Haicheng
stiltwalking has had more than 300-year history since the
development by folk artists started in the Year of Kangxi-12,
Qing Dynasty, based on the Chinese ancient events, such as
sacrifice and temple fair etc. It¡¯s the traditional folk
art with long history, full of the local features in northeast
area in China. None but something with national features belongs
to the whole world. Today, Haicheng stiltwalking has shown
itself not only all around China but also in the world, which
enhances the international cultural exchange and plays an
important role in the development of tourism.
The stilt-Walkers in Haicheng Stilt-Walking Art Troupe present
the distinguishing art skills to visitors home and abroad
by their happy, energetic action, optimistic, bold and generous
personality as well as simple and interesting performance.
Haicheng Stilt-Walking Art Troupe represented China to attend
the 11th Krems International Folk Arts Festival and the 5th
Krakow International Folk Arts Festival held in Austria, the
2nd Sava International Folk Arts Festival in Hungary as well
as number of folk arts festivals, tourism & culture festivals
in China from which got high praise of visitors.
Haicheng stilt walking performed by New Star Stilt-Walking
Art Troupe attracting much attention lies in the perfect combination
of its content and art form which is the reason why it has
become the most popular and frequently-performed arts with
large scene in southeast area. During the performance, a team
composed of several scores of stilt-walkers who play the roles
of the leading stilt-walker, the second stilt-walker, old
man and woman, young girl and clown with special dressing
and face-painting change their stilt walking steps similar
to running and walking. Their dramatic performance and high-difficulty
skills with the music made by drum and some other musical
instruments gain the audience¡¯s attraction. The stilt-walkers
roll and jump repeatedly, the leading stilt-walker and the
second stilt-walker wave their whips to walk fast. The old
fisherman holds four young girls while blowing his white beard.
The old woman plays tobacco bag to make audiences laugh. Meanwhile,
the dressed clown is lovely and humorous. Several young girls
standing on the shoulders of clowns shake their colorful fans
and the clowns skillful move their shoulders. In general,
the skills of clown whose legs are bound with two-foot stilts
are extremely high so that they can move and make any motion
as easily and steadily as they do on the ground. They can
fly like a swallow from the 3-story tower composed by their
colleagues, jump like a carp when bending over on the ground
and continuously turn several somersaults. After watching
the performance, a visitor said ¡°there¡¯s nothing can do
by man in the world¡±.
Combining the five art forms ¨C song, dance, drama, acrobatics
and martial art, Haicheng stilt walking has its own unique
features on the basis of obtaining the essences of other arts,
establishing its style, designing the specialized stilt-walking
dressing and face-painting. Many details of the performance
have the high value of taste and deep meaning. Such as ¡°the
building cross the street¡± stands for prosperity and passionateness;
¡°dragon shaking tail¡± implies continuousness; ¡°cabbage¡±
indicates unite and coherence; ¡°two dragons spitting whisker¡±
brings audiences symmetry and harmonious and ¡°round ground
¡± means reunion and happiness. The main performance forms
of Haicheng stilt walking are niu, lang and dou, all of which
have to cooperate with each other to make good performance.
¡°niu¡± is the basis, which is the presentation of dance on
the stilts. The stilt-walkers take the body, head, hands to
move by the bend and stretch with flexibility. ¡°Lang¡± refers
to standard and mellowness, which is the high evaluation to
performers due to their perfect combination of motion and
expression. Take the old woman ¨C Granny Wang as an example,
only the changeful motions combining variable expressions
can vividly figure the character in the performance. ¡°dou¡±
means expressing emotion and making audience enjoy beauty.
Some motions, such as ¡°quickly exposing his/her face behind
something ¡± , ¡°retracting his/her neck¡± etc are the unique
skills of performers, which not only shows performer¡¯s talent,
but also make audiences not forget the show.
£ £
Haicheng stilt walking is a pure national flower in the art
garden.
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Haicheng stilt walking is a bright star with local features
in the art sky.
We hope to develop our arts and show its unique charm home
and abroad.
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