飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)：向世界分享中國藝術(shù)

劉天恬

飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)（CPAA）于1991年在美國加州成立，是一家非營利的藝術(shù)機(jī)構(gòu)，其目的是通過表演藝術(shù)將中國文化介紹給美國社會(huì)。飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)通過盡善盡美地展示非凡的中國文化藝術(shù)，使中華文化瑰寶可以被世界分享。

2020年，突如其來的新冠疫情打亂了所有人的步伐，至3月，舊金山灣區(qū)封城，各行各業(yè)停止運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)藝術(shù)總監(jiān)韓峰說：“那時(shí)候我們的華人春晚剛結(jié)束，正在準(zhǔn)備飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)成立三十周年的慶典演出，因?yàn)橐咔樵?，所有工作都陷入了停滯?！?/p>

攜手抗擊疫情

王何春子從上海交通大學(xué)本科畢業(yè)之后，直接來到了斯坦福大學(xué)念碩士研究生，畢業(yè)之后留在硅谷的一家教育創(chuàng)業(yè)公司擔(dān)任項(xiàng)目經(jīng)理。2019年的暑假，她加入了飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)。她從2017年來到美國之后，就沒有回過國，原本打算2020年春節(jié)前回家過年，但由于國內(nèi)疫情暴發(fā)，一直沒能回去。

留在美國，物質(zhì)上的東西對(duì)她來說影響不大，最令人放不下的是來自家人的擔(dān)憂?！拔覜]有想到我一個(gè)人在這里這件事情可以讓那么多人牽掛，他們的擔(dān)心會(huì)讓我也很擔(dān)心，我很想讓他們知道我在這里過得很好，他們不用擔(dān)心我。”

特蕾西是飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)的一名志愿者，疫情以來，她就一直在家辦公。隨著疫情的惡化，購買食品也成為一項(xiàng)重要任務(wù)。她買了一個(gè)很大的冷凍柜，想盡辦法儲(chǔ)存了很多肉和冷凍食品，特蕾西一家從此就幾乎都不出門了，也沒有邀請(qǐng)任何人來家里，盡自己所能來確保家人的安全。

飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)的舞團(tuán)成員米歇爾說，在疫情期間，她們一家人一天24小時(shí)都待在家里，距離的縮短導(dǎo)致很多生活上的細(xì)節(jié)全部被放大，也就開始產(chǎn)生了一些摩擦。每天的跳舞時(shí)間是她最期待的，可以遠(yuǎn)離生活的瑣事，盡情沉浸于舞蹈中。為了家里有合適的場(chǎng)地滿足跳舞的需求，她還把客廳的地毯和沙發(fā)都清走了。

網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳遞藝術(shù)

由于疫情的影響，飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)積極鼓勵(lì)所有老師有組織地提供線上課程。一開始大家對(duì)網(wǎng)課并不能完全接受，老師們覺得舞蹈應(yīng)該言傳身教，是網(wǎng)課的話只剩下言傳了，身教的效果就差很多，但鑒于疫情只能先試一試。隨著時(shí)間的推移，大家也都慢慢克服了網(wǎng)課中的問題，開始適應(yīng)了。這個(gè)過程中還發(fā)生了許多趣事，比如這邊上著課，那邊一只小貓小狗就跑過來了;還有由于網(wǎng)絡(luò)信號(hào)不穩(wěn)定，動(dòng)作做著做著突然音樂伴奏就沒有了，畫面靜止了，狀況百出，啼笑皆非。

疫情以來，最受影響的還是孩子們。埃米是一名中學(xué)生，她習(xí)慣了去校園里上學(xué)、面對(duì)面結(jié)交朋友以及在教室里上課的生活，突然間所有的東西都變成了在家完成，一切都變成了在線上，這是一個(gè)很大的轉(zhuǎn)變。她所有的課外活動(dòng)都變成了網(wǎng)課，舞蹈課是最有挑戰(zhàn)性的，因?yàn)樗枰畲蟮目臻g。她的家人一起討論了一段時(shí)間，最后決定清理出一間起居室，并且設(shè)置了一個(gè)大屏幕作為舞蹈課的屏幕。埃米是非常優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生，一直堅(jiān)持訓(xùn)練，她在比賽中獲獎(jiǎng)的消息無疑給大家增添了很多信心和力量，激勵(lì)大家用這種堅(jiān)持的態(tài)度去不斷追求和實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的理想。

疫情期間，飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)中有很多的學(xué)生也以視頻的方式，積極參與了很多全國性的舞蹈比賽，同時(shí)也獲得了很好的成績。

同樣是CPAA舞團(tuán)成員的王何春子也表示 ，盡管她的房間不是很大，但她會(huì)想盡辦法利用空間來做一些跟舞蹈相關(guān)的事，無論是保持自己的肢體柔軟度還是再開發(fā)一下自己身體的舞蹈機(jī)能。慢慢地她發(fā)現(xiàn)，確實(shí)是有很多可以在家里做的事，也就沒有那么擔(dān)心了。雖然她很想念在舞蹈房的日子，但也相信這樣的日子很快就會(huì)回到她的身邊。

傳播中國藝術(shù)

最近，舊金山灣區(qū)各行各業(yè)逐漸復(fù)蘇。飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)也恢復(fù)了原本的課程，謝麗爾 · 泰勒說：“這就像開學(xué)的第一天，我們又見到了熟悉的每個(gè)人。每年夏令營的第一天，當(dāng)老師和學(xué)生們回來時(shí)，就像家庭重逢一樣，可惜的是，我們還無法像以前一樣相互擁抱。”

為準(zhǔn)備飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)的重新開放，工作人員們開了好幾次會(huì)議，討論如何在這個(gè)時(shí)期讓學(xué)生和老師感到安全舒適，更重要的是要遵守城市以及CDC的規(guī)則。為此，制定了一系列安全規(guī)則。此外，工作人員還要求師生在課前課后進(jìn)行個(gè)人衛(wèi)生消毒工作，確保大家能有一個(gè)安全衛(wèi)生的環(huán)境。

三十周年的晚會(huì)是介紹中國唐朝文化的一組節(jié)目，主創(chuàng)人員選擇了詩人李白的清平調(diào)作為其中的一個(gè)節(jié)目。對(duì)晚會(huì)的期待，讓舞團(tuán)成員們排練的時(shí)候都保持著很高的熱情。

飛揚(yáng)藝術(shù)團(tuán)的韓峰說：“飛揚(yáng)三十年的舞臺(tái)創(chuàng)作從未間斷，由于疫情雖然被迫中斷了一段時(shí)間，但現(xiàn)在大家又重新集合，開始踏上新的征程。越是在這種逆境中，越是能讓大家團(tuán)結(jié)起來，彼此依偎、彼此關(guān)照、彼此鼓勵(lì)。在疫情下，我們的堅(jiān)持能夠?yàn)樯鐓^(qū)和廣大熱愛藝術(shù)的人們提供一個(gè)平臺(tái)，讓大家在疫情中也能感受到藝術(shù)帶給我們的力量?！?/p>

疫情讓我們意識(shí)到人類是多么脆弱，但希望之火始終不曾熄滅。真正的藝術(shù)就是這樣一種精神，可以為人們提供振奮人心的能量。

CPAA， Showcasing Traditional Chinese Art to the World

By Tian Tian

CPAA， or the Chinese Performing Arts of America， is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 in California， US， and it has been devoted to introducing Chinese culture through performing arts.

In the beginning of 2020， the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 shut down the Bay Area， San Francisco. “The Chinese Spring Festival Gala was just over then and we were preparing for the 30th anniversary of CPAA，” said Han Feng， CPAAs director. “But we had to suspended all activities due to the epidemic.”

While people have realized how vulnerable human beings are during the epidemic， it is the spirit of art that always inspires them to move on.

Hechunzi Wang pursued her postgraduate study in Stanford University after she got her bachelors degree in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She joined an education startup as a project manager in Silicon Valley after graduation. During the summer holiday of 2019， she became a member of CPAA. She had planned her first trip back to China for the 2020 Spring Festival since 2017， but didnt make it due to COVID-19. Staying in the US alone， her biggest concern was not the living conditions， but her familys constant worry about her. “I didnt expect that so many family members are worried for me， which made me feel more anxious. How I wished I could comfort them.”

Tracy Jiang is a volunteer of CPAA. She has been working at home since the outbreak. As the situation worsened， food purchasing became an important task in daily life. So she and her family bought a big freezer to store enough meat and frozen food so that they did not need go out frequently to secure safe in this special period.

Michelle Shao， a dancer at CPAA， said that she spent 24 hours together with her family every day during the epidemic. The shortening of social distance caused many conflicts between family members inevitably. Her most enjoyable time each day was the moment when she immersed herself in dancing. She even moved the sofa and carpet away in her sitting room to make enough space for dancing comfortably.

CPAA encouraged all the teachers and organizations to provide online classes during the epidemic period. This advice was not fully supported at the very beginning， because the teachers knew that dancing should be taught by deeds instead of words. Obviously online teaching could not fulfill this request. With more and more practice， the teachers overcame the problems in online classes and got with it gradually. Many funny “incidents” occurred during the online training， for example a cat or a dog broke into the picture suddenly， or because of unstable internet， teachers were frozen in the picture with a funny gesture.

The students were the most affected by the COVID-19. Amy was a middle school student. She had been used to studying in school to talk and play with all her classmates face to face. All of a sudden， everything changed. She had to stay at home all day and took many online classes. She met some challenges for her dancing class， which needed more space to practice. So she set up a big screen in the living room to make the most out of the class. Amy was so excellent that she had kept daily practice and even joined a dancing competition during the period. Her success in the competition has undoubtedly inspired others also to pursue their goals proactively even in these difficult times.

Hechunzi Wang， who is also a member of CPAAs dancing troupe， said although her room was not big enough for dancing， she took efforts to make use of any space to practice， such as stretching or other small-scale movements. When she found out that she could perform many dancing-related activities even staying at home， she felt relaxed. She had always missed the days when she could dance in the studio every day， and she believed it would not be long for this day to come back again.

Currently， with all industries recovering gradually， CPAA also tried to start their daily classes. “Its like the first day of school，” Cheryl Talor， an instructor at CPAA， breathed a sigh of relief. “We met everyone and its just like a family reunion. The only regret is that we cannot embrace each other as before.”

In preparation for the reopening of CPAA， the staff members have held several meetings to discuss how to make students and teachers feel safe and comfortable， and more importantly， to abide by the rules of the city and CDC. To this end， a series of safety rules have been formulated. In addition， the staff members also require teachers and students to carry out personal disinfection before and after class to ensure a safe and healthy environment.

For CPAA， the celebration party for its 30 years anniversary will be focused on introducing the Tang dynasty （618-907）. All the members have been highly enthusiastic during the rehearsal. “In the past 30 years， we have never stopped our performance except for the epidemic period this year，” according to Han Feng， its director. “Now we could get together again and embark on a new journey. All these difficulties we met have made us unite together more closely to empower each other. And our persistence also transmitted the spirit of art to our community and even all the people who love art.”