Me, Myself & Opera

I really just want to be happy. Why can't I do what I want to do happily? I don't think I will ever scheme to get roles I want. Firstly, the better roles you get, the more weird stuffs hurl at you. I just realised this not long ago. Weird stuffs that you didn't understand. Secondly, I don't want to get a role that I cannot fulfil. I want teacher to be sincere in giving me the role, admitting my abilities and is confident that I can do it. Like this, I will feel happy and at ease. If I were to know that a role was given to me not because that the teacher believe that I can do it but because someone else said something, I will feel very stress. I will feel paiseh. Even if I get a major role, I sometimes do not dare to tell those that are in the opera circle that I am doing a major role. I am worried that people will look down on me, think that I did something undertable to get roles or laugh at me say that I bu zi liang li. Ppl like CS, Uncle Lim, Biyu, Mei er.. I really ...

Always heard people talk about qizhi. How do we define Qizhi? In the dictionary it says disposition, temperament. Hard to understand. Anyway, some time ago, I was chatting with CS. He mentioned that alot of the amateurs here lack qizhi. I asked him what can be done. I was very concern also you see. "Read more," he said. Read more? "hahaha, sure or not?!" I laughed. "I am serious leh. It helps to build up your qizhi and your inner self. You have to start from your daily life. Qizhi cannot come just suddenly." CS said. So zen... Namo namo.. Anyway, he told me to read and read those quality stuff like literature, poems.. etc. I do read poems in the past but I stopped since I started opera. I am still doubtful about his method but no harm trying. This entry is here just to share it with all the amateurs who visit my blog. So nice of me.. awww... :P

Once again, I found some nice photos online. This is cantonese opera yo. *gasp!* this look is much nicer than their traditional looks. I don't know why I just don't like their traditional very red make up and the hairstyle. This one above looks much more pleasant. I kinda like that fringe. hee hee.. This is Chuan Ju! *gasp again!* They also changed their looks. Pretty pretty... *muacks* hmm.. wonder who this dan is. I don't get to watch alot of Chuanju but I would very much like to see this one. looks nice. *gasp!* is this Amai??? Nah.. it's not her but Amai got a photo similiar to this. This is Gezaixi 'San Jia Fu'. For your information, these pictures are taken from the chinese new year celebration show (opera night). I hope they will release the VCD soon!

I found this poem from the internet. 台上搭台必伴舞， 做梦电光喷云雾， 中西音乐味‘别古’（即别扭古怪，指曲中加电声）， 不伦不类的演出服. A Kunqu actor commented on the now evolving opera performance. I do agree to some extent that such changes in opera might kill the original opera form of performance but these changes are needed to appeal the younger audience. The article here is quite interesting, do take a look~ 人们总觉得要让年轻观众看懂昆曲，就要缩编一下，唱念要靠近普通话，表演要舞蹈化，演唱要歌曲化，感情交流要话剧化，真实化，舞台灯光美术要科技化，台面服饰要靠近时装模特，要当代人理解的“美化”，离不开这些个所谓的改革。 昆曲舞台上演员穿的服装，在颜色和样式上有很多讲究，《长生殿》有穿戴谱，演员的穿戴上面都说得很清楚，那是人物社会属性的标志，是中国戏曲史上三四百年 的结晶，不能为了漂亮就随便改动。我们演的是昆曲，不是服装大赛。另外昆曲也不是苏州土产，《长生殿》原本主要人物从头到尾没有一个地方要用苏州口语来演 唱，苏州昆剧团是百分之百的苏州人风格。不同地域有不同口音可以理解，但是不能把纯苏州音用来代表正宗昆曲。 Because our society changes, our lifestyle changes, people nowadays cannot appreciate opera the same way as it was appreciated 50 years ago. 当然艺术是没有静止不变的，换一个人肯定不一样，但个人可以有天分上的不同，各自的长相、嗓音可能都有变异，咬字和舞蹈的身段动作标准可能有优劣，但是本 位的戏剧舞台上的虚拟化表演，锣鼓的场面，音调的调值等，还是应该围绕传统昆曲的风韵去做。这样做虽然换了一代人，但大家可以知道古法是什么样的。 现在的昆曲职业创作人员总认为年轻人看不懂昆曲，为了迎合观众的思想，要让他们看懂...

Yesterday I went to see the Xiamen Nanyue Troupe's performance, Chang Hen Ge. Before going, I thought that the show might be boring and I will most probably see people standing there motionless and singing all the way but I was utterly wrong. Before talking about the Chang Hen Ge, I must comment abit about the kiddy opera from Beijing Primary School. They did 2 short excerpts yesterday. First of all, I think they are amateur, not professional opera troupe. I can easily tell that from their Ji Ben Gong. Their ji ben gong was not 扎实 enough for a professional troupe but of course, compared to kids in Singapore, they are so so much better. Anyway their cuteness is 100%! I reached the Victoria Theatre at around 7:45pm, saw Uncle Lim and some other students there. Uncle Lim is going to help out backstage and he asked us along to take a look inside and introduced some people to us. When we arrived at the backstage, the first thing I saw was the gorgeous costumes. Really... Uncle Lim intr...

演戏的是疯子 看戏的是傻子 我想我应该是个疯子。 演戏的是假戏真做 看戏的是假戏真看 I can see in Amai's blog that she said her prime years slipped through he fingers. Sometimes I wonder if I should let my prime years slip through my fingers too. I am already 23 years old! But how do we define whether our golden years are slipped through our fingers or not. What is considered as making full use of my golden time? We live our life only once and I don't want to have any regrets.

Chinese opera has made some great evolutions these few years. They added some new elements to their performances, their sets and their looks. Some evolutions made some nice changes but some are changes are just so.. unnecessary. Kunqu Kunqu is really a very old form of opera. It almost died off but since it has gotten the UNESCO, the chinese government has given some help to help revive it but it was not significant. Kunqu evolved recently. It has tried some new methods of performance and tried to attract younger audience. Last year, ShangKun made a 'Yi Pian Tao Hua Hong' 一片桃花红 and included alot of new elements in the show. Picture from 一片桃花红 You can see they changed their make up and costumes. Nice touch! I know I posted this photo before but it's so nice I want to post again, can? Digress abit, the one who acted as the emperor is Zhang Jun. He is one of the later generation kunqu actor and has received alot of good remarks for his performances. He graduated in 1994 from S...

I just realised that the Beijing kiddy opera troupe is performing at Victoria Theatre. I called the person in-charge, the details are: Kiddy Opera Venue: Victoria Theatre Date: 20-21 Jan 2006 Time:8pm Ticket: $20, $30, $50, $100 Contact: 64588215, 96530243 I think will be watching on 20th but the tics are so EXPENSIVE! Gosh.. but i can't miss this. I cant.... Nanyin Musical 'Chang Hen Ge' 长恨歌 Venue: Victoria Theatre Date: 24 Jan 2006 Time: 8pm Contact: 63232321 ,64585416 I dunno the ticket price got SL gave me tics to watch.. .yay~ Anyone going?

Finally I am back fro my trip! I will post up some details of my trip in Miko lah. When I reached home, I watched my opera DVDs, not immediately. I watched my Mu Dan Ting again, the american version. Ya ya.. I know that version sucks but the dan has got some good stuff too. I love her fingers.. :D My fingers are ugly! Yes.. My fingers are sort of.. too flexible. So much that I think they are distorted. Sometimes, when I was stretching or fiddling with my fingers, I suddenly felt that they are bending in abnormal angles. I panicked and thought that I accidentally broken them! I looked down and was relieve that they were fine. My fingers can achieve the kind of curves my opera teacher wants but most of the time, the other gestures look ugly. Ok, I was digressing to talk about my fingers. Actually I wanted to say that HXY is going back to TW for holidays so I am having a looong break~ I will be going shopping.. movies.. ktv.. getting ready for CNY... :) HXY will be back on 1st Feb and we...

I will be setting off to the airport at around 4am tomorrow. Gotta reach there by 5am as my KS organiser is afraid that we might be late. Although it's only a short trip, I think I will miss my dearest opera because Phuket is a non-opera place. I doubt if there will be opera on TV. I will be at a non-opera place for 3 days. I cannot sing along loudly.. etc Suddenly I felt very 矛盾。I don't know if I hate gzx or love gzx. I think it is 又爱又恨. I realised that I sometimes hate gzx for being so rough and 俗 when I saw some low standard shows but sometimes I miss it when I didn't see it. Oh man.. I am so 矛盾. Many people adviced me to give up gzx but I didn't. I had a hard time with gzx, learning gzx is very different from other opera types as gzx is very flexible. Teacher can tell you to do different things each time you rehearse and keep changing if she finds it unsatisfying. Unlike other opera type I tried, they are more or less quite standard. Raise right hand means raise rig...

Amai just posted some photos of Wu Feng Hua as a Dan and I happened to come across some photosof the other actresses of the performance. So I am going to share the photos with you. All of the photos are cross over perforamances of the yueju actresses. Seriously, I can't tell who is who like this... Any help? No.1 You may click on the photo to enlarge it. This one looks familiar~ No. 2 No. 3 I stared at this photo for a long time becuz she really look familiar. Finally I realised who she is. :D No. 5 Amai's favourite flower. No.6 That's all my friends. Hope you enjoy and tell me who is which ok.

I have been looking at some Sun Cui Feng's performance excerpts and some of her singing pieces. She is indeed a good actress who is keen in upgrading herself. It is good to see GZX actresses keen in upgrading. Digression: Someone told me learning chinese opera is wu bian wu ji. I do agree as I have watched some kinds of operas and each kinds of opera has so much information inside that I can never fully understand. The different singing styles in each kind of opera alone can make you crazy. Kunqu is divided according to the region they were developed. ShangKun, ZheKun, SuKun, Yongkun etc. Each has their own style. Then there are the special techniques, handkerchief skill, spears, swords, fans, ling zi, water sleeves, knife... the list is almost endless. It's fascinating! It never cease to excite me! Ok, Back to Sun Cui Feng. She is a good actress and I think she really puts in lots of hard work. Recently I saw parts of her 'Madam White Snake'. At first I think it was ...

Just for your information, opera goers out there listen up! Yesterday I went to attend a talk by this Chuan Ju troupe director and he announced that he is going to bring his troupe over in June to perform. The show will be 'Madam White Snake'. Woohoo!! I have long heard that Chuan Ju's 'Madam White Snake' is very very good and I am so fortunate to be able to see it live now. I can't wait, Dude! Chuan Ju is famous at using special effects to enhance their peformance. The various techniques they use including face changing, hiding knife, spitting fire etc. These are techniques which helps to develop the characters in the show and not for acrobatic performances. I watched a Chuan Ju named, Bian Lian, on DVD before and it was really a very touching show. Some pictures of Chuan Ju, Dang Ma. Some stunts Here is a photo of a face changing master.

Performance notice of our next show. Qian Nv You Hun 倩女幽魂 Date: 04 March 2006 Time: 7:00pm Venue: Joo Chiat CC Ticket: $15 $10 Date: 11 March 2006 Time: 7:00pm Venue: Tampines Changkat CC Ticket: $15 $10

I am awfully mistaken!!!! The kiddy opera is not performing at Victoria. They are performing at Raffles City. CS just informed me the details. They will be performing there from 24Jan - 05Feb, 7pm. XiaMen Nanyin will also be performing there from 17Jan. I might go for both performances! :D I think the kiddy opera is not from the professional opera school but anyway, I will go take a look~

Woo hoo~! Kiddy opera coming to Singapore! I am ecstatic I tell you! It will be my first time ever watching real kiddy opera and not like just normal kids, dress in opera costumes and just stand there and sing. This time, it's the REAL thing. OMG.. I can't contain my excitement! I don't know yet the exact date they are coming but I heard from my source that they will be performing in Victoria. Should be coming this month. I wonder how many days they are going to perform but for sure, I will watch every performance. :D I will blog the details once I received them.

I was surfing some opera photos a few days ago, trying to find some nice zao xing to copy and I came across some very ridiculous photos but i forgive them as they are street opera troupes. ... :P What is that woman wearing?!!! Please don't tell me this is a Da Tou. The pian zi is fine but the hair pcs.... -_-" Very weird... This person wear a 'Kao' without the flags and matched it with a funny hat, I can forgive. But I can't forgive him for putting a 'belt' on his 'Kao'!!!! Lastly, I think this sheng looks good but I don't like the 2 things on her shoulders.