--(called "Chuo" in Miao language) is a kind of traditional folk dance mainly characterized by the flexible dance of lower limbs (including hips, knees and ankles) while the man plays the "Lusheng". It is a traditional folk dance characterized by men playing "Lusheng" while dancing flexibly with their lower limbs (including hips, knees and ankles). It has been widely spread and popularized in all Miao areas.
Self-entertainment Lusheng - the most popular, because of the age and gender of the dancers is not limited, so the number of participants is very large, usually in the lawn, the river dam or the open space on the hillside activities. There are two common forms of activities, one is the male playing a small reed-sheng, the female holding a flower handkerchief, a circle of men, women a circle of a group of dancers playing a large reed-sheng surrounded by the center, stepping on the rhythm of the music, gently swinging their bodies around the circle and dance. There is another kind of dance led by more than one pair of reed-sheng players, with the crowd (mostly women) following behind in a circle. The movement changes according to the tune played by the leader. Self-indulgent Lusheng Dance can be divided into two kinds of dances, "stepping" and "jumping" in terms of movement characteristics, "stepping" is characterized by the slight flexion and extension of the two knees and moving forward in a rhythmic manner. "Jumping" is characterized by the trembling of the lower limbs and the lifting of the feet and kicking after the power foot has landed, with the upper body swinging naturally. The former is elegant and dignified, the latter is soft and graceful.
1, customary Lusheng dance
--the first is the annual "Huashan Festival" when jumping, which is a good time for young men and women to get together and choose their spouses, and the Lusheng dance on this day was called "Jumping Flower" in ancient times. The Lusheng dance on this day was known as "jumping flower" or "jumping moon", and it was mostly performed on the night when the moon was bright and the wind was clear. The Miao villages with this kind of custom are usually equipped with a moon field or a flower field for "jumping moon". This kind of lusheng dance is especially representative of the "flower band" and the "goat-raising" prevalent in the south-eastern region of Guizhou and the central region of Guizhou
The second kind: in the Rongshui area of Guangxi, the dance is performed hand-in-hand, with the body in front of the head, and the hands are held together. The dance is relatively simple, with hands linked, the body leaning forward and jumping forward in a circle. The number of participants in the dance is usually twelve, and the formation is in the form of a horizontal row of three people and a vertical row of four people in a long square.
2. Performing Lusheng Dance
--The dance is usually performed in festivals or rallies in the form of competition or skill dedication. In some places, collective competitions are held with village lusheng teams, such as in Congjiang County and the Pangdong area in Southeast Guizhou, where neighboring villages compete with one hundred and ten people in blowing and dancing at the same time during festivals, and the lusheng teams participating in the competitions are determined to win by the amount of music they can play, whether their voices are beautiful and harmonious, and whether they are rich in movement and footwork, and whether their dancing time is long-lasting. In some places, individual competitions are held. This kind of competition generally does not set the prescribed movements, and every lusheng player has the opportunity to show his personal skills. The movements of this kind of Lusheng dance are mostly short steps, squat kicks, rotations and leaps. Some of the competitors are good at changing the rhythm of their movements, which are fast and fierce; some win by accomplishing more difficult movements. Performing Lusheng Dance is very rich in content. Those prevalent in the Qianxi region include "Drinking in a Crafty Way", "Earthworm Rolling on Sand", "Rolling Mountain Pearls" and "Lusheng Boxing"; In the mountainous areas of western Guizhou, there are "Passing the Door", "Monkey Going up the Tree" and "Rolling the Dragon"; in the southeast Guizhou region, there are "Bull Fighting", "Fighting with Cow", "Fighting with Cow" and "Fighting with Cow". In the south-eastern region of Guizhou, there are "Bull Fighting", "Cock Fighting" and so on. The first two regions are mainly to show off the difficult skills to win the applause of the audience; the latter region is mainly to imitate the habits of animals, demeanor, in order to show the life of the harmonic attraction.
"Earthworm Rolling Sand" and "Rolling Ground Dragon" are dancers kneeling on the ground, with their heads on the ground as the center of the axle, and then rising up, playing the lusheng while turning over and dancing.
The "Drinking with skill" is performed by placing a cup full of rice wine on a bench, and then the dancers surround the bench while blowing, dancing and drinking.
The "Rolling Shanzhu" is to play the lusheng while rolling forward and backward, or standing upside down or stacking up.
"Lusheng Boxing" is a unique form of dance in which the dancer of the lusheng accompanies and directs the rest of the male and female dancers, who are sometimes interspersed with each other and sometimes fight with their fists under the command of the dancer. Sometimes it is also inserted into the pairing of flower sticks.
3. Ritual Lusheng Dance
- Usually danced to the accompaniment of wooden drums and copper drums. The dancers are mostly middle-aged and elderly. The big reed-sheng played is three feet to more than ten feet long. In the past, this kind of lusheng dance only in the "eat bullock dirty" (kill cattle ancestor) when jumping. In a solemn, solemn atmosphere, showing respect and remembrance of ancestral spirits, the action is steady, slow. With the progress of society and culture, the Miao people have rarely held this kind of ancestor worship activities with primitive religious colors. Therefore, this kind of dance has disappeared.
4. Ceremonial Lusheng Dance
-According to the different contents of their activities, they have different forms and characteristics. For celebratory activities such as the marriage of a man and a woman and the inauguration of a new house, the dance is characterized by jumping and brisk movements and a warm and joyful atmosphere. Dancers also dance in the hall to show their congratulations. In the funeral ceremony, the role of Lusheng dance is mainly to comfort the family members of the deceased and pay tribute to the deceased. On such occasions, except for the jumping action across the coffin at the coffin ceremony, the rest of the action is calm and restrained.