"Dance Watching" is an essay written by the famous poet Bing Xin dedicated to the Indian dancers Kalama sisters. "Dance Watching" tells the live performance of the Indian dancers Kalama sisters in Beijing. It depicts the sisters' costumes, figures, expressions and dancing postures on the stage with heavy makeup. Original text
Dance Watching
Bing Xin
——Dedicated to the Indian dancers Kalama Sisters
How should I describe India? The dance of the Karama sisters?
If I were a poet, I would write a long poem to describe their varied whirling dance.
If I were a painter, I would use various colors to dye their clear eyebrows and gorgeous clothes.
If I were a composer, I would use musical notes to convey their brisk dance steps and tinny bells.
If I were a sculptor, I would simulate their slim and agile figures full of vitality on jade.
However, I am nothing. I can only use my own poor words to describe this amazing dance art.
Like a baby who sees a dazzling red lotus under the morning sun or a dancing peacock in the deep forest, he wants to scream out the surprise in his heart, but he can't find it except babble. to the appropriate language.
But, friend, can I hold back the joy and excitement in my heart and not spit out the "baby" in my heart to you?
I dare not pretend to be a scholar of Indian dance to explain the history and factions of Indian dance, and to explain that the Bharatanatyam dance they performed is the authentic Indian dance. I don’t dare to be like a dancer and praise their every move and every move for how “their true nature” is.
I am just an appreciator, but I am willing to work hard to express the flying "beauty" I feel in my heart!
Friends, on an unforgettable night -
The curtain slowly opened, and a dancing statue of Shiva was enshrined on a small table in the middle of the stage, with burning lights on both sides. With two tall copper lamps, the atmosphere on the stage was quiet and solemn.
Kalamar Lakshman came out. What a flash of glory! She bowed her head deeply to the audience and clasped her hands, then raised her head, revealing her beautiful face, her long eyebrows and her eyes that could speak thousands of words.
She stood calmly.
The flute was played, the snare drum was beaten, songs were sung, and Kalama began to dance.
She uses her long eyebrows, beautiful eyes, fingers, waist, the flowers on her bun, the pleated skirt around her waist, her delicate dance steps, the ringing of bells, as slow as a light cloud. Moving, turning like a whirlwind, dancing out the joys and sorrows in the poem.
Although we don’t know the content of the story, our emotions can roar with her movements! We see her sometimes frowning, showing infinite sadness; sometimes her smile is bright, showing boundless joy; sometimes she lowers her eyelashes sideways, showing a low-key shyness; sometimes she opens her eyes in anger, showing all-powerful rage. Sometimes he gently touches his forehead and strokes his arms, draws his eyes and eyebrows, and performs delicate and appropriate dressing; suddenly he stands upright, pressing the arrows and guiding the bow, so that one can almost hear the clanking sound of the strings! Like Shiva, in the carnival of dance, she forgets both the audience and herself. She just tried her best and used her flexible limbs and five senses to tell the beautiful poetry stories of ancient India!
I have performed dances one after another (little sister Lada, sometimes dances alone, sometimes with her sister, she is a young phoenix! She is still young but her skills are deep, her future achievements are also limitless ), we find that they not only represent gods and humans, but also vegetation and animals: such as the trembling petals of a lotus, the running and jumping of a deer, and the strutting stride of a peacock. They can all be described to perfection and look extremely beautiful! The most exciting thing is the "snake dance", with the neck swaying slightly and the shoulders trembling slightly: waves of flexible squirming, spreading from the fingertips of the right hand to the fingertips of the left hand! I really can't describe it, so I can only use two lines from Bai Juyi's poem "The pearls dazzle and the stars shake, the flower garlands fight with the dragons and snakes" to describe it.
Watching the dance of the Kalama sisters, one can deeply appreciate the beautiful and time-honored culture and art of India: dance, music, sculptures, pictures... are all like branches on a big banyan tree. The branches droop and take root in the ground. These many branches are closely connected in the earth, absorbing the food supplies given to him by Mother Earth, and this earth is the vast people of India with a long history.
Karama and Radha are just two soft branches on this big banyan tree. Although Kalama, at the age of 22, has already had 17 years of stage life; 12-year-old Radha also has 4 years of performance experience, but we know that India’s great mother earth will continue to give They cultivated it with nourishment.
The most melancholy thing is that they have just shown their "dragon-like" dance to the Chinese people. Due to the needs of the vast number of people in their motherland, they will be "astonished" in two or three days. The ground flew back!
In the early spring in Beijing, there are no plump and fragrant flowers like their South Indian hometown. We can only learn from the poetic words of their great poet Rabindranath Tagore: Let us put our flowers one by one. The hearts of admiration and gratitude were woven into bouquets like blossoming red flowers and presented to them, hung on their chests, and brought back to the Indian people to thank them for their friendship and enthusiasm and for sending the Lakshman sisters to them. You're welcome!
Writing background
"Watching the Dance" is an essay written by Bing Xin in the late 1950s, when Sino-Indian relations were in the honeymoon period. There are many common positions and views in the international community, especially the convening of the Bandung Conference in 1955, which further promoted the development of Sino-Indian relations. It is against this background that Bing Xin wrote this essay based on the theme of an exotic performance-Indian dance. It is precisely because of this broad background that this essay also seems to be written at the right time. The flaws in the article are also obvious.
Appreciation:
Natural paragraph 16, "She uses her long eyebrows, beautiful eyes, fingers, waist, the flowers on her bun, and the pleated skirt around her waist. Her delicate dance steps, the ringing of bells, moving slowly like light clouds, turning like a whirlwind, dance to the joys and sorrows in the poem." The author uses concise language to describe the appearance, clothing and movements of the Karama sisters. Detailed description. The impression left by Karama's appearance and clothing is wonderful. However, Kalama did not ignore the soul of dance - movement. The perfect coordination between her graceful movements and the sound of the bell, just as the author said, "dances out the joys and sorrows in the poem."
We found that they not only represent gods and humans, but also vegetation and animals: such as the trembling petals of a lotus flower, the running and jumping of a deer, and the strutting stride of a peacock, all of which can be described to the best of their ability. Yan! The most exciting thing is the "snake dance", the slight shaking of the neck, the slight trembling of the shoulders: bursts of flexible crawling, from the fingertips of the right hand to the fingertips of the left hand!"? This paragraph is a parallel sentence, using Metaphors such as "the lotus with trembling petals", "the leaping deer" and "the strutting peacock" express the characteristics of Indian dance and the superb dance skills of the Karama sisters. They also express the author's affection for them. A heartfelt compliment.
“Moving slowly like light clouds and turning like a whirlwind” indicates that the rhythm changes extremely quickly and is rich in rhythm
“The petals of the lotus bloom and tremble, the deer rushes and jumps, and the peacock’s "The peacock's swagger" shows the lightness and flexibility of dance
The "peacock's swagger" shows the noble temperament
And all of this is blended together by the Karama sisters , and the author also uses a series of parallelism and metaphorical techniques to show this colorful dance.
When the author writes about how a dancer dances to the music, he first outlines how she uses her limbs. The facial features, clothing, footbells, and her slow and fast dance steps are used to express the complex joys and sorrows that have never been described in the human world; and then the details are neatly described, sometimes frowning, sometimes charming, and sometimes lowering eyelashes. Sometimes angry, sometimes docile, sometimes mighty. And the snake dance that the author is heartbroken about is described in detail, from the slight shaking of the neck, to the slight trembling of the shoulders, and then to the appearance of the flat arms. From here we not only see the impeccable grace, but also feel the exciting melody
If I were a poet, I would write a long poem to describe them The ever-changing whirling dance.
If I were a painter, I would use various colors to highlight their clear eyebrows and gorgeous costumes.
If I were a composer, I would use musical notes to convey their brisk dance steps and tinny bells.
If I were a sculptor, I would simulate their fullness on jade. Her slender and agile figure shows vitality.
The author uses a series of hypothetical sentences to express her praise
We see her suddenly frowning, showing infinite Sad, sometimes the smile is bright, showing boundless joy; sometimes the eyelashes are lowered sideways, showing shyness; sometimes the eyes are open and angry, showing the all-powerful anger; sometimes the forehead is stroked gently, the arms are stroked, the eyes and eyebrows are drawn, and the performance is performed Wearing delicate and appropriate make-up; suddenly standing upright, pointing the arrow and guiding the bow, so that people can almost hear the clanking sound of the strings.
The author uses six "sudden moments" to describe the changes in the dancer's expression in detail, The author says at the beginning of this section, "Although we don't know the content of the story," why can she describe the changes in the dancer's expressions in such detail? That's because the performer's performance is so realistic and moving that the audience is completely attracted , so that it crosses the boundaries of country and culture.