On September 25th, the world premiere of Yu Xiuhua's Poetry and Dance Theater's "10,000 Tons of Moonlight" was officially released at Shanghai Young Theater. This is the first cross-border dance work of the well-known contemporary female poet Yu Xiuhua, starting from Yu Xiuhua's poetry, integrating poetry, dance and visual design and other artistic languages, a healing and full of vitality of the cross-border work was born.
From November 15th to 17th this year, "10,000 Tons of Moonlight" will be officially unveiled at the Shanghai Young Theater, completing its world premiere in the "2024 Autumn is the International Theater Season".
People should improve their own cultivation, not think about what the audience thinks
As one of the most well-known and influential poets of contemporary China, Yu Xiuhua's life is full of drama. Due to her disability, she could not go to college or work, so she had to enter into a marriage arranged by her family early, and poetry became her only outlet for life. In 2014, Yu Xiuhua's poetry works unexpectedly became popular after being published by "Poetry Magazine", causing widespread attention; In 2015, the poetry collection "Moonlight Falls on My Left Hand" sold more than 400,000 copies, breaking the sales record of Chinese poetry in the past 20 years.
At the press conference of "Hit your fist on the sharp edge of life, you can catch it, and the mountains are full ......of fallen leaves" At the press conference, Yu Xiuhua recited her poem "Early Autumn" on the spot. People were amazed by her talent and wondered why she had the courage to challenge the stage.
Yu Xiuhua has a poetic answer to this question - "Poetry is like a pair of wings, helping me to fly to the unpredictable vast world." I know another version of me that has been dormant in the shadows, ready to step up at any moment. When poetry meets the body again, I long to see how this journey of imagination will unfold on stage. ”
There is also an answer that is by no means internal friction - "It takes a lot of courage to do anything in front of the public." Whether it's dancing or writing, it doesn't seem to objectively bring anything more to people. If I make a mistake, the audience won't find out. Whether the poems I write are good or not, whether others read them or not, has little to do with me. People should constantly improve their cultivation, instead of thinking about what the audience thinks of you. "Ten Thousand Tons of Moonlight" is a project of director Farouk, and whether the result is good or not has little to do with me, and I don't have much psychological burden. ”
For Yu Xiuhua, who walks in this world every day due to physical limitations, standing and walking for a long time requires great strength, and dancing seems to have become a difficult task. She needs to train her limbs from a "negative" foundation, overcoming physical obstacles over and over again every day, and trying to achieve a movement display that a dancer should achieve.
"I always feel small, so I never try to bring something to the audience, but when I dance, I still try to do everything I can." Yu Xiuhua recalled the experience of crying during rehearsals in the past. Hu Tao, the agent who witnessed Yu Xiuhua's transformation process in the creation of the row, said: "Yu Xiuhua has no baggage and has been exploring the boundaries of various possibilities. At first, I was a little apprehensive about the project, but when I saw her staggering on stage against her own limitations, I believed that every audience member could not ignore her presence. ”
People living in the "shadows" should embrace vulnerability
"10,000 Tons of Moonlight" is directed by internationally renowned dance producer Farouk · Chaudhry, with choreographers and dancers Dong Jilan and Li Kehua, film and television drama actor Tian Chaudhry, Fengling Productions, Peacock Contemporary Dance Company and other artistic teams participating.
"Ten Thousand Tons of Moonlight" is a poem, which incorporates Yu Xiuhua's small and beautiful poems in addition to dance, which will serve as the textual basis for the dance, and in this performance, it explores how people living in "shadows" can embrace vulnerability and reconcile with themselves. In the performance of "10,000 tons of moonlight", 7 poems by Yu Xiuhua will be presented in a variety of ways, 3 of which she specially created for this play, and the title of "10,000 tons of moonlight" comes from one of the poems - "Determination". "My 10,000-ton moonlight has sunk to the bottom of the sea, but it's not enough; Before you, I have written a thousand love letters, how can these be enough? ”
Powerful choreography, artistic dynamic subtitles, and lighting design are all used to interpret the rhythm and imagery of Yu Xiuhua's poetry, creating a new perspective on the content of her poetry. During the performance, Yu Xiuhua will take the stage with two professional dancers and "read" beautiful poems with dance. The proximity and confrontation between the two dancers symbolizes the pull and collision of light and darkness in Yu Xiuhua's heart, leading the audience to explore the vitality blooming in Yu Xiuhua and the contradiction and duality that everyone has.
"I am of Pakistani descent living in the United Kingdom, an immigrant status, and Yu Xiuhua is a physically disabled woman living in rural China, in fact, we all live in some kind of 'shadow', which is what we all have in common. Therefore, the shadow becomes a very important part of the stage presentation of this work. Director Farouk · Chowdhury explained the original intention of the work through live connection.
Farouk said: "'Ten Thousand Moons' is a new attempt, and humor has given us a lot of strength in the creative process, and it has also allowed us to keep an open mind and rich imagination. We've had a couple of performances in London, Newcastle and many other cities, and a lot of young audiences have a lot of strong resonance with the work, and we think it's important to resonate with it. ”
The program director of YOUNG Theatre added that "10,000 Tons of Moonlight" is a special work, and its core and presentation form are highly consistent with the concept of "Autumn is an International Theater Season", and hopes that the audience can follow Yu Xiuhua's footsteps and feel poetry, gain courage and find a way to embrace themselves in this dynamic, cutting-edge and diverse work.
Text丨Reporter He Jing Pictures丨Provided by the organizer