Theatre Workshop Held By the Central Academy of China

On the morning of 16th October, the workshop in WTEA International Theatre Festival started at the Thrust Stage Theatre in the Central Academy of Drama by professor Zhao Yongdun from the department of Peking Opera.

Professor Zhao started with a chapter of Sacrifice. Then the workshop showed how the role sings, makes speeches, mimes, does acrobatic fighting. What’s more, “jing” features distinct facial painting and exaggerated variations in movements.

Professor Zhao exhibited the charm of “jing”, through the case study of Zuo Zhai, and guided the students in the performance of Reed Marshes and Dao Ma.

The conductor also taught the audience to perform as “jing”, to improve the audience’s understanding of this art. The students and teachers from associated schools also joined the practice of acrobatic fighting with the guide of the conductor.

In the end of the workshop, the conductor introduced the students from the department of Peking Opera. He mentioned that Peking Opera is an art which has a history of thousands of years. He hopes that in his students there would be outstanding people who could promote the development of Peking Opera.

In the afternoon of 16th October, the workshop by Ms. Sun Shangqi was held in the Thrust Stage Theatre in the Central Academy of Drama. The conductor, Ms. Sun Shangqi, is a teacher and the director of head of the teaching and research section for figure and character design.

This workshop starts with the features of the performance of Peking Opera, and then touch upon the cultural background, nature, rules for performance, distinctive features and other perspectives of this art. Such knowledge are passed on in the form of oral talk, demonstration, practice, and interaction, to engage the interest of the foreign students in Chinese folk arts. We hope through this workshop, the students can have a taste for Chinese arts and our aesthetics as part of the pfofound and extensive Chinese culture.