While executing these laborious movements, some actors must concurrently train in singing, speech, and acrobatics, all of which are accomplished with stamina and precision. As Opera scholar Wu Zuguang states, these abstract renderings of life allow the actor to carry the audience to almost any conceivable location and situation we can imagine. Such movements can represent grander actions-holding a whip and circling the stage, for instance, indicates horse-riding walking in a circle continuously symbolizes a long journey, and moving an oar back and forth with knees bent creates the effect of forging a heavy tide through a river. Actors require impeccable muscular memory as they are asked to envision, for example, the unbolting of a door, the climbing of a mountain, the sewing of a needle, and other familiar movements. The underlying principle behind Chinese Opera is to aesthetically represent aspects of human life through symbolic performance. Unlike in western theater, the Chinese Opera stage is enlivened primarily by the gestures and miming of the performer and not by the props and scenery of the stage, making the job of the actor an exacting creative journey. Constantin Stanislavsky called the performance, “the art of regulated and yet free movements,” since the technique requires impressive formal discipline, but also demands limberness of body.
It is the most representative of the Chinese classical dramatic forms, as it was created and developed by skillful artists over the course of several centuries. Classical Peking Opera has survived to be the most prominent form, despite its suppression during the Cultural Revolution by the Chinese government. Despite their differences, Chinese opera styles are generally the same in their conventions, as they all incorporate the same role types, a similar style of acting, and costume. In China there are over 360 different regional opera forms, differing mostly in dialect and music, and many thriving since the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Journey to the West opens on Monday night. She was kind enough to offer this overview of Chinese opera. She also trained in martial arts and Peking Opera style dance with famed Peking Opera performer Jamie H.J. Anastasia is a burgeoning film and television actor who studied Chinese language and culture at Princeton University and in Beijing. So to help us get psyched for the 2010 Live Arts Festival’s Journey to the West-Reinterpreting Tradition Series with world-renowned theater artist Danny Yung, we (that is, intrepid intern Ellen Freeman) tracked down Anastasia Cifuentes. But our knowledge of Chinese opera isn’t as extensive as it could be. We try to know everything about everything, we really do.
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