By Zhao Jingjing, Huang Tianyu
On October 7th, CUC participated in the 4th Shanghai Conservatory of Music（SHCM） International Musical Theatre Festival.
Since its launch in 2022, this event has established a broad platform for international exchange in musical theatre, featuring various activities such as international forums, essay competitions and play showcases, drawing many musical experts globally.
Themed on "Join the global stage and compose a new chapter of musical theatre", the 4th SHCM International Musical Theatre Festival was held from October 7th to 10th. Numerous experts, scholars, artists and students from over a dozen universities in the UK, South Korea, and China took part in this event. CUC actively participated in academic forums, teaching workshops and achievement presentations, showcasing its educational and academic outcomes.
CUC participated in the 4th SHCM International Musical Theatre Festival.
In the Chinese Musical Theatre Theory Forum, Yangyang, the vice-director of the acting department and the principal of the musical theatre major at CUC, delivered a keynote speech. She noted that since musical theatre was officially included in China' s Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors, dozens of universities have set up relevant majors. Musical theatre education has then entered a blooming period. However, some structural challenges have also emerged, including homogenized curricula, a lack of project-based teaching and backwardness in textbooks and teachers. She pointed out that the field needs to evolve from "establishing programs" to "fostering a discipline ecosystem", calling for a greater focus on content construction, textbook system and digital innovation to promote the sustainable development of Chinese musical theatre education.
CUC' s teachers attended in Chinese musical theatre theory forum.
Since its establishment in 2017, CUC' s musical theatre major has developed a closed-loop educational model that integrates classroom with stage and education with industry. The major employs a four-tier progressive curriculum that moves from performance fundamentals and integrated training to practical projects and industry production. These efforts have yielded notable achievements. For example, CUC' s original musical theatre "Prosperous Times, Joyous Songs" , cooperating with the National Museum of China, artistically brings cultural relics to life on stage. Another production, "Mayfly", exemplifies CUC' s student-driven "classroom to stage" creative model and its philosophy of blending performance with creation and education with industry.
In the Musical Theatre Teaching Workshop, CUC' s teacher Wang Naliu was invited to give an on-the-spot teaching with the theme of "How to perform a musical theatre segment: Prepare well physically and mentally to welcome the arrival of the key moment". She guided attending teachers and students to explore how to achieve the role transformation from the performer to the character itself at such "key moment" through several train methods such as breath guidance, autosuggestion, physical activation. She emphasized that the core of musical theatre performance lies in the unity of body and mind. Therefore, performers should use the body to awaken emotion and movement to inspire vocal expression, thereby achieving the holistic state where "the song becomes the performance".
CUC' s teachers and students show the musical theatre' s teaching outcomes.
During the National University Teaching Outcomes Showcase, Liu Yan, an undergraduate student majoring in musical theatre from the Class of 2021 at CUC, performed the track "Chi Xin" from Chinese original musical theatre "Fei Tian". Jiang Yiwen, a master' s student from the Class of 2025, presented "In My Dreams" from the musical "Anastasia".
The entire process of CUC' s musical theatre teaching is student-centered and practice-oriented. It seamlessly integrates project-based teaching with outcome-oriented assessment creating a vital bridge from the classroom to the theatre and the marketplace. This process enables students to make the crucial leap from mastering techniques to performing on stage.
In addition, CUC' s musical theatre major originated the mode that involves all the students in the creation process, which breaks down the traditional divide between "performers" and "behind-the-scene staff", requiring students not only to act but also to undertake various tasks such as directing, script writing, production, lyrics translation, stage and costume design, lighting, music supervision as well as choreography.
This event also highlighted CUC' s "four-in-one" talent cultivation goal, which aims to develop well-rounded talents with enhanced artistic creativity, digital competence, global communication skills, and industry readiness.
Editor: Fang Yiran
Managing Editor: Shao Jianyu
Managing Editor: Yu Ran, Chen Yiwen, Yang Zhongtian
