Introduction to Adventures of the Dragon Boat Festival 2022
The performance tells the multiple origins of the Dragon Boat Festival by expanding from the run-of-the-mill commemoration of Qu Yuan to the knowledge about astrology and solar terms.
1.Dance: Songs Collected Around the Capital — One Day When I See Her Not
It’s a women’s group dance inspired by The Creeping Grass, Songs Collected in Zheng, The Book of Songs. It describes a young boy coming across a young girl on a country road at dawn. They fall in love with each other as the seed of romance inevitably takes root in their joyful hearts.
Featuring an enjoyable melody and graceful movements and postures, the show fully embodies the beauty of Chinese women in a classical dance.
2.Dance: Ever-Vigorous，Ever-Improving
Dragon in the Sky -“The marvelous Tour of Dragon Boat Festival 2022”It’s a men’s group dance. Taking drum beats as the major musical element, the dance recreates the ceremonial ritual of the Dragon Boat Festival to demonstrate the masculinity and vigor of men and draws a picture of peace and harmony in the Dragon Boat Festival.
3.Song: Green Wormwood
Featuring an energetic and rhythmic melody, the song sings about traditional Chinese herb in a youthful and cheerful tone. By giving layers and meaning to the sweet and sour of daily life, the song tugs at the heartstrings of the audience with a storytelling narrative and heartwarming sentiments. Starting with the fragrance of wormwood, the song cleverly weaves the elements of the Dragon Boat Festival into its fabric, paying homage to the traditional Chinese herbal medicines and praying for the well-being of the Chinese people.
4.Peking Opera: Crossroads
As a Chinese drama, the Crossroads is one of the most classic martial plays of Peking Opera with distinctive artistic characteristics. Peking opera artists leverage the theatrical features of virtual performing art, and present the scene of a fight in the darkness through their agile movements. This extremely entertaining program, transcending the barriers of language and singing tune, lures the audience at home and abroad into its unique world of artistry.
5.Song: Mount Dingjun
As an original song, it was sung by the famous singer Tu Honggang, written by the widely-known lyricist Chen Tao, whose masterpieces include Farewell to My Concubine and Repay the Country with Supreme Loyalty, and Qian Lei, a composer who has produced a torrent of music works such as Big Fish and Lonely Warrior. The song also draws inspiration from the classic singing tune of the Peking Opera Mount Dingjun of the Tan School. The program paints a vivid picture of the Three Kingdoms period and applauds loyalty and righteousness, bringing the embodiment of patriotism to the next level.
6.Free talk: How Romantic Are the Chinese People
On this very day of the Dragon Boat Festival, Yi Gongzi comes to Henan and dives into the inner world of Qu Yuan across space and time when surrounded by fragrant herbs and orange trees. Starting with the analogy between orange trees and humanity, Yi Gongzi and Qu Yuan “converse” with each other about the sky, the earth, the people, the grass and trees, and deities, and even the universe on a spiritual level.
The program departs from the run-of-the-mill emphasis on Qu’s patriotism, and turns to explore the romantic embodiment of ideal and truth in his inner world. Yi Gongzi then bridges Qu’s wisdom and the romantic view of Chinese about the world and nature, in a bid to kindle collective empathy through historical and cultural narratives. The program applies AR effects and the story-telling style of Yi Gongzi to help communicate the romantic aesthetics of the Chinese people.
7.Song: Qu Yuan’s Song
This original song, inspired by Qu Yuan’s poems, was created by the popular young Chinese singer Cai Chengyu and first-ranking Chinese songwriters. The song symbolizes people’s commemoration of Qu on the festival and their respect for his profound and unswerving patriotism and his unyielding pursuit of truth.
