Scott Tanzer, a Tisch drama student, spent the fall 2007 semester studying Chinese Opera Training at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. After an intense semester of training, Scott reflects on his training and his time in Shanghai and beyond.
1. In your own words, what is Chinese Opera Training?
Chinese Opera is an intense physically based movement class. While in actual Chinse Opera, there is usually a voice aspect to this art form, for our purposes of study, voice was impractical to learn. Our Chinese Opera class not only opened my eyes to another art from to which I had no prior exposure, but it also made me so much more physically aware of my body and the power that I have over it.
As I began the training I struggled with my flexibility and the many combinations we learned proved to be challenging, but by the time out final presentation rolled around I felt confident that I had become somewhat of a master at what I had learned. The movements we focused on are very specific and almost posed, so the work can be very tedious and painstaking, but we always had a great time in class. We learned combinations using swords and spears, and in one of favorite combinations, a boy was paired with a girl and we would fight: boys with a spear and girls with two swords.
Though at times I felt frustrated with my ability in the class the pay off in the end was great. I learned new thing about myself and I gained an intense appreciation for this incredible form of art. Our teachers were some of the kindest and most patient people I have ever met in my life. They truly want you to succeed and really made this course worthwhile.
2.) What was the best part of the training? The most challenging part?
The best part of the training was our final presentation day. We got to share with all of our friends and other teachers what we had been learning. It was a very informal presentation so we all felt very comfortable and it was truly a lot of fun. Prior to our performance we all got to dress up in the traditional opera costumes and make-up and take pictures. This was a real treat.
The make up and costume take a good hour and a half to get done up in, so it was really neat to understand what a Chinese opera performer must go through before every performance. This performance day helped complete my sense of feeling for this art form.
The most challenging aspect of the training I would say is the specificity of each movement. There is no room for error in this art form. Many a time my teacher would stop me in the middle of a combination to move my hand about a centimeter in some direction. When holding the spear, I often found myself millimeters off, but without fail, my teacher would correct me. It was very frustrating at first but eventually it becomes a part of your body and you feel what is correct and what is not.
3.) Tell us about the Shanghai Theatre Academy. What was your experience there like? Describe the language class as well as the Arts and Culture course.
Mandarin is a VERY difficult language. I felt so frustrated and overwhelmed, but eventually it will sort of click and you’ll realize how much you actually know and then it just becomes easier to learn. My clicking point came about mid October when I went to the train station and was able to talk to a person and order 5 tickets for us to take a train trip. I was able to say where we wanted to go, how many tickets, what time, what day, and I was even able to let her know that we wanted a sleeper cabin (as many train rides in China are at least 12 hours). I felt so accomplished after I ordered these tickets and from then on I felt that I was more confident in my ability to learn.
Our teachers were fantastic. One of them did not speak any English but is so incredibly patient and wonderful, the other spoke some English but she was tougher on us so English was only if used if absolutely necessary. While we literally spent about 150 hours in Chinese class it was so helpful and useful to know the language. Because of our grasp on Mandarin, we were able to travel and communicate so much easier than when we first arrived.
Chinese culture class was a fun way to end our week. Every Friday afternoon we would have a guest lecturer talking about a different aspect of the culture. My personal favorite class (which I chose to write my final paper on) was calligraphy. While calligraphy is used in their everyday language it is also an ancient art form. I found this lecture fascinating and really enjoyed my research on the topic. Other lectures included Chinese table manners, economics, modern art (a field trip to the modern art museum), modern history, poetry and literature. Every week was something different so I never got bored. We also had two companion classes to our Chinese Opera Training in which we learned more about the history of the art form and all of the characters that are portrayed.
4.) What is it like to live in Shanghai? If there's one story you could tell about your time there, what would it be?
Shanghai was an incredible place to live. Because of the language barrier and the vast difference between Chinese and American culture. I was often placed in situations or conversations that would be considered uncommon in America. Because Americans stick out lie sore thumbs in China, we often found ourselves being badgered by beggars, and people trying to sell their goods on the street. While at first it proved hard to shake them off sometimes, once we learned to speak some Mandarin and could tell them we weren’t interested in their goods, it was much easier to make them go away.
Living is cheap, so life is great. My absolute favorite part about Shanghai was the massages. You could get a 2 hour massage for about $10 at a nice spa. Especially with the hard physical work that I put in daily at Opera Training this was much needed. Eating is also cheap. We found many restaurants that were delicious and you only had to pay about $3 for a feast! While the exchange rate was steadily declining while we were there, everything was still very cheap in comparison to The US.
5.) You all took an amazing trip together. Tell us about it.
We actually go to travel to many different places in China, the most exotic and distant being Tibet. We had a week off at the beginning of October so we decided to take this time to travel to the west and be exposed to a culture even further removed form that of America. We loved our trip. We flew to a city called Xi’An and from there took a sleeper train for 36 hours! The train ride was less than wonderful, but we managed to entertain ourselves and it was so worth it to be able to make it to Lasa. We arrived in Lasa (The capitol of Tibet) and spent three days where we toured many monasteries, The Potala Palace, and we traveled to one of the highest salt water lakes in the world. It was a holy lake and by far the most beautiful spot I experienced in all my travels in China.
The train ride home was straight through to Shanghai so this time it was a 50 hour ride, but the train was less crowded and much more pleasant. It truly was the trip of a lifetime. The monasteries and all of the monks were fascinating and the scenery was unreal. We were surrounded by mountains and desert and even had a glimpse of the Himalayas.