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Nine Songs is a poetic dance drama produced by the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. Based on QU Yuan’s Nine Songs, the drama depicts a stage picture of heaven, earth, man and god, drawn in four pairs of old dualistic gods - the God of the Sun and the God of Cloud, the Goddess of the Mountain and the God of the River, the Lord of River Xiang and the Lady of River Xiang, the Great Lord of Fate and the Young Goddess of Fate. Directed by HU Yang, a young dancer, in cooperation with accomplished creative artists, the drama portrays gods in dance to eulogise the human virtue, spirit and emotion. The traditional beauty is thus interpreted in a contemporary context to purify the mind from an Oriental philosophical perspective.
The drama consists of ancient verses in several chapters, and it’s also a new poem. Freedom and vacillation, longing and waiting, love and life - those profound yet common themes, or attractive and meaningful emotions, will all be narrated vividly in this never-ending hymn and go up to loftiness together in this dancing poem.
Nine Songs is a hymn to the gods, to you and me, to remote antiquity, to today, to life and to romantic love. The hymn will go on forever because benevolence is never gone.
Director: HU Yang
Literary Planner: ZHANG Ping
Composers: YANG Fan, ZHANG Yixin, CHEN Yihan
Executive Director: ZHANG Xiaochuan
Guest Choreographer: GENG Zibo
Guest Composer: FENG Mantian
Set Designer: LIU Xinglin
Lighting Designer: XIAO Lihe
Costume Designer: YANG Donglin
Hair Style Designer: JIA Lei
Sound Designer: SHEN Tian
Music Production
Cellist: ZHANG Ping
Female Vocalists: YU Rui, ZHAO Jiayi
Guqin Artist: PENG Mingjun
Rhyming Speaker in Kunqu Opera: SHI Xiaming
The music for the duo dance in the chapter Mountains and Rivers is from Oiseau de Peng.
Organiser: Beijing Tianqiao Shengshi Theatre Management Co., Ltd.
Sponsor: Beijing Culture and Arts Fund
Special Thanks to
China National Opera and Dance Drama Theatre
China Oriental Performing Arts Group
Youth Dance Troupe of Beijing Dance Academy
Beijing Normal University
Presenter: Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center Management Co., Ltd.
Co-Presenters:
Beijing Dance Drama & Opera
Beijing Zhongyan Dushi Theater Management Co., Ltd.
Beijing Yunshangtianmu Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Producer: Beijing Yunshangtianmu Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
Performed by Beijing Dance Drama & Opera
Preface
I’m the only person in the world
to stay spiritually attached to heaven and earth
Chapter I The Sun and the Moon
To the God of the Sun
You come from the east with warm and bright light
Your dragon chariot rumbles like thunder
Around you are gods in great number
—Ginormous and eternally bright, but humble and restrained at heart
To the God of Cloud
So bright as the sun and the moon
you have befallen the world
You’re travelling through the sky, visible everywhere
—Altruistic, indifferent to fame and wealth, shiny but not dazzling, having sympathy for others
Chapter II Mountains and Rivers
To the Goddess of the Mountain
You stand alone on the high peak
with clouds and mists floating beneath your feet
The wind is soughing through trees, blowing off leaves
—Standing high in cold air, the goddess only has her shadow as the companion
To the God of the River
A storm blows up, lashing the river into waves
You go up Mount Kunlun, looking in all directions
with your mind flying over the mighty Yellow River
—The god stays humble in peace and keeps his chin up in adversity, so carefree
Chapter III The Body and the Shadow
To the Lord of River Xiang
She misses you very much, with tears running down her cheeks
Her longing for you makes her sad and miserable
She hopes you will come to her, but you don’t
—Beautiful clouds and bright stars cannot speak for a lovesick heart, while ruthless winds and rains enjoy torturing the lovestruck
To the Lady of River Xiang
Gazing into the distance, he feels melancholy
He makes an appointment with you to set up an altar at dusk
He misses you, but he doesn’t dare to tell you
—Beautiful clouds and bright stars cannot speak for a lovesick heart, while ruthless winds and rains enjoy torturing the lovestruck
Chapter IV Vicissitudes
To the Great Lord of Fate
There are two opposing principles in nature
Everybody has his or her own destiny
Who is the master of human life and able to cause people to reunite or part with each other
—Life and death come in their turn, and they are inscrutable yet unavoidable
Epilogue
We have been here before and will be gone
We have a longing for somebody in our memory
Everything comes full circle
and finally returns to one
We have gods in our hearts
because we are emotionally attached to the universe
Beijing Dance Drama & Opera
Founded in 1978, the Beijing Dance Drama & Opera, formerly known as
the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe, which was restructured into the Beijing Dance Drama & Opera Co., Ltd. in 2004, is one of the nine art troupes affiliated with the Beijing Performance & Arts Troupe and the only professional song and dance troupe to be based in Beijing.
In recent years, the Beijing Dance Drama & Opera has produced a number of endearing popular classics with the NCPA, including
The Railway to Tibet, a large-scale dance drama that won the “16
th Wenhua Award” and
Excellent Production Award, large-scale musical commissions
The Count of Monte Cristo,
On the Road, A Dream Is True and
Ideal City, dance dramas
Old Summer Palace,
Great Wall of the Silk Road and
28 Days, modern music and dance theatre
Qingpingle·Daduyin, physical drama
Tears, painterly song and dance drama
Our Beijing, symphonic song suite
Ode to Beijing, song and dance performance
Fancy Dance & Flying Songs, etc. In 2022, the large-scale dance drama commission
Five Stars Shine Upon the East won the 17
th Wenhua Award and the “Five-One Project” Award for the 16
th Session of Spiritual Civilization Construction. Its excellent creatives and outstanding artists have won numerous awards in various competitions. The Beijing Dance Drama & Opera is home to well-known actors including Ayanga, WANG Erni, YUN Fei, JI Minjia, WU Chunyan, ZHOU Xuan, ZHOU Peng, WANG Lifei, LUO Wenbo, WANG Jinge, and distinguishied creators including HE Xiaobin, KANG Zhuqing, WANG Zhenbing, YANG Yi, HUANG Yunsong, etc. Often invited to attend and organise various large-scale activities both at home and abroad such as performances for cultural exchange and commercial shows, the Beijing Dance Drama & Opera has been to more than 30 countries and regions in the world.
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*The cast, programme, or other performance details are subject to change and shall be based on the live performance. In the event of major adjustments - such as changes to the performance date or lead cast - please refer to the official announcements issued by the NCPA and follow the relevant procedures as instructed.
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