仅仅只是开始

在印度举办中国芭蕾专场演出，说实话，最初，“今日中国”艺术周的工作人员是有点“紧张”的——中国芭蕾能否引发印度公众的共鸣，特别是很多从未看过芭蕾演出的观众，能不能接受这种艺术形式？

“复相·叠影——广州影像三年展2017”于2017年12月15日至2018年3月8日在广东美术馆举办。图为卡约·里兹乌斯的摄影作品《塔巴提欧卡》Simultaneous Eidos —— Guangzhou Image Triennial 2017 has been held at Guangdong Museum of Art from December 15, 2017 to March 8, 2018. Tabatioca by Caio Reisewitz

结果如何？两场演出谢幕时，观众全部起立鼓掌，众多市民涌入后台争相与中国芭蕾舞者合影；那格浦尔市报纸The Hitavada第二天一早就在头版刊发演出的巨幅照片，并在文化版面以几乎整版的篇幅报道这一艺术盛宴……在新德里和那格浦尔，中国芭蕾艺术在“今日中国”艺术周的平台上获得印度主流社会的极大追捧。

曾经，有个叫扬科·萨佛诺夫的保加利亚摄影师绘制了一幅“世界偏见地图”，以此嘲讽全球地域歧视。其中对印度的描述是这样的——美国人眼里：“各种咖喱”，伊朗人眼里：“亚洲小英国”，印尼人眼里：“宝莱坞”，中国人眼里：“没厕所”……真正的印度到底是怎样的？或许哪一种说法都对，也可能哪一种说法都充满了偏见，正如18世纪意大利剧作家哥尔多尼所说的：“不出国门的人充满了偏见”——每当一个人面对一种不同于自身的文化，他必然会产生带有偏见的想象，而深入当地，积极交流，则是“去魅”的唯一途径。

古人说，“纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行”。中国文艺正是秉持着“要躬行”的态度，在世界舞台展示自我，引进他者，这就如“今日中国”艺术周的印度首秀，和我们这2018年第一期的杂志一样——仅仅是个开始。

It is genuinely true that the personnel of "China Today " Art Week were a little "nervous" at the very beginning of the special performance of the Chinese ballet in India--- whether the Chinese ballet can arouse the resonance of the Indian public, especially for those who have never seen ballet performance, can they accept this art form?

And the result is? All the audiences rose in applause at the time of the curtain call of the two performances. Many citizens poured into the background trying to photos with the Chinese ballet dancers. TheHitavada, a local newspaper in Nagpur made a huge front-page photo of the show on the very next morning, and the cultural page covered this art feast with almost the full page ... In New Delhi and Nagpur, the Chinese ballet has gained immense popularity among mainstream Indian society on the platform of "China Today".

There was once a Bulgarian photographer, Yanko Tsvetkov, who has drawn a "Map of World Prejudices" as a source of ridicule for global geographical discrimination. One of the descriptions of India is follows: in the eyes of the Americans: "All kinds of curry", for Iranian: "Little Britain in Asia", for Indonesian: "Bollywood", and for the Chinese: "No toilet"... what exactly is India? Perhaps any of these statements are true and might be biased in any way, as the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni in the 18thcentury said: "The one who hasn’t been abroad is full of prejudice." Whenever a person faces a type of culture different from his or her own, he or she will inevitably have a prejudiced imagination. However,the in-depth and active exchanges in the country will be the exclusive way to "change the impression."The ancients said that "Practice goes deeper than theoretic knowledge". It, the Practice, is the exact attitude upheld by the Chinese literature and art, presenting themselves while introducing others. This is just like the debut of "China Today" Art Week in India and our first edition in 2018 - it is just a Beginning.