#bingxin

[translated-chinese-poetry-blog]

“Paper Boat”

By Bing Xin 冰心, 1923

--For my mother

I have never been one to waste a piece of paper

Always preserving--always preserving,

Folding one small boat after another,

Tossing each into the sea.

Some return through the ship window, blown back by the wind,

Some cling to the bow, pasted there by the waves of the sea.

Yet I am not discouraged, day after day I continue folding paper boats,

Always hoping one will reach the place I intend it to go.

Mother, if in your dreams a white board appears,

Don’t be surprised.

It is your beloved daughter’s tear-soaked boat,

Through an unimaginable journey it carries my love and sorrow, returning to you

Eight, Twenty-seven, Nineteen Twenty Three, The Pacific.

[goodcirculation]

69 Degrees South

Bingxin Zhou

This month, I watched the show called 69 degrees South in Tryon Festival Theatre. It was based on the real story that Ernest Shackleton’s ship sank at latitude 69 degrees south in 1914. It reminded me of the other prestigious work about the sunken ship, Titanic. Although these two share the similar theme, there are parent differences when it comes to the means of performance and spirit of the works.

I watched Titanic when I was a little child and last year I enjoyed the three-dimension version. Fully deserving the Oscar Award, the movie knocked me out. The most famous scene “You jump. I jump.” was so romantic and touching that I could not help myself crying. Titanic mainly focuses on depicting how miserable during the process of collapse and how love could defeat the tragedy. However, 69 degrees South utilizes a large proportion of the show to display the toughness of the exploration. The journey is considered as the representative of the pioneering leadership.

One interesting detail of the performance was that the rope was gradually let down from the ceiling and then gradually pulled up in the end. The dancer in the white costume seemed to make full efforts to seize the rope. In my opinion, the rope can be a symbol of hope. Forced to staying in the dark and dangerous abyss, those pioneers were eager to grab a rope which can bring them back to earth. On the other hand, hope was the only thing that survivors could not give up. To endure all the sufferings, they had to maintain the hope in their hearts. When the performers were sitting in a circle around the rope, the background music was altered into slow and soothing rhythm. The faith that they can finally get rid of the sufferings drove the fear of death away. I think the faith of live is the spirit that creators of performance want to convey to the audience.

Speaking of the way of performance, it was creative that dancers were standing on the stilts and manipulating the puppets. At first, I was confused since I could not identify who were puppets and who were performers. But I realized that those puppets were a little bit smaller compared to the normal size of real people. So I was asking myself why the creators of the show had made this innovative decision. My guess is that the creators wanted to represent the cruelness of the inevitable destiny. Everyone is controlled by the destiny and countless accidents and coincidences have occurred in daily life. Those survivors were trapped in the deserted place, but they did not become submissive to the difficulty. When the captain was injured and dying because of the exploration, he behaved peacefully and said goodbye to his crews with the proud. His movement reminds me of an old saying. “Even if you are not capable of changing the current situation, at least you can change your attitude.”

The acoustic effect of the show was amazing since the band was playing the music right next to the stage. When the team of survivors encountered the snowstorm, the music became harsh and loud. The audience was involved in the cruel environment. I can imagine how hard the crew was striving to survive the terrible weather. Effective background music is supposed to guide the audience to the imaginary world.

Despite the fact that the whole performance was impressive and successful, I did not understand the beginning and the end. Dancers in red costumes danced intensively and the atmosphere was depressing. Who did they represent? Why did they appear in the beginning and in the end? These are the questions I want to know. 

[goodcirculation]

Chinese Dragon Dance

Bingxin Zhou

[goodcirculation]

Chopiniana/Romeo and Juliet

Bingxin Zhou

Last Wednesday, I enjoyed my first ballet show in my life and the preeminent performance overturned my views of ballet. The show was split up into two parts, Chopiniana and Romeo and Juliet. I didn’t learn much about Chopiniana, but for the second play, I once read through this well-known story written by the prestigious English playwright William Shakespeare. The former was more like a fairytale, compared with the tragic love story in the latter. Although abundant differences can be figured out between these two shows, both of them conveyed the real emotions to me. In the classic love story, the sweat romance of the lovers, along with the intensive animosity of the enemies struck a chord deeply in my heart, despite the fact that I couldn’t catch the nuanced facial expressions of dancers. Likewise, in Chopiniana, when the female dancers in fairy-like dresses circled around the young man in agile and graceful movements, I was stepping into a romantic dream. Not Until last Wednesday did my perspective of ballet show alter. Ballet show was always elegant and gentle in my mind. However, in Romeo and Juliet, the appealing sword fights indicate that the ballet isn’t normally as soft as I thought before. The incredible score composed by Sergei Prokofiev matched the tense atmosphere flawlessly. Background music is an essential part of the ballet show. Many composers have created pieces especially for ballet, like Prokofiev I mentioned above. Since dancers are not able to have conversations on the stage, music becomes one of their means to replace the dialogue. I couldn’t help holding my breath while watching the combat between two robust young men. I realized that the hatred in two families cannot be resolved anymore after one of the young men was killed in the brawl. The enmity is in tremendous contrast to the steadfast affection of Romeo and Juliet. The entire play was proceeding by depicting various conflicts. The quarrel occurred when Juliet opposed her father’s choice of her fiancé. I can easily tell the resolution of Juliet when she rejected the rich fiancé through her firm pace of dance. Sometimes, the dancers were utilizing an exaggerated manner to express their feelings. At the scene that Romeo met Juliet secretly in her bedroom, their exuberant runs and jumps demonstrated how delightful they were. The performance was delicate, whereas some defects did exist. The death of Romeo and Juliet was abrupt so that the tragic ending was not stunning enough. Although I knew that Juliet pretended to be dead at the first time, it was kind of hilarious to see the dancers stand up and lie down several times. I had practiced ballet for a year since my third grade. I kept complaining about the training because ballet has a very strict standard for almost every movement. It is physically demanding, requiring moving your head, arms and legs at the same time. And what’s more, your gift in sense of rhythm matters. That’s why I admire those ballerinas a lot. Their brilliant body language provides the audience with amazing journeys in various stories. In spite of some little weaknesses, this ballet show was successful in general.