The folk dance of the Dai ethnic area in Yunnan Province, China. The Dai mainly live in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, as well as Gengma and Menglian autonomous counties. The Dai dance has a long history. According to the record of "Later Han Book - Southwest Barbarians", in the first year of Yongning (120), the chief of the Dai ancestor Shan people had dedicated large-scale music and dance and acrobatics to the Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. This shows that as early as 1,000 years ago, there is a high level of local singing and dancing performing arts. Later, with the development of society, influenced by the culture of the Central Plains and South Asian culture, the Dai dance with unique flavor was gradually formed. Dance of the Dai people is beautiful and quiet, with inherent and implicit feelings, rich hand movements and sculptural dance postures, and the joints of the limbs and the torso are required to be bent, forming the unique "three bends" shape. The dance movements and rhythms are characterized by the even vibration of heavy beat downward, which is characteristic of South Asian dance. The Dai dance is mainly of the following kinds: ① simulation dance. Most simulated animals, such as peacock dance, horse deer dance, white elephant dance, butterfly dance, fish dance, roc bird dance, heron dance, bamboo bird dance, monkey dance and so on. ②Life Dance. Performance of the Dai people's labor life, such as the garland dance, gimlet hat dance, boat dance, fish dance, flower picking dance. Self-indulgent dance. Collective dances in festivals and other celebrations, such as the Jar Light Dance, the Elephant Foot Drum Dance, and the Yilacao Dance. Ceremonial dance. Such as court dance, Lajiao dance, ritual dance, fan dance, children's dance, Jiejie and so on. ⑤ Song and dance. Such as the Twelve Horses, Jaran Yan and so on. The oldest and most representative dances of the Dai people are the Peacock Dance and the Jar Light Dance, which summarize the style, rhythm, dance shape and combination of movements of the Dai dance, and are the essence of the Dai dance, reflecting the national spirit of the Dai people and their aesthetic characteristics. Peacock Dance in Dai language is called "Jialuoyong", "Jialangluo", "Bother Nuo", which is translated as "Jumping Peacock" or "Jumping Princess Sparrow". "Jumping Princess Bird", collectively known as the Peacock Dance. There are many peacocks in Xishuangbanna and other Dai areas, which are regarded as symbols of good luck by the Dai people, who express their wishes and ideals by dancing the peacock dance. This dance is mostly performed during grand festivals or grand gatherings. In Ruili, Menglian, Gengma, Mengding and other areas of Yunnan Province, almost every village has many competent peacock dancers and full-time artists. The peacock dance in each region has both a unified style and different characteristics. The Peacock Dance of Ruili, Menglian and Mengding is characterized by jumping, turning, flipping and other movement skills and beautiful dance forms, showing the peacock descending from the mountain, peeping in the forest, strolling in the forest, drinking water from the spring, chasing and playing, as well as dragging the wings, basking in the sun, opening the screen, flying, etc. The peacock dance is performed with the knees bent at all times. During the performance, the peacock always keeps bending its knees and half-squatting and trembling, and each action is accompanied by corresponding drum beats and has a more complete drum score. The Peacock Dance of Luxi County delicately expresses the beautiful image of the peacock through the inward curving movements of the hands and the dance postures such as gliding, rotating and flying, as well as the flexing and stretching of the legs in the flying and running. Xishuangbanna has kept the form of double peacock dance, showing male and female peacocks dancing against each other.
The basic steps are the broken flying step and Cannes light step, the dance is soft and light; the hand movements are the flat pendulum turning wrist, internal curving, and one-handed wrist turning, etc. The content of the performance is mainly folklore. The content of the performance is mainly folklore, "Shao Shu Tun and Nangmu Na" story. Jinggu, Cangyuan area for the ethnic mixed area, due to the influence of the culture of the various ethnic groups, peacock dance has its own characteristics. Especially with the Han Chinese cultural exchanges in the region, the form has evolved into a song and dance of the double peacock dance, dancers holding handkerchiefs and fans, footsteps based on the Cannes Light Steps, the hand from the outside to the inside around the 8 word flower. The content of the dance is mostly folklore. Peacock Dance is an important feature of its unique costumes and props, the past folk performance of the Peacock Dance, the dancers wearing a tower helmet mask, wearing painted peacock feathers patterned clothing and pants. Single performance, wearing a female mask, double performance, wearing male and female masks, body with bamboo, silk made of peacock frame props. People's Republic of China **** and after the establishment of the country, professional dancers perform, generally do not wear masks and props, but decorated with peacock patterned pants and long skirts. Now folk performance of the peacock dance, there are not wearing masks and props, performers are not limited to men and women. Peacock dance accompanied by musical instruments, mainly elephant foot drums, gongs, cymbals, professional singing and dancing groups to perform, most of the added orchestral accompaniment.
Jar Light Dance is a self-indulgent dance centered around a drum. "Jagwang" means "jumping on the drum".
The accompanying instruments are elephant foot drums, gongs and cymbals. It is the most widely circulated and most characteristic dance form among the Dai dances. Whenever there are festivals, harvest celebrations or other gatherings, men, women and children of all ages can take part in it regardless of the form or occasion. The dancers bend their knees and half squat with the sound of the drums and tremble evenly, and their arms turn their wrists and bend their wrists from the back round of the "three bends", and bend their wrists inwardly or pull them out from the back to the front. Sometimes squatting in the performance, sometimes jumping, from time to time issued cheers. Dehong area young people dancing Cannes Light Dance, does not emphasize the trembling, footwork for the wrong step or point step. Dance lively, cheerful, elegant and free, known as the "new Jar Guang". In addition, there are also two people picking a large gong, dancing and knocking; or add two people singing, the masses holding handkerchiefs, bouquets of flowers dance, singing and harmony. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China **** and the country, Xishuangbanna and Dehong have established a professional literary groups, training of Dai dance talents, Dai dance for a comprehensive collection, collation and research work, published a series of Dai folk dance materials and Dai dance teaching materials, so that the Dai dance has been a great development. Many dances performed on the square were processed and moved to the stage, such as "Peacock Dance", "Double Peacock Dance", "Water", "Golden Peacock" as well as some dance dramas.