江东伦敦跨艺旅思08：脑力操练

    虽然与昨晚演出门庭若市济济一堂的观众席不同，今天在“跨艺”论坛上听众的门可罗雀空空如也，倒也并没能影响各位参与“跨艺”项目的学者们在论坛上的精彩发挥。当然，这种情形显然也提醒我们，在英国，实践与理论的关注者在比例上同样是相当悬殊的这样一个事实，让人对这个比例的全球同步性深感无奈。因此，我们今天举行的这个国际论坛，其实也还几乎是“圈里人”自己在“玩”。这应了钱钟书那句“学问不过是二三素心人之事”的说法。该项目的中国策划人许锐在论坛中强调，这个“跨艺”项目的着眼点，仍然还是在研究这个层面上，点明了“跨艺”的根本性质。而吕艺生先生也表示，据他的观察，类似的将学者、编导、舞者融于一体的舞蹈活动在国际上并不多见。对此，我也是非常认同的。因此，我也是要向“跨艺”的策划者和组织者们深表敬意，他们对于舞蹈研究工作的眼光及其方法，定会产生不可估量的非凡意义。

    于8月11号在英国伦敦大学玛丽女王学院举办的本届“跨艺”论坛环节，以主题发言的方式进行了整整一天的时间。别忘了这一天可是周日啊，这样的举动，我想，在行止尚属慵懒的伦敦客看来，不啻是一个疯狂之举了。所以当我们一行一大早便乘大巴穿过尚未醒来的伦敦城到达玛丽女王学院时，还真自我感觉挺另类的。

    挺另类的我们在组织者安排的一位英国布里斯托大学教授所做的关于鸦片战争之后发生的一些中英文化交流的讲座之后，便按照预先分好的三个组别，就预定的三个议题展开了讨论。于是，一场真正的脑力操练和思想交锋便就此鸣锣。

    我们三个小组各自分别的议题依次为：“跨艺术”、“跨语言”、“跨学科”。这三个议题的分量按说都不轻，大家在经历这么长一段时间的观察和沟通之后又都憋着一肚子的话要说，也都各自做了很充分的准备，因此，来自北京、台北、伦敦的各位学者围绕这些话题进入了有的放矢和深入浅出的展示与探讨，彼此的话语中始终不乏独到的见解，也让我们感受到跨界这个元问题引领大家所进行的思想探险是多么引人入胜。信息量很大，同时也让人被深埋在理论堆里而感受到了不断的轰炸带来的些许疲劳，当然，所获得的教益也是空前的。

    华语世界里的娘子军学者们集体展示出了华人学者的风采和能力。台湾学者先后有台北艺大的林雅婷、陈雅萍、王云佑和曾瑞媛分三个组相继亮相，她们对理论问题准确而深入的把握和超强的语言能力，给我们树立了良好的榜样。而大陆年轻一代的学者们也是巾帼不让须眉，先后有王欣、刘岩、潘丽、仝妍轮番出场，她们精彩的呈现和显而易见的积累，都展示出了新一代中国舞蹈学者的智慧和学术底气。其中，最让我感佩的是刘岩，她在本次“跨艺”中的表现真是可圈可点。回想刘岩在2008年奥运中受伤后，从2009年便开始加入了“跨艺”项目，第一次做舞者、第二次做编导、本次又以学者的身份出现在这个平台上，她是所有参与者中唯一能如此“跨界”的人。而她的变化和进步，让人看到了她坚韧卓绝的付出和努力，让人不禁想伸出拇指说：刘岩，好样的！同时，代表伦敦参加论坛的学者群们亦有精彩表现，他们更是以渊博而扎实的学识和深厚而宽容的学养，不断将讨论推向纵深。听他们的发言，让人始终沉浸在思考的快乐之中。

    必须说，在“跨艺”项目中，思考是快乐的。随着这种快乐的思考随着骑在深度和广度的进一步开掘，定会推升舞蹈艺术的健康前行。在“跨艺”这里，理论和实践的边际已经模糊融合，继之而起的是一个其乐融融的国际舞蹈大家庭。

Translation…

Jiang Dong’s London Reflections 08: Brain exercise

In contrast to the packed audiences for yesterday’s performance, spectators at today’s ArtsCross forum were few and far between, but this did not dampen the enthusiastic participation of the academics in the ArtsCross forum. Of course, this situation reminds us that in Britain, there is a big gap between the numbers of people interested in performance and those interested in theory. Frustratingly, this in fact the case everywhere we look in the world. So when we organise an international forum of this kind, in reality it has the feeling of being a case of “insiders””playing around.” This reminds us of the famous phrase from the writer Qian Zhong, “Learning is the affair of a small number of people of dedicated heart.” Speaking at the forum, the Chinese organiser of the project, Xu Rui emphasised that the focus for the ArtsCross project is still on research, making clear the fundamental nature of the ArtsCross project. Lu Yisheng also noted that from his observations, there are very few similar dance initiatives internationally which bring together academics, choreographers and dancers. I am in full agreement on this point. I would therefore like to pay tribute to the planners and organisers of ArtsCross. Their vision and approaches in the area of dance research will without doubt produce something of inestimable value.

The forum section of this year’s ArtsCross was held at Queen Mary University of London on 11th August, and featured a full day of topical presentations. Don’t forget that this activity was arranged for a Sunday. For the sleepy residents of London, this must have seemed like an insane plan. As we took the early morning bus through a still-sleeping London, heading towards Queen Mary University, we felt somewhat out of the ordinary.

After listening to a lecture from a Bristol University professor on Anglo-Chinese cultural exchanges following the Opium War, arranged for us by the organisers, we participants, still feeling out of the ordinary, divided up into three pre-arranged groups, and started to engage in discussions around three topics. A hard session of brain exercise and intellectual jousting had begun.

The three discussion topics for the three groups were as follows: “Crossing art-forms“, “Crossing languages” and “Crossing disciplines.” Under any circumstances, the amount of ground to cover around these three topics would not be small. After spending so long observing and communicating, everyone had plenty they wanted to say. Everyone had also been very thorough in their preparations. Thanks to these preparations, the academics from Beijing, Taipei and London were able to engage in targeted discussion and gradual reflection on these issues. There was no shortage of original opinions, and we all saw how fascinating the ideas and questions around transcending borders were. There was a lot of information to digest, and at some points, it felt like we were buried in a mound of theory, being bombarded with new information, and this was quite tiring. Of course, the value which we derived from the exercise was also huge.

The team of female academics from the Chinese-speaking corner gave an excellent demonstration of the style and ability of Chinese scholars. The Taiwan academics were Taipei National University of the Arts’ Lin Ya-Tin, Chen Ya-Ping, Wang Yunyu and Tseng Ra-Yuan, who participated in the three group discussions. Their accurate and in-depth grasp of the theoretical issues, together with their excellent ability to express themselves set an excellent example for us. But the younger generation academics from the mainland were not to be outdone. Wang Xin, Liu Yan, Pan Li and Tong Yan each took their turns. Their excellent performances and obvious experience demonstrated the intelligence and academic ability of this new generation of Chinese dance scholars. Of the group, I was most impressed with Liu Yan. Her performance during this year’s ArtsCross was truly excellent. After being injured at the 2008 Olympic Games, Liu Yan joined the ArtsCross project in 2009 for the first time. The first time she participated as a dancer, the second as a choreographer. This time, she participated as an academic. Of all the participants, she is the only one who crosses so many “borders”. Her transformation and progress shows a sense of tenacity and exceptional application, which makes you want to stick your thumb up and say, “Nicely done, Liu Yan!” Meanwhile, the participating London academics performed excellently. They displayed a broad and firmly-rooted academic base, combined with a rich sense of cultivation, which continually pushed the discussion into new territories. While listening to them speak, we were able to immerse ourselves deeply in the pleasure of reflection.

I must say, in the ArtsCross project, thinking was a true pleasure. The expansion of thinking in all directions drives positive progress in the world of dance. Within the context of ArtsCross, the borders between theory and practice have become blurred, giving birth to a happy and harmonious international family of dance.