A source of inspiration
Eco-themed dance drama explores and reflects the beauty and vibrancy of Qinghai province, Cheng Yuezhu
Its landscape demanded that director and choreographer Tong Ruirui address the important issues. Qinghai province is both captivating and extreme and gave Tong a different sensation and deeper understanding every time she went there. It forced her to examine the triviality of human existence, the harshness of the natural environment and the gratification of completing a pilgrimage.
Tong went on three trips to Qinghai’s Sanjiangyuan (Three-River-Source) area, the headwaters of the Yellow, Yangtze and Lancang rivers (the latter known as the Mekong River after it flows out of China), for a recent dance drama she directed.
Follow the Mother River, produced by the Qinghai Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and created by Qinghai Performing Arts Group, staged two performances in Beijing on May 22 and 23.
The storyline delineates a journey similar to Tong’s. It invites the audience to follow the narration of a tourist from a coastal city, who journeys to the headwaters region.
He witnesses the sublimity of snow-covered mountains, learns about the profundity of local culture, and befriends sincere and hospitable locals including Tashi, head of a mountain patrol team protecting local wildlife, and his daughter Drolma, who yearns to see the outside world.
Ecological preservation is a major theme throughout the dance drama, which features dancers acting as wild animals, displaying their movements and characteristics, as well as the relationship between people and nature.
“I feel it was the headwaters that led me to reflect on the subject. We stumbled upon the theme of ecology rather than deliberately choosing it. It seemed like that nature chose us,” Tong says.
Set mainly in the 1990s, the plot also draws from the real story of environmental defender Sonam Dargye, whom the character Tashi is based on.
Sonam Dargye was a county official who organized China’s first armed anti-poaching team and brought eight illegal poaching gangs to justice. In 1994, he and four team members captured 20 armed poachers in Qinghai’s Hoh Xil, seizing seven cars and more than 1,800 Tibetan antelope hides. He made the ultimate sacrifice when the poachers attacked him during their transportation. He was killed in the fight.
In this production, the wild animals are represented mainly through the character of the snow leopard, performed by dancer Yang Zheng, as Sanjiangyuan is considered their natural habitat.
When the overall choreography was completed, the crew went on a field trip to Sanjiangyuan. Tong says that from her observation, after coming back from the journey, Yang immediately adopted a new understanding of snow leopards and presented the creature with more energy in her dance.
“The production presents culture from the headwaters and the energy from the mountains. The snow leopard is almost like a symbol of vitality, forever standing on the snow-covered plateau, presenting the value and power of life,” Yang says.
Scriptwriter of the dance drama Luo Huaizhen also says that the field trips were a great inspiration
We have so much that we want to present, including the local culture, folk customs, the circle of life and the development of history.” Tong Ruirui, director and choreographer
for the creators and the performers. Apart from the headwaters, the team also went to museums and historical sites across the province to research, and draw inspiration from, history and folk culture.
“Artistic creations cannot be simply based on imagination. Only when I arrived there and immersed myself completely in the tranquil nature, did I start to truly feel its mysterious and sacred aura, and feel the vastness of nature, the smallness of human beings and the value of life,” Luo says.
This is not the first time he has worked with Tong on stage productions. They cooperated in the creation of Soaring Wings: Journey of the Crested Ibis, also an eco-themed dance drama, but according to Tong, the two works have marked differences.
“For the previous production, we were reducing the content. We wanted to highlight the harm done by human activities and modern industrialization to the fragile species of crested ibis,” Tong says. “But for Follow the Mother River, we are constantly enriching the content. We have so much that we want to present, including the local culture, folk customs, the circle of life and the development of history.”
Another difference, according to Luo, is that Soaring Wings was a story largely taking place in ancient times, while the story of Follow the Mother River happens in the modern era. He also expresses a wish to collaborate with Tong again in producing a futuristic eco-themed stage work, perhaps pertaining to ecology and artificial intelligence.
The choreography of Follow the Mother River incorporates a lot of folk dance styles and local cultural elements, including a bonfire dance of the Tibetan ethnic group. When the protagonist is invited by Tashi into the tribe, the locals dance around a bonfire to show their warm welcome.
Another notable dance scene is one adapted from, and which elaborates upon, a painting on an ancient ceramic bowl. The Neolithic artifact unearthed in Qinghai province has upon it a drawing of people joining hands in a dance, providing a glimpse into the lifestyle of its ancient owners.
“The image implies that human beings from an early era sought a harmonious relationship with one another, and this is a profound message from the production,” playwright and critic Ouyang Yibing said on a forum hosted during the performances.
“Another significant message comes from the snow leopard scenes, where we see it running through its natural environment without restraint, exhibiting vivaciousness, freedom and an ultimate beauty. Everyone likes the character. It shows that all creatures, humans and animals alike, are living in one world, and all have the right to live.”
During the forum, experts stated the significance and relevance of producing works centered on ecological preservation, and commended the production on its depiction of Qinghai’s cultural elements.
Feng Shuangbai, president of the China Dancers Association, comments that the production breaks through the established methods of producing stage works with realistic themes. Despite its ecological theme, which is relevant for modern society, the production manages to present the animals and the historical culture.
“One aspect that moved me is that the dance drama also presents the relationship among different ethnic groups, including the Tibetan, Tujia and Salar. So, apart from showing the relationship between humans and nature, it also presents cultural pluralism,” Feng says.