飛揚藝術團：向世界分享中國藝術

劉天恬

飛揚藝術團（CPAA）于1991年在美國加州成立，是一家非營利的藝術機構，其目的是通過表演藝術將中國文化介紹給美國社會。飛揚藝術團通過盡善盡美地展示非凡的中國文化藝術，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，舊金山灣區封城，各行各業停止運轉。飛揚藝術團藝術總監韓峰說：“那時候我們的華人春晚剛結束，正在準備飛揚藝術團成立三十周年的慶典演出，因為疫情原因，所有工作都陷入了停滯。”

攜手抗擊疫情

王何春子從上海交通大學本科畢業之后，直接來到了斯坦福大學念碩士研究生，畢業之后留在硅谷的一家教育創業公司擔任項目經理。2019年的暑假，她加入了飛揚藝術團。她從2017年來到美國之后，就沒有回過國，原本打算2020年春節前回家過年，但由于國內疫情暴發，一直沒能回去。

留在美國，物質上的東西對她來說影響不大，最令人放不下的是來自家人的擔憂?！拔覜]有想到我一個人在這里這件事情可以讓那么多人牽掛，他們的擔心會讓我也很擔心，我很想讓他們知道我在這里過得很好，他們不用擔心我?！?/p>

特蕾西是飛揚藝術團的一名志愿者，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重要任務。她買了一個很大的冷凍柜，想盡辦法儲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，也沒有邀請任何人來家里，盡自己所能來確保家人的安全。

飛揚藝術團的舞團成員米歇爾說，在疫情期間，她們一家人一天24小時都待在家里，距離的縮短導致很多生活上的細節全部被放大，也就開始產生了一些摩擦。每天的跳舞時間是她最期待的，可以遠離生活的瑣事，盡情沉浸于舞蹈中。為了家里有合適的場地滿足跳舞的需求，她還把客廳的地毯和沙發都清走了。

網絡傳遞藝術

由于疫情的影響，飛揚藝術團積極鼓勵所有老師有組織地提供線上課程。一開始大家對網課并不能完全接受，老師們覺得舞蹈應該言傳身教，是網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。隨著時間的推移，大家也都慢慢克服了網課中的問題，開始適應了。這個過程中還發生了許多趣事，比如這邊上著課，那邊一只小貓小狗就跑過來了;還有由于網絡信號不穩定，動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。埃米是一名中學生，她習慣了去校園里上學、面對面結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，這是一個很大的轉變。她所有的課外活動都變成了網課，舞蹈課是最有挑戰性的，因為它需要最大的空間。她的家人一起討論了一段時間，最后決定清理出一間起居室，并且設置了一個大屏幕作為舞蹈課的屏幕。埃米是非常優秀的學生，一直堅持訓練，她在比賽中獲獎的消息無疑給大家增添了很多信心和力量，激勵大家用這種堅持的態度去不斷追求和實現自己的理想。

疫情期間，飛揚藝術團中有很多的學生也以視頻的方式，積極參與了很多全國性的舞蹈比賽，同時也獲得了很好的成績。

同樣是CPAA舞團成員的王何春子也表示 ，盡管她的房間不是很大，但她會想盡辦法利用空間來做一些跟舞蹈相關的事，無論是保持自己的肢體柔軟度還是再開發一下自己身體的舞蹈機能。慢慢地她發現，確實是有很多可以在家里做的事，也就沒有那么擔心了。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回到她的身邊。

傳播中國藝術

最近，舊金山灣區各行各業逐漸復蘇。飛揚藝術團也恢復了原本的課程，謝麗爾 · 泰勒說：“這就像開學的第一天，我們又見到了熟悉的每個人。每年夏令營的第一天，當老師和學生們回來時，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。”

為準備飛揚藝術團的重新開放，工作人員們開了好幾次會議，討論如何在這個時期讓學生和老師感到安全舒適，更重要的是要遵守城市以及CDC的規則。為此，制定了一系列安全規則。此外，工作人員還要求師生在課前課后進行個人衛生消毒工作，確保大家能有一個安全衛生的環境。

三十周年的晚會是介紹中國唐朝文化的一組節目，主創人員選擇了詩人李白的清平調作為其中的一個節目。對晚會的期待，讓舞團成員們排練的時候都保持著很高的熱情。

飛揚藝術團的韓峰說：“飛揚三十年的舞臺創作從未間斷，由于疫情雖然被迫中斷了一段時間，但現在大家又重新集合，開始踏上新的征程。越是在這種逆境中，越是能讓大家團結起來，彼此依偎、彼此關照、彼此鼓勵。在疫情下，我們的堅持能夠為社區和廣大熱愛藝術的人們提供一個平臺，讓大家在疫情中也能感受到藝術帶給我們的力量?！?/p>

疫情讓我們意識到人類是多么脆弱，但希望之火始終不曾熄滅。真正的藝術就是這樣一種精神，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.”