Lianxiang

Fortunately, it wasn’t that complicated at that time, so I really got on the dance ship. Basic training and rehearsal every day. Two performance seasons a year. Performed in Shanghai in autumn (around National Day). The spring represents Shanghai to major cities. Most of them still carry on the revolutionary tradition, go to the mountains and the countryside, and shuttle between cities and towns, which usually takes two to three months. At the beginning, the program was inherited from Yan’an, which was still between the folk field self-entertainment form and the stage form. In addition to the Yangko waist drum, this “Dalianxiang” was also very popular at that time.

Looking at this photo from 65 years ago, I was really full of emotions. Many interesting scenes, like movie shots, came in front of my eyes. At that time, there were no theaters in the vast rural areas of China. The stages were built with door panels that were temporarily unloaded from the homes of ordinary people (that was the largest plank plane that could be obtained at that time). Once in “Playing Lianxiang”, after a big stage (ie the opening group dance), it was Shu Qiao’s turn to lead the dance. Why did she only listen to her Lianxiang sound but no one, and then look closely at it, the original stage built with door panels is natural There is no seal and flatness. She stepped on her feet and fell into a big gap, stuck in her thigh, but the music did not stop, so she was still dancing with Lianxiang happily, leading everyone to continue dancing, just like that. To finish the show. At that time, we were both less than 20, so passionate and simple, I don’t know if Qiaozi, who is now in her 90s, remembers this interesting story.

好在那时没有那么复杂，这才真正上了舞蹈这条船。每天基训，排练。每年两个演出季。秋天（国庆前后）在上海公演。春天代表上海到各大城市亮相。更多的则还是继承革命传统，上山下乡，在各城镇穿梭，往往要二三个月。一开始节目也还是以从延安继承下来的那些还介乎民间田野自娱自乐形态和舞台形态之间的节目，除秧歌腰鼓外，这个《打莲湘》也是那时很流行的一个。    

看着这张65年前的照片，实在是感慨万千，诸多有趣的画面如电影镜头一般，在眼前纷至沓来。那时中国广大农村根本没有剧场可言，舞台都是用临时卸自老百姓家里的门板（那就算是当时能弄到的最大的木板平面了）拼搭起来的。一次演《打莲湘》，一段大场（即开场的群舞）后，轮到舒巧领舞了，怎么只听她的莲湘声不见人影，再定睛一看，原来用门板拼搭的舞台自然无密封平整可言，她一脚踩空掉到一个大缝中，一直卡到大腿，但音乐没有停，所以她照样还在欢快地舞动着莲湘，领着大家续续跳，就这样兴高采烈地把节目演完。那时我们都还不到20，多么的热情单纯，这件趣事不知现已年届90 的巧子姐还记得否。