Good Place to Experience Chinese Opera Culture

Water Sleeve Work:

The actor uses a piece of white silk (water sleeve) sewn on the cuffs of the costume to make rich and dance-like movements. It sometimes resembles flowing clouds and flowing water, sometimes like clusters of tidbits, sometimes like waves and ripples; some are shaped like wheels, and some are shaped like totas; there are single pendulum turntable sleeves, there are overlapping turntable sleeves on the front side, and there are straight wings and flying sleeves, etc. . The purpose is to exaggerately express the complex thoughts, feelings and psychological activities of the characters such as excitement, grief, anger, and pain. There are hundreds of body and postures in the water sleeve dance. The basic movements include hooking, picking, holding, punching, swiping, raising, dusting, shaking, hitting, shaking and so on.

Handkerchief Skill:

Performing body stunts is also a basic skill. Originated from the two-person turn, Ji opera has developed. Handkerchiefs are dance props, and there are two types: four-corner and octagonal. Techniques include turning the flower inside and outside, pulling the flower inside and outside, shaking the flower, turning the silk, supporting the silk, kicking the silk, throwing the silk, playing the silk, turning the silk, turning the silk on the top, etc. In recent years, the double-layer octagonal handkerchief inlaid with sequins has been used to develop various styles of handkerchiefs, with superb skills and strong characteristics, which play a role in setting off the atmosphere of the drama and portraying the feelings of the characters.

Shankou Gong:

Performing body stunts is also a kind of basic skills. Actors show the mood of the characters with the help of the movement of dancing the beard (beard). There are many techniques in shankou Gong, such as building, licking, picking, pushing, holding, spreading, squeezing, copying, tearing, twisting, throwing, winding, shaking, blowing and so on. Some are single movements, and some can be combined and coherent, requiring close coordination with the dance body in order to accurately express the emotions of the characters.

Blanket Kungfu:

It is to practice various somersaults, that is, various body parts such as jumping, falling, turning, rolling, leaping, and jumping. Because of the practice on the blanket, hence the name. There are many styles of somersaults, and most of the movements are supported by hands or kicking on the ground with feet, forward, backward, and toss to the left and right sides, commonly known as “four-sided somersaults”.

Fan Skill:

Performing stunts is also a basic skill. The fan is not only a cooling tool on the opera stage, but also a special dance prop. Actors often use the fan in their hands to make various movements and postures to express the thoughts and feelings of the characters. All characters have this skill, but the most used ones are Xiaosheng and Huadan, and their skills are more abundant.

Hair Throwing Skills:

Most male characters shake a lock of long hair tied on the top of their heads. They are a kind of performance stunts that perform fierce and abnormal emotions and situations such as panic, grief and indignation, desperate pain, rushing for their lives, dying struggle, etc

Lingzi Gong:

the dancing of two long pheasant feathers inserted on the head of the helmet (hat), commonly known as “Shua Lingzi”. The skills of playing Lingzi include: digging ling, holding ling, circling ling, turning ling, shaking ling, throwing ling, vertical ling, rotating ling and so on. All professions are used, the niche uses the most. Sometimes with one hand, sometimes with both hands, relying on the swing of the head to match various body shapes, expressing the characters’ psychological activities and personality characteristics such as surprise, resentment, complacency, and frivolousness.