In order to better explain the artistic characteristics of symphonic ballet, we will make a horizontal comparison and analysis of symphonic ballet and dramatic ballet in five aspects.
1. The structure of symphonic ballet is music-dance structure. And the structure of a dramatic ballet is a drama-dance structure. This is an important difference in principle.
Symphonic ballet always starts from music when conceiving and arranging the dance drama (dance) structure, while dramatic ballet takes the drama (story) plot as the fundamental starting point. We know that dance drama is a comprehensive art, which includes dance, music, drama, literature, fine arts, etc. Among them, dance has the closest relationship with music and drama. Dramatic ballet "leans" too far toward the dramatic side. Even though some famous dramatic ballet masters like Zakharov and Lavrovsky were creating and rehearsing "Bakhchisarayi Fountain of Tears" and "Romeo and Juliet" (both plays are called dramatic ballets (classic work), drama directors were specially invited to provide artistic guidance. They ignored the dominant role of music, especially dance, in dance dramas, which resulted in the dance language becoming life-like, impoverished, simplistic and formulaic. They often use mime techniques to deal with the conflicts and developments of dramatic contradictions in dance dramas, so the problem of too much mime elements arises. Because they overemphasize and pursue the so-called "real life", they inevitably lead to a superficial reflection of life, and even fall into the pit of naturalism. Although dramatic ballet once played a positive role in promoting the development of dance drama art in a specific historical period, it eventually fell into a serious crisis and declined due to its inability to overcome the potential contradictions in its own creative ideas and methods. In the conservative Soviet Union, theater ballet has almost become a derogatory term.
Symphonic ballet carefully summarizes the experience and lessons of the success and failure of dramatic ballet, critically inherits and carries forward the essence of dramatic ballet, such as strengthening the integrity of the dramatic structure of the dance drama and deepening the ideological content of the dance drama. , expanded the scope of themes, communicated the connection between ballet art and modern life, and widely popularized ballet art. The new generation of symphonic ballet masters Grigorovich, Belisky, Vinogradov and others have launched new explorations based on the above achievements of dramatic ballet. The first major issue they have to solve is the dominant role of Shaanxi music, especially dance, in dance dramas. Both symphony and dance drama music themselves have their own inherent dramatic structure. Music not only expresses the character's personality and emotions, as well as the social or natural environment in which the character lives, and reflects the emotional atmosphere of the development of events and the character's behavior, but also reveals the emotional atmosphere through such techniques as the penetration, expansion, deformation, intersection, and contrast of various themes. The development of its internal contradictions and conflicts. This dramatic structure of music is also the basis of the structure of symphonic dance drama (dance). The choreographer ( ) director must conceive strictly according to the structure of the music, arrange the development and conflicts of the plot, and then reflect the dramatic structure of the symphony or dance drama music through dance language and dance images. Therefore, the structure of symphonic dance drama is music-dance structure, and music is its foundation and starting point.
Illustrate with examples. We know that the first movement of a symphony is generally in sonata form. It can also be said that a symphony is actually a sonata played by an orchestra. This is because the sonata form, compared with other instrumental music forms, can reveal complex and profound dramatic content in many aspects. We also use sonata form as a unit of study when teaching symphonic choreography. Choreographers who learn how to arrange sonata form can create symphonic dance dramas.
The sonata form consists of three basic parts: presentation, development and recapitulation. There may be an introduction before the exposition, and sometimes an epilogue after the recapitulation. There are generally two contrasting themes presented separately in the presentation part, namely the main part and the auxiliary part. In the development part, these two themes intersect and form conflicts, which are full of strong drama. In the reproduction part, the main part is still reproduced in the original key, and the secondary part appears in the main key through the connecting section, so as to obtain the tonal unity of the reproduction part. Obviously, every dance drama director who knows something about music and respects music cannot ignore such a strict dramatic structure of the sonata form. He must arrange two contrasting or conflicting dance themes based on the main part and the auxiliary part in the presentation part, and then let the two themes cross and conflict in the development part to form some kind of drama, and finally combine the two dance themes in the recapitulation part. The dance themes are summarized and each one finds its place. This is also the law of succession and transition that we often follow in dance dramas. It can be said that the dance based on the sonata form (also called sonata allegro) is the prototype of a large-scale dance drama. This shows how important the musical structure is to the structure of dance drama (dance).
2. The main artistic techniques of symphonic ballet are freehand brushwork, summary, and symbolism, while the artistic techniques of dramatic ballet are mainly realism, imitation, and illustration of life. This important distinction is derived from the two distinct structural approaches discussed above.
We know that music is an art that expresses emotions. "What is caused by love is born by sound." There is a penetrating discussion in the "Yue Ji" in ancient my country: "Every sound is what generates the human heart, emotions are moved in it, so it is shaped by the sound." The great Russian writer Tolstoy once said: "Music is the shorthand of human emotions." Engels said that music "reveals the most noble and sacred things in human emotions, that is, the most hidden secrets, and expresses them in sound."
Dance is also an art that expresses emotions. The ancients had very wonderful descriptions of the artistic characteristics of dance very early on. As in the preface to "Mao's Poems": "Emotions are moved in the heart and are expressed in words. Words are not enough, so I sigh. Sighing is not enough, so I sing it. Songs are not enough. I don't know how to dance with my hands. It is enough." It's like dancing." Dance has its own "independent kingdom" and its own unique rules. The most important rule is that dance can only express certain emotions, but cannot directly express certain thoughts. Dance choreographers can only indirectly express certain thoughts, or even philosophies, through the refraction of emotions, through certain plots or shaping dance images.
Music and dance are both non-semantic arts. They have the same artistic characteristics - freehand, general, symbolic, virtual, metaphorical, allegorical, lyrical, poetic, polysemous, etc. It is these unique properties that provide prerequisites for the symphony of dance, thus greatly broadening the field of dance expression, enriching dance language and choreography techniques, further exploring the ontological awareness of dance, and promoting the development of dance art. develop. In the past, there was a deep-rooted stereotype in the dance world that some music was simply impossible to dance to, and some themes were completely unsuitable for choreography. Symphonic ballet completely breaks these stereotypes in people's minds. Modern choreographers can choreograph with any music and with any theme. For example, Elfman, a new generation of Leningrad choreographer, successfully put Dostoevsky's masterpiece "The Idiot" on the ballet stage. This is unmatched by theatrical ballet.
Dramatic ballet one-sidedly emphasizes dramatic plot and its so-called "authenticity". This violates the characteristics of dance to a great extent and violates its unique laws. It turns poetic dance into vernacular storytelling, making dance an appendage of drama and a tool for imitating and illustrating life. As a result, the essence of dance is stifled and it loses its dominant position in dance dramas.
We might as well compare dramatic ballet to Chinese meticulous painting, and symphonic ballet to Chinese freehand painting. It is true that gongbi paintings have their own value, but freehand painting is undoubtedly the peak of Chinese painting for thousands of years. Dramatic ballet often tries to make every detail as realistic as meticulous painting, but the result is counterproductive and makes it even more fake. For example, in a Soviet dance drama, a tank made of plywood came on stage, causing the audience to burst into laughter. The reality of life and the reality of art are two different concepts. Dramatic ballet often confuses them. It is euphemistically called "reflecting life", but it is actually imitating and illustrating life. Krasovskaya, the first leading authority on ballet history and criticism in the Soviet Union, correctly pointed out: "What symphonic ballet overcomes is not the shortcomings of dramatic ballet, but its entire system of creative principles." Soviet dramatic ballet master Lavrov The dance drama "Romeo and Juliet" created by John A. Skil is known as the pinnacle of dramatic ballet. But it was Shakespeare's drama that Lavrovsky pursued, not Prokofiev's music. As a result, the gorgeous and colorful life in Verona, Italy, on the stage and the deep and philosophical music formed many contradictions. Lavrovsky unconsciously dug a gap between the stage and the orchestra pit. More than twenty years later, the young choreographer Vinogradov (currently the chief choreographer of the Leningrad Kirov Theater Ballet) finally bridged this gap in Novosibirsk, allowing Prokofiev to stand in front of Shakespeare. Although life on the stage has lost some of its original colorful and joyful atmosphere, and the city of Verona has turned into a gloomy prison, Vinogradov followed Prokofiev's music and penetrated deep into the souls of the heroes and heroines. This makes his version of the dance drama one step higher than Lavrovsky's chess piece.
Similarly, Lavrovsky launched his "Jewel Flower" at the Bolshoi Theater in 1954. In 1957, the young choreographer and director Grigorovich, who was unknown at the time, challenged the famous theater and ballet authority and rehearsed "The Jewel Flower" at the Kirov Theater in Leningrad. As a result, the great authority was defeated in Maicheng, and Grigorovich's "Jewel Flower" became a classic that ushered in the symphonic era of Soviet ballet. The reason is also that Lavrovsky devoted himself to recreating the life scenes in Bazov Ural folk tales, but put Prokofiev's music aside. Grigorovich and the composer explored the complex ambivalence between an artist's career and love in the play. It can be seen that symphonic ballet does not overcome some shortcomings of dramatic ballet but negates a series of its basic creative principles, using completely different artistic techniques to shape the dance image and reflect life. Those clichés that attack symphonic ballet for not paying attention to dance image and neglecting to reflect life are completely untenable. Precisely because symphonic ballet firmly grasps the characteristics and laws of dance art, the dance image it creates is more vivid and perfect than dramatic ballet, and the life it reflects is richer and more profound than dramatic ballet.
This is by no means a subjective conjecture by the author, but an indisputable fact that has been proven by artistic practice