Whether the Dance Character s should focus on Fiction or Reality？

Whether the Dance Character s should focus on Fiction or Reality？

Introduction

Looking back at the long history of dance, from the early dramatic ballet to the modernist ballet, and then to the emergence of modern dance, it can be seen that people's cognition of dance is more and more focused on the expression of spirit and emotion, rather than the simple portrayal of human images. In character dance, dancers use movement, body language, and expressions to convey the emotions of the character. At the same time, stage sets, costumes, lighting and other elements are often used to enhance the portrayal of characters. Character dance usually has a clear script and choreography, and the emotions and conflicts of the story and characters are represented through the dance art form. The shaping of the role can make the audience more clearly understand the character, character relationship and emotion of the role, so as to participate in the dance performance more involved. Ballet of the Romantic period put women at the forefront(Gebelt,1995,23). Such as the dance plays "The Fairy" and "Giselle", which are based on fairy tales. These two dance dramas vividly depict various characters on stage through specific dance costumes, stage sets and dance language. Moving into the 20th century, we focus on pioneers like Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, who broke the shackles of ballet norms and paved the way for artistic freedom and true self-expression. Dance becomes a way of expressing deep emotions that make the audience think and feel. Modern dance encourages authentic participation of the characters and allows the dancers to interact with the audience, breaking the limitations of the stage and freeing dance from imposed meanings and moral values. Non-character dance is more focused on the exploration of one's own body without frame definition and more able to express what you want to express through non-specific dance moves(Kaye, 1994). With Martha Graham's work standing as a prime example. Just line in The Legend of Judith she performs a classical character using her own personal interpretation. Dance is a kind of art form to express emotions with the human body as the carrier, mainly to express emotions. Both acting and non-acting roles aim to express emotions. The form of non-character dance is more suitable for the current era and more in line with the current social development that pays attention to the spiritual world of people. Therefore, the development of dance should also pay attention to the spiritual expression of individuals.

Discussion

Distinguishing between roles and non-roles poses a challenge because roles are intricately linked to personality and behavior. Anyone with a name, story, and weakness can embody the essence of a character.。Through practice, this study selected a Chinese dance drama segment (Zhao's orphan) as the material of expression, and the dance language adopts the expression of Chinese classical dance and western modern dance. Four people are divided into two groups while watching the dance drama and reading the literary script of the work. Two of them focus on the role performance, reproduce the scene from the dance drama, learn the same dance movements, grasp the same task emotional lines with the original movements to present. The other group was given free emotional capture and arbitrary choice of body movements (mainly based on breathing and expansion in Western modern dance as movement mechanisms for movement development). The same work can have different forms of expression. The two groups expressed the works of the same war period. When the dance was mainly to highlight the role, costumes and backgrounds were needed to set off the role and help people bring them into the role. At this point, the character will carry a part of the task (in order to express the story, the character must express the story). So when the options were limited, we looked for costumes that were as close to the characters as possible, and props that were as close to the scene as possible. When performing a non-character dance, we can throw away the limitations of clothing, background and storyline, and just need to feel with our hearts, grasp the emotions we can feel, and be moved by emotions. In this way, in the same space and time, the virtual and the reality are intertwined, and the emotion reaches resonance, breaking the boundaries of time. The actions and emotions of the moment come only from the actor's heart. As a result, the first group, by replicating the original work, presented an apparently identical work, with the same movements and the same emotions. Even two people with the same expression of emotion show very similar expressions. However, due to the props, music and movements specific to the portrayal of the characters, the audience can intuitively feel the background of the dance and the relationship between the characters expressed by the performance. The other group, because of their completely independent feelings and thinking, finally presented two completely different works. The emotions captured by one of them are the sorrow of the loss of life at home and abroad in the war era and the sorrow of the separation of family and loved ones. While the other captured the warmth of the war era, with the love between families into strength to protect the nation's big family. Small and great, but also sad and helpless because of the separation caused by the war. The emotional lines of the characters are more rich and full. Also due to the difference in understanding and body expression of the two people, resulting in two completely different new products under the same background. Similarly, if setting up multiple actors to create self-expression, then the same material will produce many new materials. In such an environment, the same dance can be expressed in a thousand ways. Each person can create new emotions and authentic unique works of expression. Because everyone thinks differently, everyone can have their own space to play and create. So in the dance expression should be based on role performance or non-role performance should be combined with the theme of expression, both forms have their own advantages. If the main purpose is to express the story, then the setting and portrayal of the characters must be important but also limited (actors need to follow a fixed pattern of expression). Droznin argues that 'As an actor, your body is your 'instrument' - and the only way you can express the internal impulses of the character you're playing'(Droznin, 2017). Actors are originally creative in their own way. Non-character dance provides each dancer with unlimited space for self-creation and expression. Then the presentation of the works must be diverse and fresh. Under the new era background, the expression of non-role dance can inject new blood into the old materials and produce new historical objects belonging to the era background.

Conclusion

Dance belongs to the world. As one of the most primitive ways of expressing emotions, dance breaks through the restrictions of region and culture. Dance is meant to express emotions. When the emotion reaches the resonance of the moment, the dance is the world, breaking through the restrictions of country, culture, and even time and space. Under the background of today's cultural diversity, we should use free ways to express the high spiritual world and create products belonging to the new era. But at the same time, history can help people develop better. Therefore, dance art is the same, should stand on the shoulders of history to move into a new era. The roles in dance are both exploratory and, when there is space, more human tools of expression. The way that non-characters perform pushes us towards a deep understanding of social values, the pursuit of personal authenticity, and the evolution of the essence of the art form beyond the topic of people.

Reference

Gebelt, Tamara Lee (1995). "The Evolution of the Romantic Ballet: The Libretti and Enchanter.

Kaye, N. and Kaye, N., 1994. Modern Dance and the Modernist Work. Postmodernism and performance.

Droznin, A. B. and Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation. Transcript (2017) Physical actor training what shall i do with the body they gave me? Translated by N. Fedorova and Fedorova Natalʹi︠a︡. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge (Theatre and performance studies).