — — Another illegitimate child, as well as the eldest brother Dmitry’s fiancee, monastery elders and other roles have been hidden. Aifman is not just recreating a criminal investigation story of "killing his father" on the stage. He needs to think about how the main characters on the stage make this story happen, for example, he can’t "mime" the process of killing his father, or build a scene of court trial … … But let the story happen in the interweaving and conflict of ideas. In fact, we don’t know who the real murderer is, because the killing scene in the ballet is an abstract expression, and everyone is involved in it, and it is impossible to escape the guilt of "conspiracy". The cleverness of Efman is reflected here. Everyone in the play is suffering from complex and intense psychological torture. Like Tuo’s novels, the idea of the protagonist in the dance drama must also be the idea of the protagonist’s thoughts, and the setting of the relationship between the characters must also be reflected in the interweaving of thoughts.
We might as well use Bakhtin’s "polyphony" orientation to describe this dance drama — — Brothers karamazov is like a polyphonic ballet. In other words, there are no male and female leading actors in the drama, and the "spiritual world" of the protagonists is not completely controlled by the director. They are all independent individuals, and they are in contact with each other in the "dialogue". It’s just that the ideological duality of all the protagonists is not fully displayed in the dance drama. For example, Dmitry is simplified as a young man who falls in love with a romantic woman. Because of the lust struggle with his father, he becomes the biggest suspect in the "father-killing" incident and suffers a lot. Alesha, the youngest son, is the first hero to appear in the dance drama and the last curtain call. He is a devout believer, but he was once caught in a crisis of faith and was tempted by Grushenka. Later, Alesha’s heart fought fiercely, and his group dance with his multiple avatars showed us the cracks in his heart. But Efman did not show the reason why Alesha was caught in the crisis of faith.
Unlike anna karenine and Rodin, which Iveman brought twice before, love is no longer the core theme of the ballet version of brothers karamazov, but it is also an indispensable episode. Moreover, in this male-dominated dance drama, the actress’s scenes are often the highlights. Grushenka loves money more than men, and the only heroine is also the key to stirring up the tragedy. However, her greatest charm is not the romantic sex appeal that fascinates men, but her self-reflection. Therefore, in the second act, Efman made her dressed as a plain clothes bribe the prison guards, and danced a "behind bars duet" with Dmitry in desperation. The sincere love overflowed from the gestures, which was touching, which was in sharp contrast with the image of her flirtatious trampling on Dmitry and Alesha in the first act.
Before the performance, the only thing I am sure of is that this work must be more than just a dance drama with a pair dance of love to express its expression. Sure enough, father-son duet, four-person dance, brother solo dance, two-person dance and three-person dance made the upheaval special. The connection between dance segments often happens inadvertently, which shows that Aifman has made dramatic arrangements for the undulating internal structure of a piece of music — — The music continues, but the dance space has moved. Alienated father-son affection, fraternal affection, death, suffering, meaning of existence, fighting between good and evil, morality and religion … … In the uninterrupted dance space, they are twisted together, forming a big net of human self-test. Sometimes it makes people’s emotional, and sometimes it makes people hold their breath.
The ingenuity of music, lighting and dancing.
Crazy and wanton old Carla Matsov came in a trailer and was dragged by several prostitutes, which broke the silence of the three brothers shrouded in spiritual hymns. The music invaded so overbearingly, indicating that Iveman was "abnormal" in music setting this time. In the first act, the gorgeous Glossinka appeared with the folk songs of Tzgang style, and the manic and exaggerated brass instruments happened to be a portrayal of my father’s indulgence in life. At the end of the second act, when the music was suspended, Alesha returned to vulgarity among the people. The ethereal soprano singing in the play seems to come from the depths of the souls of three sons. In terms of music structure, this dance drama is often accompanied by such a sudden change in painting style. Although the styles of Wagner, Musorgskiy and Rachmaninov are "incoherent", they just show such a split and complicated family atmosphere. Similarly, the lighting of the dance drama is unpredictable, and the light and shade change quietly, and the scene of wanton dancing instantly evolves into a son’s monologue, or separates the different spiritual worlds of the protagonists.
The stage design of Efman’s works is simple and full of multiple symbolic meanings. A covered bridge, which is set up by the spiral staircase leading to the cross, is sometimes a romantic place for feasting and sometimes a big iron frame like a prison; The big net stretched out from Alesha’s body, the rope that tied Dmitry in the air and the child’s "skipping rope" went to his father’s hand, but it became a whip to Ivan, the pistol that split Ivan’s personality … … Are permeated with a burst of coolness. There is also a long table with erotic drama, which is also an important connection between father and son, and eventually becomes the only witness of the murder case, which makes people feel scared.
Literature gives dance power.
Of course, Efman is more interested in why this story happened. Although this deformed story of "coupled family" caused by social transformation is extremely special, the thinking of the characters in the play is also a problem faced by modern human beings. The dialogue between God and soul, which seems to be detached from the plot, actually influences the behavior of the characters.
In the ballet, except that Alesha is dressed in a black and white robe of a monk, Dmitry and Ivan are dressed like two contemporary youths. On the whole, the images of Ivan and Alesha are full, especially Ivan. What impressed people was several duets between Ivan and his brother. In the first act, he first had a spiritual "conversation" with Alesha. It was a "men’s duet" in which three people danced, and the one who was more was the incarnation of a holy angel. Paradoxically, the ugly old father even spared the "angel". Later, his duet with Dmitry began Ivan’s "dialogue" mode.
In the second act, the duet and group dance of Ivan and Alesha are intertwined, and the voice-over becomes an important element. Those group dancers dressed in prison uniforms repeated Ivan’s mechanical movements and surrounded him completely. Although the body texture of the "prisoners" became soft and comfortable by accident because of Alesha’s inspiration, Ivan resolutely dominated the dialogue between them in terms of physical relationship, just like the "religious judge" in the original novel talking to the silent Jesus. Bread or freedom? In the face of Ivan’s strength, Alesha just silently kissed Ivan on the forehead, but it has the power to moisten things silently. Contrary to many male dancers, Fisher, the actor who plays Alesha, is not a tall and powerful dancer, but more convincing. Perhaps it was this kiss that made Ivan after him re-examine himself. He continued to manipulate the "prisoners" who lost their freedom and repeated forceful actions, but the occasional tremor was very obvious, and finally he stumbled and fell. On the analysis of Ivan’s heart, Evman kept the most discussed and famous literary fragment in the book. The strength of this dance comes more from the literature itself. I wonder if this is a pity or a blessing?
There is another scene in the play that is meaningful. Dostoevsky once deliberately emphasized the beauty of children’s hearts in his novels. In the first scene, an innocent girl plays a skipping game, but can these simple beauties really stop evil? What is terrible is that this rope that brings happiness turned out to be a whip waving on Ivan. Ivan’s mind has the creed of "doing nothing with evil", and his "duet" is his dialogue with demons. Due to the absence of the illegitimate child, the dance drama did not clearly show who was the real murderer, and this "duet" pointed the murderer at a doppelganger of Ivan. In any case, he could not escape the guilt of instigation and incitement.
Finally, the three brothers who warmed each other with love and Gloucesinka reached the same goal by different routes, and they all went to the road of self-salvation and approached the spiraling cross one after another. These miserable souls are willing to tear the wound open for us to see, even though the fester is still bleeding and pus, they still have to expose Lu Xun’s so-called "true whiteness hidden under that evil" … … Dialogue with Ivan is the key to Alesha’s spiritual transformation. In redemption, love and goodness are eternal. But the whole viewing process is full of confusion, circuitous and anguish. I think, Iveman succeeded.
