Chen Jian’s Acrobatic Life

Text by Rong Yu

Photos by Song Zhentao

There is always exciting magic and acrobatics at the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Magic is something you know is not real, but it looks real, while acrobatics you know is real, but you wonder how it could be.

To make the impossible possible is the lifelong goal of many acrobatic performers including Chen Jian, deputy general manager of Wuhan Acrobatic Art Co., Ltd.

Chen Jian, aged forty-two, has been performing in the acrobatic world for more than 30 years. Flying in the air like a bird is his daily work, and almost every part of his body has been injured. Chen Jian starred in theHero between Heaven and Earth,Big Springboard,Pirates, and other highly challenging acrobatic programs, for which he has won numerous prestigious awards, gaining honor for the Wuhan acrobatics community.

On July 14, Chen Jian told us about his lifelong love of acrobatics at the Wuhan Acrobatic Hall, which is located on Taipei Road in Wuhan.

He loved sports and learned martial arts in his childhood. When he was in the third year of primary school, the acrobatic coach went to his school to recruit trainees. He was very interested and passed the examination, so he was admitted.

Although his parents knew that learning acrobatics was a tough job, they knew that it would instill a work ethic for him in doing everything in the world, so they chose to support him. The teacher took a look at his bones and asked him to do some simple training movements. He could persist, while other kids couldn’t stand it and quit.

Acrobat Chen Jian 雜技人陳健

每年的CCTV春節(jié)聯(lián)歡晚會(huì)中，總會(huì)有扣人心弦的魔術(shù)和雜技。魔術(shù)，是你明知道是假的，看上去卻像真的；雜技，則是你明知道是真的，卻覺得這怎么可能是真的。

將不可能變成可能，是武漢雜技藝術(shù)有限責(zé)任公司副總經(jīng)理陳健和無數(shù)雜技人終其一生的奮斗目標(biāo)。

今年42 歲的陳健已在雜技世界里打拼30 余載，像鳥兒一樣在空中飛翔是他的工作日常，他身上幾乎每個(gè)地方都受過傷。陳健主演的《英雄天地間》《大跳板》《海盜》等高難度雜技節(jié)目斬獲過無數(shù)重磅大獎(jiǎng)，捍衛(wèi)著武漢雜技的高度。

7月14日，在位于臺(tái)北路的武漢雜技廳里，陳健向我們講述了他對(duì)雜技那份無法割舍的愛。

他從小特別愛運(yùn)動(dòng)，學(xué)過武術(shù)，小學(xué)三年級(jí)時(shí)，雜技教師去他們學(xué)校招人，他挺感興趣，而且通過了考核，就被錄取了。

雖然父母知道學(xué)雜技挺苦，但干什么都得吃苦，所以選擇支持他。老師看了看他的骨骼，讓他做點(diǎn)簡(jiǎn)單的訓(xùn)練，他能堅(jiān)持。有很多孩子受不了，就退出了。

Chen Jian (left) guiding the young actors in their training 陳?。ㄗ螅┲笇?dǎo)小演員們訓(xùn)練

“I felt particularly good at that time because the training was not so intense at that moment,” Chen Jian recalled. “Dozens of students in my class got up at 5 o’clock every morning to practice morning skills. At the very beginning, we practiced just for fun and played around, but when we moved to a higher stage, we all began to suffer. The first three years were the hardest time, which was like a hell for a lot of trainees, because at that time practicing the hamstrings was considered the hardest part in training. We would feel painful and cry when we pressed our legs every day to train our basic skills. When I was about eleven years old, I was singled out for performance training and I realized my efforts counted.”

“我當(dāng)時(shí)感覺還好，那個(gè)階段的訓(xùn)練強(qiáng)度不算大。我們那一屆幾十個(gè)學(xué)生，每天早上5 點(diǎn)起來練早功，一開始還打打鬧鬧覺得好玩，但等練到更高階段的時(shí)候，都開始哭了。前3年是最苦的，對(duì)很多人來說可能像地獄，因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)候腿、筋都是最硬的，每天都邊哭邊壓腿，得把基礎(chǔ)打好。差不多到了11 歲，我開始進(jìn)入到節(jié)目訓(xùn)練中，那時(shí)候就有種水到渠成的感覺了?！?/p>

1990年，陳健12 歲，雜技團(tuán)從60 多個(gè)孩子中挑選了十幾個(gè)，到日本演出，一直演了3 個(gè)月，效果特別好，他很有成就感。那是他第一次飛出國門，在那個(gè)年代能坐飛機(jī)、出國，是值得炫耀的。“慢慢地，我覺得雜技是我可以賴以生存的事業(yè)，我對(duì)它是最親切、最熟悉的，你讓我再去做別的，我可能不會(huì)做到這么好?！?/p>

1.企業(yè)核心能力整體上相當(dāng)匱乏。具有自身獨(dú)特核心能力的企業(yè)才是健康擁有活力的，然而，縱觀國內(nèi)眾多企業(yè)，雖然有些時(shí)候一些企業(yè)也表現(xiàn)出很大優(yōu)勢(shì)，獲得了很大利潤，但對(duì)于企業(yè)核心能力，多數(shù)企業(yè)仍然沒有建立起來。快速成立又快速破產(chǎn)的企業(yè)比比皆是，并由此造成我國就業(yè)市場(chǎng)持續(xù)嚴(yán)峻的形勢(shì)。

陳健在雜技方面有天賦，表演膽大心細(xì)，喜歡創(chuàng)新。“我們小時(shí)候跟著老師學(xué)翻跳板，翻兩周，后來就想，能不能變成翻三周，再轉(zhuǎn)體180 度，慢慢增加創(chuàng)意和難度。說起來輕松，做起來可沒那么容易，受傷是家常便飯。雜技人和其他人最大的區(qū)別，是對(duì)身體的控制力，而這無非是依靠長期的訓(xùn)練，形成肌肉記憶，就是幾萬次、十幾萬次地練?！?/p>

陳健說：“雜技的內(nèi)核是一種精神，積極向上，自強(qiáng)不息，堅(jiān)韌不拔。雜技人做的事就是挑戰(zhàn)自己的極限，達(dá)到常人不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)的程度，挑戰(zhàn)自身各方面的天花板。如果將這種精神帶到現(xiàn)實(shí)生活里，就是‘不妥協(xié)’。雜技人不管之后干什么，都不會(huì)覺得辛苦，因?yàn)樗?jīng)歷過競(jìng)技運(yùn)動(dòng)，吃過很多精神和身體上的苦，再大的事兒都不算什么了。”

由于年齡極限，陳健30 歲時(shí)，工作重心從表演轉(zhuǎn)向帶團(tuán)隊(duì)，但直到35 歲還在演出，后來因身上傷太多，不得不離開自己心愛的舞臺(tái)?！拔业哪X海里總有那種像小鳥一樣飛的感覺，我永遠(yuǎn)忘不了在臺(tái)上的這種幸福感?！标惤≌f。

身為武漢雜技界的中生代力量，陳健說，他的夢(mèng)想就是帶出一支優(yōu)秀青年團(tuán)隊(duì)，多培養(yǎng)一些懂業(yè)務(wù)、懂市場(chǎng)的復(fù)合型人才，把“傳幫帶”做好，使劇團(tuán)發(fā)展良性循環(huán)，讓武漢雜技繼續(xù)位居全中國第一梯隊(duì)，讓武漢雜技始終保持在一定的高度。

陳健說，武漢雜技團(tuán)是美國迪士尼在中國國內(nèi)唯一的合作伙伴，雙方合作了3年，雜技團(tuán)的藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作是得到充分肯定的。

他告訴我們：“因受新冠肺炎疫情影響，團(tuán)員們5 個(gè)月沒練功，功力都有所退步，恢復(fù)訓(xùn)練了一段時(shí)間才回來?，F(xiàn)在我們一周訓(xùn)練6天，和時(shí)間賽跑，想在年底創(chuàng)作一臺(tái)大戲出來，獻(xiàn)禮建黨100 周年。”

對(duì)于自己的雜技人生，陳健很自豪：“如果人生可以重來，我還是愿意做雜技，繼續(xù)在舞臺(tái)上飛翔，完成以前沒有完成的夢(mèng)想，這種飛翔的感覺終身難忘。但我會(huì)想辦法，讓自己不再受這么多傷了?！标惤〉难凵窀嬖V我們，他是由衷地愛這門挑戰(zhàn)極限的藝術(shù)。

Chen Jian is quite talented in acrobatics, bold and careful in performance, and is fond of creation in his movements. “When we were young, our teacher taught us to play the springboard two turns, and then we wondered if we could make it three turns and then rotate it 180 degrees, gradually increasing the creativity and difficulty. It is easier said than done, and it is very common to get injured in the practice. The biggest difference between acrobats and other performers is the control of the body, which relies on long-term training, the formation of muscle memory, and tens of thousands of times practicing movements.”

Chen Jian continued: “The core of acrobatics is a kind of positive, unremitting, and enduring spirit. What acrobats do is to challenge their own limits to the extent that ordinary people cannot achieve, and to challenge their own talents in all aspects. If this spirit is brought to real life, it means never giving up. Acrobats do not feel upset no matter what, because they have experienced countless competitions in sports and suffered a lot of mental and physical tests. No matter how tough things are, challenges mean nothing in their eyes.”

Due to the age limit, Chen Jian shifted his focus from stage performance to coaching at the age of 30, but he continued to perform until the age of 35, when he had to leave his cherished stage because of too many injuries. “I always have the feeling of flying like a bird in my mind, and I will never forget the happiness I felt on the stage,” Chen Jian said.

As the backbone force of the Wuhan acrobatic community, Chen Jian said that his dream was to bring out a good young acrobatic team and cultivate more interdisciplinary talents who are at home in both an acrobatic context and the business market. He wants to do well in the mentoring and coaching position and keep the Wuhan acrobatics community at the top of the industry.

Chen Jian also said that Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe was Disney’s only partner in China. The two sides have cooperated for three years, and the troupe’s artistic creations had been fully affirmed internationally.

He told us that the troupe members had not practiced their skills for 5 months, and their skills were in decline due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It took them some time to resume training. “Now we were training 6 days a week, racing against time because we wanted to create a host of programs to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the CPC by the end of the year.”

Being very proud of his own acrobatic life, Chen Jian said: “If I could live life again, I would still pursue acrobatics, continue to fly on the stage, complete my dreams that I haven’t achieved and hold dear the feeling of flying forever. Besides, I could think of some ways to avoid being injured.” From Chen Jian’s eyes, we knew that he genuinely loved the art of acrobatics, which allows humans to challenge their limits.

(Translation: Zhou Honghua)