The Miao folk dances include Lusheng Dance, Copper Drum Dance, Wooden Drum Dance, Xiangxi Drum Dance, Bench Dance and Ancient Lady Dance. Especially the Lusheng Dance is the most widely spread.
The dances are mostly four-steps, but there are also two-steps, three-steps, six-steps, dabbing steps, jumping steps, pointing steps, as well as left and right rotating and other dancing styles. The "Miao Youth Dance" led by the first-class Miao actor Jin Ou was made into a dance art film "Butterflies in Flight" in 1963, which was staged in the U.S., Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and other places, and was well received by the public.
The Miao are rich in song and dance, only the Miao "drum dance" one, nearly a dozen kinds of more. Miao "drum dance" in the Tang Dynasty "Dynasty Legitimacy" on the "five streams of barbarians, parents died in the village outside the coccyx of their bodies, three years and burial, drumming road song, relatives drinking and dancing play a month or so," recorded, which shows that the Miao "drum dance" long history.
Expanded:
Miao Dance Distribution Area:
The main types of Miao "drum dance" are concentrated in the western part of Hunan Province and the southeast of Guizhou Province along the watershed of the Qingshui River.
The Miao "wooden drum dance" in Qiandongnan is a form of "drum dance" for the large-scale ritual activity of "eating gugou", which used to be held only once every 13 years. During the festival, men and women danced for three days and were drunk all night long, without sleep or food.
The "flower drum dance" is a popular event for the Miao people in Phoenix, Baojing and Huayuan counties in Hunan Province to celebrate the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth month of the eighth month of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Catch summer" "catching the fall" and other traditional festivals, there must be self-indulgent dance. At that time, in the center of the square where the event is held, a big drum is set up which is beaten by three people. Two people hold double mallets to beat the drum skin, and one person holds a single mallet to beat the drum, and there is no limitation on the number of people who can participate in the collective dance and the number of men and women who can participate in the collective dance.
Before the dance, the drummers pay tribute to their ancestors by singing in their own language about the merits of the person who invented the wooden drum. Then, the people dance in a circle around the drums to the beat of the drums. The basic dance movements of these dancers are mostly simulations of various kinds of life movements, to which some martial arts components are added, making the dance movements soft and strong.
Features of the "Flower Drum Encouragement" are that the two drummers perform a variety of symmetrical dance postures while spinning, flipping, or jumping, and at the same time, they can also play a harmonious and unified drum music.