Amateur Art Troupe Thrives at the Grassroots

AS snow fell in Beijing’s early winter， hundreds of people gathered in a theater on the second floor of the Xicheng District Cultural Center to watch a performance by Xiaobaihua， anShaoxing Opera troupe.

The name， which it shares with a renowned professional Shaoxing Opera troupe in Zhejiang， means literally “small hundred flowers.” The Beijing troupe was founded in September 1998. None of its 40-odd members is professional； all joined it for the love of this art form.

Amateur Performers

Male performers are rare in Shaoxing Opera， so women play the male characters. This troupe is made up of women whose ages range from 20s to 60s. Some newcomers are not able to perform on stage， but they enjoy doing odd jobs and running errands. These people， says the troupe’s head， Cheng Yuanna， come for love of this art form and the desire to perform on stage.

Cheng Yuanna， a native of Beijing in her 40s， is a clerk with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. For three years she has kept the troupe running， which takes up much of her spare time.

“I have surely spent a lot of energy and time on it，” Cheng said. “It is exhausting. But I’ve never thought of giving up as I feel that I have got more out of the team than I have put into it， as well as from Shaoxing Opera itself.”

Cheng has also poured a lot of her personal finances into the group， since the troupe has no source of funding. One troupe member revealed that Cheng has paid more than RMB 100，000 out of her own pocket to maintain the group.

The Xiaobaihua Shaoxing Opera Troupe is now affiliated to the Xicheng District Cultural Center. It is entitled to use the center’s rehearsal and performance venues free of charge. Every weekend they come to practice， teach and learn， exchange ideas and give performances in a small theater on the first floor of the cultural center. Every two to three months they give a relatively formal performance in a larger theater on the second floor. From the audience’s encouragement they have realized their social value.

Falling in Love with Opera

Cheng Yuanna performed in two breathtaking Shaoxing Opera highlights – Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai and Lu You and Tang Wan. The former is a tragedy about two lovers who are forced to separate because of an arranged marriage and transform into butterflies after death. The latter is a love story about famous poet Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty and his wife Tang Wan. The audience spoke highly of her performance， saying her abilities stood up to those of professional performers.

Cheng was inspired to learn Shaoxing Opera back in 1982 when she watched the movie A Dream of Red Mansions. As a Beijinger， learning the Zhejiang dialect in which Shaoxing Opera is sung was the first obstacle.

This has been a challenge for every member of the troupe， and each has her own approach to remembering the pronunciation of the dialect. Senior performer Wang Yan asked Zhejiang natives to correct her pronunciation. Her hard work paid off in 2005 when she participated in a Shaoxing Opera competition in Hangzhou， capital city of Zhejiang Province， and received high praise from locals.

Li Yue started singing Shaoxing Opera at a very young age back in Nanjing， and began practicing its postures and movements some 10 years ago. “I was influenced by my grandma when I was a small child，”she recalled. “We listened to records and then tapes and I learned from those.” At that time Li dreamt of becoming a professional Shaoxing Opera singer， but her parents disapproved of her ambitions. Though she thinks this was a pity， she fully understands the choice her parents made. “As a professional opera singer， I would have had limited career choices and the competition among professionals is very tough，”she said. “But as a hobby， things are different. It is more about fun and enjoyment.”

Now Li Yue is a graphic designer with an educational publishing house. And thanks to her continued dedication to Shaoxing Opera， she is now considered one of the troupe’s top performers. When dressed up and wearing traditional opera make-up， she looks like a young girl. No one believes she is in her 40s.

The troupe is full of enthusiastic participants like Cheng Yuanna and Li Yue， which is what makes it stand out. They have also debuted new work. In May 2012 they toured southern China to give performances of a new production Huang Daopo， telling stories about a woman who spread technologies of cotton spinning and textile weaving in the early Yuan Dynasty （1271-1368）.

This artistic innovation won them success. The Shaoxing Opera production also received official acknowledgement， and was performed at the auditorium of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing during the opera season， in which Beijing Xiaobaihua was the onlytroupe.

A Long Way to Go

Though Cheng Yuanna and the troupe members are content with their current situation， they are worried that so few young people are getting involved. There are too few talented performers that can fill the roles of young men and women.

Cheng is trying to get more young people into the troupe. But， she explained， it is hard for young people to come to practice every weekend， as they are busy studying and working to lay a foundation for their future careers. Another problem is that people may stay a while and train intensively， but then leave the city to work elsewhere.

The youngest troupe member is Dai Lina， born in 1985 in Zhejiang. After graduating from a university in Beijing in 2008， she started working for a transnational pharmaceutical company and is now a product manager.

Dai’s acquaintance with the dialect paved the way for her to learn Shaoxing Opera. Before she joined the troupe in April 2012， she found that there was very limited online information about the troupe and Shaoxing Opera. Since then， Dai has been using her knowledge and expertise to promote the troupe.

She feels that traditional theatrical arts in general， including Shaoxing Opera， have fallen on hard times. These operas are confronted with challenges such as the lack of content for new productions， troupe management， marketing， and a limited audience.

Like Li Yue， her love for Shaoxing Opera can be traced back to her grandmother. When she was in the countryside， her grandma would often sing or play recordings of the traditional music. In 2011， her father passed away and it hit her grandmother hard.

Away from hometown， Dai tried to cheer her grandmother up by buying her things， and also started to learn pieces from Shaoxing Opera. During the 2011 national day holiday， she went back to her hometown and sang one for her grandmother， which made her very happy.

Dai also turns to Shaoxing Opera for comfort when she is homesick， and has great appreciation for other forms of traditional opera. “Traditional operas are so profound，” she said. “But as time passes， and as performers pass on， they die out.”

And performers cannot be trained just like that. Learning Chinese folk art， said Dai， is a lifelong task.“Even 30 years of learning isn’t enough，” she said. But despite the seemingly arduous road ahead of her， she wouldn’t hesitate to help a child who had fallen under the spell of Shaoxing Opera find the best teacher for her.

Pop culture has a huge impact on traditional theatrical arts. Many traditional operas are struggling for a survival， while some have already become extinct. Troupes like Beijing Xiaobaihua are like oases in the desert， inspiring the general population to welcome such art forms into their lives.

“At the start of the troupe we didn’t think about it much， but gradually we realized that we are contributing to preservation of our culture，” Cheng said. This is the fervent ambition of Xiaobaihua’s members. “Shaoxing Opera is a living art， and I wish it a long life.”