Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The Painted Face

We hardly can see them except during the festivals celebrations for temples and clan associations or during the "Hungry Ghosts Month". The Chinese opera is a traditional form of stage entertainment, weaving together elements of mime, dance, song, dialogue, swordplay, and acrobatics into one fluid continuous flow. Gestures, movements and expressions incorporated within each performer's script come together to bring forth an impressive performance. It is a culture filled with splendid richness of colours and traditions. The vibrant colours of the costumes bring life onto the stage. The beautiful costumes excluding headgears ranges from S$100 to S$1000 depending on the role of the actors and actresses. The thick make ups on their faces had to be done hours way before their performances begin. Trainings and practices with professional instructors before the stage performance can be tedious and could take up about 3 to 4 hours per week. Mostly it's the older generations who appreciate and understand the rich culture of the Chinese Operas.
Here's my colleague, Cynthia who been involved in the Cantonese Opera since her school days and has since been performing for the past 15 years despite her busy and hectic office work. Appearing here in full regalia in her beautiful colourful costume says it all! Well done Cynthia, you revive the spirit of the chinese opera which is a dying culture.

8 comments:

Solo said...

har, no wonder i find this face familiar. Its a pity that the younger generation do not appreciate opera.....

Edith said...

hahaa... remembering days whereby my late grandma will hold our hands and walk a distance to watch opera in Chinatown.

Solo said...

Nowsday pple prefer hot spicy babe singing on stage rather then opera for 7th month celebration.

BoZoGEMOK said...

Perhaps, they didn't know the real meaning behind the Opera show.

fr said...

Cynthia Chow? I just watched her performance about 3 weeks ago at Victoria Theatre.

A.C. said...

Just happened to pop by... What you've written is so true. I am an amateur Chinese opera actor myself, and it is really not easy to be one!

BoZoGEMOK said...

Hi a.c.,
I so proud of you, do keep up the spirit of this great Opera culture.
You'll soon be able to do well with the right spirit! Kuduos to you!

BoZoGEMOK said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.