身體書寫傳統與當代之美—《紫玉成煙》Using the Body to Express Tradition and Contemporary Beauty – Waiting Heart

專訪香港舞蹈團藝術總監楊雲濤及桃花源粵劇工作舍營運及創作總監吳國亮

自楊雲濤（楊）在2013年起擔任香港舞蹈團（舞團）藝術總監後，舞團一直不乏跨界合作作品，但與粵劇跨界著實不多，而粵劇這門傳統表演藝術， 也鮮有團隊製作跨界作品，桃花源粵劇工作舍（桃花源）可說是其業界中之小眾。跨界為傳統表演藝術形式帶來進化，但這一進化不會因為「跨」而獲得必然的成功。

舞團在2018年與桃花源攜手跨界，共同實驗、創作「舞蹈劇場╳簡約粵劇」— 《紫玉成煙》(「紫玉」)， 業界與觀眾的回響不絕於耳，這如同一支強心針，促使作品於今年載譽重演。「紫玉」的出現，是一次傳統藝術上跨的突破。正如此劇的導演/編舞楊在訪問時提及 :「在這麼多年的跨界合作中，我個人認為『紫玉』是在藝術上比較成功的一次，而且是跟香港文化瑰寶—粵劇的一次合作，所以對於舞團來說，其意義是相當重要，因為像這種跨界演出的風險的確不小，常出現『兩頭不到岸、不倫不類』的情況。此外，舞團作為政府年度資助的藝術團隊，對於作品的質量保證是不容忽視的。所以從2018年首演後獲得不少正面迴響，確實給了舞團莫大的信心。今年作品能於四十 週年載譽重演，真的別具意義。」

假如粵曲不受曲詞局限，舞蹈不受肢體制約，粵曲還是粵曲？舞蹈還是舞蹈？還是會帶來無窮的想像？跨界作品要平衡各方絕非易事，究竟 「紫玉」與桃花源過往的創作有何異同？

桃花源營運及創作總監、「紫玉」聯合 導演/文本的吳國亮（Rex）認為，作品 「以舞劇為定位」正是最明顯不同之處。「如果你問我『簡約』是否桃花源一直想做的事？是的。但三言兩語很難說明什麼是簡約，簡單來說是對美的一 種概念及視野，崇尚留白、想像， 盡量將一切非必要的刪除，剩下來的一字既之曰『型』，型於讓觀者自主參與對作品的建構。另外也希望可去 『符號化』，把大眾套上粵劇的固有想像改變。我期望的粵劇擁有一種當代及未來感、跨越時空的呈現：觀眾從古代看見當代與未來；演員扮演古代人回看當代與未來。因此在舞台上去符號化、越古今、呈現當代及未來正是簡約存在之要點。回看 『紫玉』讓我看見期待已久的 『 美 』。」

說到美，常流於表層的「 美術 」逕行。Rex則認為美與醜只在一念之間 :「美可以是很表面的，但美是否能內化？在日常生活看不見美 (美盲)，到看見美，再到活出美， 當中經過很多重的轉化，由態度、 經驗......的點滴累積後，美就成為一種生活智慧；審美擴闊眼界，眼界決定境界，境界決定成就。另一方面， 美的另一個極端：醜、惡、扭曲；如 『紫玉』中，黑暗能量的內化著實震撼人心。所以美該如何定義 ? 希望大家並非只看見表層的美。」

除了美，「當代與傳統」二字常予人既近且遠的感覺。雖然當代藝術建基於傳統之上，但在進行跨界揉合時觀眾又是否願意重新認識？楊對此作出回應：「現在的藝術門類越來越多，跟過去粵劇流行年代的環境大相逕庭， 這是無法比 較的，某程度上說它（粵劇）已經時不我與也很正常，包括傳統舞蹈也會遇到相同情況。但作為 一名藝術工作者，我認為在當下進行創作時的責任，就是要嘗試改變觀眾對『過時』的看法，因為當代亦會成為未來的傳統。我希望用身體作為文字和語言，帶著傳統與當代劇場空間相遇揉合，向觀眾介紹、呈現 『紫玉』在傳統藝術中的當代性。」

歷經三年，「紫玉」準備重踏舞台，其內容和形式上會否再度進化，甚或改頭換面？楊語帶肯定：「 這次演出 ， 無論是主題、 形式、手法都沒有改變，只是在藝術上， 我們希望精益求精，包括佈景設計， 和表演者的狀態。畢竟這是一個小型劇場的演出，在首演時沒有很多觀眾能進入劇場親身體會，希望這次重演能與更多觀衆會面。」Rex 則認 為，當看見作品內外有美的端危時，最佳發展是讓作品重演再重演。透過舞台上演進行調整、去蕪存菁與強化，令作品更見內化及完整。他期待在「 紫玉 」實驗的基礎上進行新的創作，探索、發掘更多未知與未來。

演出資料：https://theartvenue.net/featuredevents/2021/9/24/-by-hong-kong-dance-company

採訪、撰文、整理：黃頌茹

Interview with Yang Yuntao, Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Dance Company and Rex Ng, Chief Executive and Creative Officer of Utopia Cantonese Opera Workshop

Ever since Yang Yuntao (Yang) became Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC), the company has produced a number of cross-disciplinary works, but they rarely involved Cantonese opera. There are also very few companies creating cross-over works with this traditional performing art. The Utopia Cantonese Opera Workshop (UCOW) is a rarity in the industry. While cross-disciplinary practices help traditional performing arts to evolve, they don’t necessarily result in successes.

In 2018, HKDC and UCOW jointly experimented to create Waiting Heart, “Dance Theatre × Minimalist Canto-Opera”. The overwhelming response from the industry and the audience was a big boost and helped to bring about the re-run of the work this year. Waiting Heart was a breakthrough in terms of the traditional art. As Director/Choreographer Yang mentioned in an interview, “I personally consider Waiting Heart to be one of the more artistically successful works among my cross-over collaborations over the years. It was a cross-over with Cantonese opera, a cultural treasure of Hong Kong. For HKDC, its meaning was quite important, since these kinds of cross-over performances have a high risk and often result in a rather ‘grotesque’ product. As an artistic team receiving annual funding from the government, we have to guarantee the quality of our works. The amount of positive response to the premiere in 2018 has given us great confidence. Hence, the re-run of this work on the 40th anniversary of our company is especially meaningful.”

Is Cantonese opera still Cantonese opera, when it is no longer bound by the libretti? Is dance still dance, when it is no longer bound by the body? Or will it cause the imagination to run wild instead? It is not easy to balance different sides in a cross-over work. What are the similarities and differences between Waiting Heart and previous works of UCOW?

According to Rex Ng, Chief Executive and Creative Officer of UCOW and associate director/script writer of Waiting Heart, the most obvious difference is that the work is “positioned as dance theatre”. “If you ask me if ‘minimalism’ is what UCOW has always striven for, the answer is yes. But it’s hard to explain “minimalism” in a few words. Put simply, it is a concept and vision of beauty that stresses leaving blank spaces, fantasy and deleting all unnecessary things, leaving something that is seen as ‘cool’, implying that the audience is allowed to participate in the construction of the work. We also hope to remove the symbolism and change people’s existing ideas of Cantonese opera. The Cantonese opera I envision is contemporary and futuristic, transcending time and space: the audience can see the present and the future from the ancient setting, while the actors playing ancient characters reflect on the present and future. That’s why the point of minimalism is to remove symbolism from the stage, transcend time, and showcase the present and the future. Looking back on Waiting Heart, I see a long anticipated ‘beauty’.”

Beauty is often reduced to “beauty” on the surface. But Rex believes that there is only a thin line between beauty and ugliness.

“Beauty can be superficial. But can it be internalized? From failing to see beauty in everyday life to seeing and living out beauty, one goes through multiple transformations. After adopting different attitudes and accumulating experience, beauty becomes a wisdom of life. Appreciation of beauty will broaden your outlook, which will in turn result in loftiness of thought and bring about achievements. The opposite of beauty is ugliness, evil and twistedness. In Waiting Heart, the internalization of dark forces is indeed stunning. So how should we define beauty? I hope people won’t just see the beauty on the surface.”

Apart from beauty, the meaning of the words “contemporary and traditional” is often elusive. Even though contemporary arts are grounded in tradition, will the audience be willing to rediscover them in cross-over works? Yang had this to say: “Nowadays, there are more and more kinds of performance, a world apart from the days when Cantonese opera was a popular art. It cannot be compared. To a certain extent, it is normal to say that Cantonese opera is outdated. The same goes for traditional dance. But as an artist, I believe that our duty in creating at the present moment is to try to change the audience’s perception of “outdatedness”, since even contemporary art will become a tradition in the future. I hope to use the body as text and language to bring about the encounter of tradition with contemporary theatre space, and manifest the contemporariness of traditional art through Waiting Heart.”

With the re-run of Waiting Heart after three years, will its content and form evolve again or get a makeover?

Yang gave a firm answer: “In this production, whether it is the theme, form, or techniques, we will not made changes. Having said, we do pursue artistic excellence in terms of the stage design and the state of the performers. After all, it is a small theatre performance. During its premiere, not many people had the opportunity to see it. That’s why the purpose of this re-run is to allow more audiences to encounter it.” According to Rex, when you find traces of beauty, whether internal or external, in a work, the best thing is to let it re-run over and over again. Through performances on the stage, you can make adjustments, eliminate the impurities and reinforce it, so that the work becomes more internalized and complete. He hopes to develop new creations and explore more unknown and future projects on the basis of the Waiting Heart experiment.

Programme details: https://theartvenue.net/featuredevents/2021/9/24/-by-hong-kong-dance-company

Interview, text and compilation by: Eveline Wong

Translated by: Christine Chan