Live performance 2–Zhuoya li
I watched a ballet performance by The Royal Danish Ballet at the National Center for the Performing Arts. This center is probably the best performing stage in whole China or even Asia. After taking elevator to get to the third floor of the hall, I finally sit on my seat and prepare to enjoy the Ballet.
When the time comes, lights are gradually dimmed and symphony begins. The music is so good that I thought hearing the symphony itself is worth the price of the ballet. I sit there listen closely to all of the syllables that come to my ears, hoping to grab all of them and forever store them in my mind. After a passionate performance, my mind has been fully aroused and cannot wait for the ballet to begin.
The first part of the performance is like a melodrama. There is a background of a street, and actors are all dressed up like normal people. They could not speak for sure, so they must use their exaggerated gestures and facial expressions to tell the story to the audience. It is not easy, especially when actors and actresses have to integrate ballet performing into storytelling and do the two things equally good. They did it. I can fully understand what the story is, because the gesture they use to represent verbs is so obvious that no one needs a second guessing. Besides a clear and funny story, there is the essence of the performance—ballet.
There are two kinds of performance. One is solo or only a few people dancing around. The other is a whole group of people dancing together. For the first one, it is only for those people who can do incredible things to get applause immediately from the audience. I remember clearly that there are two people who can jump up and spin several laps before hitting the ground again. More importantly, he can jump again and spin and jump and spin as if he is a gyro. This earns huge applause from the audience even though the music is still on. I have to exclaim that how hard they have to work and how long they have to persist before they can perform with this kind of strength and skill. I am a basketball fan and I love the beauty of physical strength and dexterity it emits. I can enjoy the same kind of beauty that ballet emits for me because they are not that different.
Another way of performing is about twenty dancers performing at the same time. It requires cooperation and precision at the same time. When they are all doing the same movement, they have to be precise in what they are doing, so that it can make the best visual gratification for the audience. As for the actors cooperate to do make a performance, they have to know what they should be doing and make no mistakes.
If they had made any error, it might turn from a personal mistake to a group’s blunder.
Also I want to say something about the behavior of the audience. I am glad to see that people of all ages and backgrounds are coming to see a ballet, it is a progress for the Chinese society. But it also brings the problem of people’s inappropriate behavior. A few people use flashlight when they try to take photos, which is very annoying. Other than that, I am happy that we are accessible to so many great performances at the center of Beijing. The price is only about fifteen dollars for the cheapest seats. I have already planned to go to some live performance every weekend. Thanks for this Theatre class. If it is not this class, I would not have noticed and thereby loved to watch performances around me.
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