Because Phoenix Mountain has become a famous tourist attraction, nearby villages and towns have also sprung up. By the time I was eighteen years old, Dongjianshan was no longer the town it used to be.

In terms of economy and population, it can be compared to any small city in the old industrial base of Northeast China. A private enterprise from the town opened to attract investment, the boss is a Dalian person, the business is very large, the wealth is visible, as soon as the sale, he bought most of the land in the nearby small village. An industrial park was built.

Dalian people pay attention to feng shui, and the opening day should be lively and celebrated. As the saying goes, follow the customs of the locals, and in Dongjianshan, it is natural to be inseparable from stilt Yangge.

Of course, I have to invite Xie Jiaban to go out of the mountain. However, the Xie family class is a family of stilt Yangge, and the ancestors of the team have strict regulations: stilt Yangge is only used for festivals and funerals, and there has never been such a precedent for enterprise opening performances.

At the beginning, the master refused, but this boss came to the master's house three times to beg, and the master half-pushed and half-agreed, so from this point of view, my master is not so stubborn, at least on the stage of stilt Yangge performance, he can be flexible.

On that day, the master gathered twenty-four disciples and formed a complete stilt Yangge group, which could be called huge, and I took a closer look, except for the real Xie family class disciples, more than half of them were former senior brothers, and I didn't know any of them.

Here I want to say that it is said that there are three years of apprenticeship and two years of service, but in fact, learning stilt Yangge is a difficult process, and being able to survive three years and successfully become a teacher is considered to live up to the teacher's grace.

As for staying for two years, that was an old thing, and it probably doesn't make sense now, so Master never mentioned it.

Besides, the current situation is not what it used to be, with the development of the economy, people's lives are becoming richer and richer, and there are more ways to entertain, and the aura brought to the master by stilt Yangge will naturally dim.

At this time, the situation of Xie Jiaban is no longer optimistic. When I started, there were a total of sixteen disciples under the master's disciple, and after three years of filtering, most of these disciples were like quicksand, and most of them were scattered.

Later, the disciples who started were far from being able to stop the gap, and my senior brother and I, plus the later junior brothers, there were only nine people in total, which was no longer enough to support a large-scale stilt Yangge performance.

In the past few years I have been in Dongjianshan, there are not many performances in Xie Jiaban. Master often told us that this was a great time, and it could be called a time of peace and prosperity. But for traditional artists, it may not be a good time.

This city, which has emerged from the shell under the support of policies, has developed at a geometric rate of economic development, and civilization has also completed a round of replacement of the old and the new. The townspeople in the past, the new citizens are becoming more and more impetuous, and few people can calm down and listen to the local drama seriously. Or watch a Yangko performance on stilts.

This is something that the master has been worried about. What is art? Art refers to a person's ability, and art refers to selling ability. Since art cannot be sold, the word art is incomplete.

Much of folk art has declined or even died out. The master himself didn't know how long the stilt Yangge in Dongjian Mountain would last? Xie Jiaban had actually fallen into the dilemma of withering talents and having no successors.

Every time he received something about a performance, the master had to call his former disciples back and set up a temporary performance team. Fortunately, the master's prestige is still there, and with an order, the people are immediately assembled. Some of these people are for the face of the master, and some are out of love for stilt Yangge, although they can't make a living from it, they can make fun of it.

Just one day before this important performance, I practiced plum blossom piles with my senior brother, and I was already out of breath. The two of them were about to sit down to rest and rest, when he suddenly remembered something, lowered his voice and quietly asked me: "Little junior brother, dare to do a big thing with me?"

"What's the big deal?" I couldn't help but wonder, the senior brother has always been the master's confidant, what he does, it has always been the master's meaning, at this time, how could he use the word "dare" to discuss with me? Could it be that this matter is his own ingenuity and has not been discussed with the master?

"Little junior brother, look, our performances are getting fewer and fewer, the key problem is that people don't like to watch it, why people don't like to watch it, it's because this art is too old! Who likes to watch old things?"

"Oh," I nodded approvingly.

"I want to reform our stilt Yangge......" Seeing me nodding, the senior brother suddenly said his thoughts.

"Senior brother, do you want to push the boundaries of the old?" I suddenly thought of an official language.

"Yes, if we don't do some new tricks, our stilt Yangge may be going to die. In that case, we will not have any jobs. ”

"Yes!" I nodded again, and then asked, "But how?"

"Little junior brother, yesterday I went to the Peking Opera Troupe in the city, in order to attract the audience, they boldly innovated and let the Hua Dan actors wear bikini to perform, haha, as soon as those beautiful women's thighs appeared, the audience shouted...... What is art? I have seen through it, art is first and foremost beautiful, and in order to embody beauty, it is necessary to play the role of a woman. ”

"Senior brother, do you mean that we are singing on stilts, and we are also going to be girls?"

As soon as he said this, I was stunned for a moment, according to the rules of my ancestors, there is no female character in stilt Yangge. Even if there are scenes with female characters, they are all played by men. If Senior Brother wants to change this rule, he will be the culprit of deceiving the teacher and destroying the ancestors!

"Senior brother, have you discussed such a big matter with the master?" I immediately thought of the master, and he would definitely oppose such a thing.

"When the master is old, where will he think about the future of our young people? We are all young people, and we must have our own ideas. You are my good brother, and of course I have to discuss such a big matter with you first. ”

"Thank you for your trust, I always feel that this kind of thing can't be hidden from the master. Before we do it, we should still ask for his opinion. "I spoke my mind.

"Alas!" After listening to my words, the senior brother seemed to see my timidity, a little disappointed, shook his head, and then said, "Whether the master agrees or not, let's try it first!"

As he spoke, he stood up, pulled a pair of stilts and tied them to his legs, then stood up and told me, "Come, little junior brother, stand on my shoulders." ”

I understood what he meant, and with a light jump, jumped on his shoulder.

As a male practitioner, it is not difficult to jump on a person's shoulders, but as a lower player, it is not easy for him to withstand the pressure of a person, especially on the stage, and it is even more difficult to make performance moves in the lower game.

Just as I jumped on my brother's shoulder, I clearly felt him tremble slightly, and then he looked like he was struggling.

I suddenly remembered that although the senior brother is the master's confidant, he is not the material for the next plate. And I am the successor of the master who has long been optimistic about the next plate, and my current figure and weight are pressed on the shoulders of the senior brother, and he will definitely have to struggle. Thinking of this, I hurriedly jumped down.

"Senior brother, I'm Xiapan. Jump on my shoulder!" I quickly tied a pair of stilts to my legs, stood up straight, and asked the senior brother to jump up.

The two of us have been working together for many years, and the senior brother immediately understood what I meant, and jumped lightly to my shoulder. Then he gently made a cloud hand movement.

"Little junior brother, how is it? Are you tired?" the senior brother asked me on my shoulder. He was afraid that I would not be able to stand it, which would affect the effect of the stage performance.

"It's fine. Senior brother, you can do it with confidence!" I stood there, my face unchanged, and my heart calm. Senior brother, a man stood on my shoulder, like a child, and I didn't feel the pressure at all.

At this time, I suddenly remembered my grandfather, and remembered the comments about my grandfather in the Xie stilt Yangge family tree. The reason why I can stand here so firmly against the elder brother is that this is the inheritance of my grandfather and the effect of my grandfather's excellent genes!

Then, it occurred to me that the reform measures that the senior brother just said were to play female roles, and in acrobatic performances, girls were often on top of the upper plate. They are as light as swallows, even if they are fatter girls, they will not put too much pressure on the next plate. If the future elder brother is replaced by a girl, I will be even less stressed.