Seeing the complicated choreography of the fight scenes can only draw thoughts about how hard it must be to learn the artform. While on stage, the actors shine brightly with their shining helmets, costumes and face paint. It featured three portions: the operatic scenes, a performance of two songs from a Bamboo Flutist, and five scenes of different fights, movements and songs. The performance itself was stunning to see. Pictured above is a training session where the performers demonstrate the weapons to volunteers. It takes tremendous skill and hard work to master Beijing Opera, with slower learners requiring up to three years of training before they are able to perform on stage. The audience, with ages ranging from elementary schoolers to professors seemed to thoroughly enjoy the event, with many of the kids happily learning how to do moves at the end of it.

The highlight of the workshop was the early chance to see actors sing and perform scenes. The singing incorporates beautiful melodies and saidshe enjoys the challenge of learning the complicated tempos. In answering questions about her life, she said that she likes that Beijing Opera is an abstract art and performance style. Zhu started learning opera when she was 12 and eventually graduated from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing. She offered details regarding an opera’s format and her own experience with the art form. The group visited from the Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera at Binghamton University in New York.īefore the Saturday performance, guests had the opportunity to attend a workshop lecture on the opera and ask questions in a session led by Chenfu Zhu, a lecturer and performer. This history was also highlighted in the popular 1993 film Farewell My Concubine. It has a long history of being filled by men because women weren’t allowed to work in the art for generations after its origin. The main female role, is the most interesting.

It encompasses four main roles, Shēng or elder bearded male,‭ ‬ Dàn or female, ‮*‬ Jīng or male with painted face and distinguished features and‭ ‬‮‬ Chōu or male clown, into folktales featuring distinctive high-pitched dialogue and singing as well as action scenes. The Opera, Jīngjù in Chinese is a stylized form of different arts including works of literature, movement, music and singing that has been around for over 200 years. Last weekend, visiting actors treated students to a look into traditional Chinese culture with a performance of Beijing Opera in its first ever full appearance in Winston-Salem.

Peking opera london