Artistic Features of Dance in Han Dynasty
First, the integration of art and technology, focusing on dance.
The ancient "music" in China was composed of poems, songs, songs and dances, so what was the backbone? China's ancient dance theory emphasized that there would be no complete music without dance, and real music was accomplished by the existence of dance. The viewpoint that "music is mainly about dance" has profoundly accumulated the history of the origin and development of ancient music and dance. Paying attention to dance means that the weight of "dance art" is "heavy", and the skill content is "heavy". The dance of Han Dynasty closely combines dance skills with acrobatic skills, making "dance" more complicated, more thrilling and more difficult, and strengthening the aesthetic characteristics of dance itself, which is a qualitative leap of China's dance.
Dances in the Han Dynasty were mostly performed in the form of music, singing and dancing, acrobatics, corner magic and so on. The combination of art and technology and the emphasis on dance also come from this. The representative work is Pan Drum Dance, and its main feature is the combination of dance and acrobatics. Dance is characterized by long sleeves and good dancing, which embodies the "advance and retreat" of dance. Acrobatics is characterized by jumping on plates and drums. "Shake the long sleeves" and "Shake the sleeves and shake the feet", the gentle and elegant dance is combined with the agile and thrilling acrobatic leap, and the flexible beauty of the dance is integrated with the sense of strength of acrobatics.
On the basis of the blending of art and technology, the vocabulary and dynamic rhythm of dance in the Han Dynasty have also been enriched and strengthened, which are highlighted in three aspects: dancing sleeves, dancing waist and dancing feet.
Sleeve dance is a common dance form in the Han Dynasty, and the dance with flying long sleeves as the main means has added vigorous vitality to the dance in the Han Dynasty. Long sleeves are an extension of dancers' arms. Dancers use the dark power of their arms to throw long sleeves over their heads and draw an arc on their heads. The other arm passes the long sleeves through the moustache in the opposite direction, forming an "S" shape with great curvature. The curve of the body moves with the dance sleeve, and at the same time forms an "S" shape with a small arc; Two "S" shapes are nested together to form an extremely beautiful shape. This style often appears in the Han Dynasty portrait bricks unearthed in the Central Plains, such as the long-sleeved dance in the Han Dynasty portrait bricks unearthed in Xintongqiao, Zhengzhou, which typically reproduces this action modeling feature. Be good at dancing with long sleeves.
"Waist dance" is very prominent in the dance of Han Dynasty. The waist is the center of the body, and the flexible and tortuous rotation affects both the upper body and the lower limbs. The dancers in the Han Dynasty portraits in Central Plains all have slender waist, and their waist dancing skills are even more graceful. There are those who lean forward and lean back, those who turn left and right, those who twist their waists out of their crotch, and those who lean out ... Colorful dancing waists greatly enhance the curvaceous beauty of dance in the Han Dynasty. Zhang Heng wrote in "Dance Fu": "The waist is folded and the ring is low."
The characteristics of dancing feet are mainly manifested in the drum and drum performances in the Han Dynasty. The main feature of Pan Drum Dance in Han Dynasty is dancing on drums, so the dance of feet is particularly emphasized. From then on, dancers "floated" from one drum to another "climbed" without any mistakes. You need to be focused, flexible, sharp, accurate and loud when playing drums. Even so, not only the movements of the feet should be beautiful, but also the decoration of the feet should be particularly exquisite. The color of the "dancing shoes" worn is bright scarlet or colorful decoration. You can see the description of dancing feet in the Han Dynasty. Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu" contains the words "forever on the plate" [Note: See [Han] Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu", which is quoted from the fifth1volume of Chinese for later generations, Zhonghua Book Company, 1958 edition, p. 764. ], Bian Lan's Xu Chang Gong Fu has "Zhenhua is enough to dance" [Note: See [Han] Bian Lan's Xu Chang Gong Fu, quoted from the third volume of Ancient and Modern Three Dynasties, Qin and Han Dynasties, Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties by Zhonghua Book Company, 1958, p. 1223. ], Wang Shen's "Seven Words" has "Enough to Strike Xu" [Note: See [Han] Wang Shen's "Seven Words", quoted from Volume I of Records of Ancient and Modern Three Generations, Qin and Han Dynasties and Six Dynasties, Zhonghua Book Company, 1958, p. 963. ]。
Second, the combination of beauty and ugliness, both rigid and flexible.
The profound historical origin and eclectic and open spirit of the Han Dynasty dance in the Central Plains not only greatly improved its dance skills, but also presented multiple aesthetic feelings of beauty and ugliness, rigidity and softness, rich colors and diverse styles, which made the beauty of dance enter a higher aesthetic level.
There are a lot of beautiful and ugly dance pictures in the Han Dynasty portraits unearthed in the Central Plains, and their performances are mostly drum dance or long-sleeved dance, or a mixture of various skills. The dance is dominated by female geisha, with gorgeous crowns and waist like willow leaves. Clowns are dancers, often showing their chests and arms and wearing masks. For example, the stone reliefs unearthed in Shagangdian, Qiyi Township, Nanyang City, and the double-sleeved pedals of female geisha dance look back to the left; The clown jumped up and raised his arm, embarrassed, and responded right. Han Dynasty stone reliefs unearthed in Nanyang County, female geisha twisted her waist and mopped the floor with long sleeves; The clown shakes the drum with his left hand and plays the pot with his right arm, which is full of playfulness. The portrait mirror of the Han Dynasty collected by Zhengzhou Museum, a female geisha holding arms and dancing sleeves; The clown stretched out his arms and danced with his feet and drums. In the painted pottery architectural murals with China's music and dance unearthed in Wanghe Village, Xingyang, female geisha is dressed in black, with red lips and thin waist, red skirt fluttering and long sleeves jumping vertically; The clown was topless, wearing red shorts, and stretched out his right arm behind his back to tease the main dancer. The image of beauty and ugliness is in sharp contrast from the image to the tone of action. The graceful image and movements of the main dancer make people feel elegant and dignified, while the ugly image and movements of the dancer make people feel ridiculous.
The style of the dance Gang in Han Dynasty is vigorous, vigorous and passionate. First of all, the sleeve dance in Han Dynasty has this style. This kind of sleeve dance suit is relatively short, generally a little above the knee, and the size of the sleeves is also relatively short. During the performance, we pay attention to the unrestrained posture and waist jumping, and the dance is bold and unrestrained. The other is a duet. For example, there is a group of vigorous male and female duets on the mirror of the Han Dynasty music and dance portrait now hidden in Yuzhou Cultural Center. The man took off his coat and sleeves, and the woman tightened her sleeves, chasing and jumping back and forth, and the cheerful feelings overflowed outside the painting.
Representative works include sword encouragement, dry dance, sword dance and shovel dance. "Sword Encouragement" is a double dance with huge drums as dancers, and its "rigidity" is particularly sufficient. In the Han Dynasty hollow brick "Drum Dance" unearthed in Erligang, Zhengzhou, two dancers are striding with their arms outstretched and sleeves danced, raising forks and drumming, which is magnificent; The hollow brick "Drum Dance" unearthed from Xintong Bridge in Zhengzhou shows two dancers jumping off with flying forks and drums, and the atmosphere is warm. The relief stone unearthed in Xindian, Nanyang, shows two dancers running and prancing, beating drums with both hands and dancing unrestrained; On the brick of the "Drum Dance" of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Feishe, Zhengzhou, two dancers dashed forward with their hands and feet, drummed and danced freely. A picture of flying momentum, vigor and high spirits reproduces the vigorous sense of rhythm and the majestic power of "building encouragement"
The characteristics of "Rou" dance in Han Dynasty are softness, elegance, beauty and elegance. In the long-sleeved dance, inspiration dance and towel dance, the dancing sleeves and towels fluttered in the air, and the slim waist skirt dance was tactfully agile, which reflected this feature. In a large number of Han Dynasty portrait bricks unearthed in the Central Plains, dancers waved long sleeves and long towels to jump and flip, and the flying lines were thrown into the air, such as light clouds coming out of holes, splashing like waterfalls, fog waves and flying rainbows, which were wonderful. The lifting of long sleeves and scarves, the fluttering of skirts and nepoties, and the bending of limbs fully embody the artistic conception of "dragon dancing".
Third, mystery and magic, taking sadness as beauty
Judging from the artistic color and bearing style of the Han Dynasty dance in the Central Plains, it also has the characteristics of mystery and sadness. Watching the dances of the Han Dynasty in Shi Zhuan often gives people a unique sense of mystery. The environmental background of the stage is often painted with clouds, black dragons, ruimu, monsters and so on. Programs such as "The General Meeting of the Immortals", where leopards dance, where black dragons and white tigers play music, and fairy moths? Hongya's performance, the magical changes in "Fish Dragon Wandering" and the aversion to victory in "East China Sea Huang Gong" are all secretive. From the perspective of props and dancers, drums and drums symbolize the space world of the sun, moon and stars, while "architectural encouragement" is undertaken by monster blocks, and the tassels, feathers and herons decorated on them are full of mysterious meanings. The mysterious and fantastic color of Chinese dance in the Central Plains is related to the mysterious consciousness of the Han people.
The dance popular in the Han Dynasty, with mysterious wonders, rich colors, immortal thoughts and changing ideas of Yin and Yang and five elements, is a drum dance. Complex ancient religious consciousness accumulated in the inspiration. The immortal thought and fatalism of the Han people not only form the rich mystery of Han dance, but also form the aesthetic habit of taking sadness as beauty. The music and dance described in the Ci and Fu of the Han Dynasty all take sadness as beauty, and admire the music and dance style that still emphasizes sadness. Still attach importance to the sad music and dance style, which makes the dance expressing sad feelings occupy a large proportion in Qin and Han Dynasties. For example, Liu Dan, the son of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, failed in his attempt to seize the throne. Before the accident, he sang sadly at the banquet, and his wife, Mrs. Hua Rongdao, jumped with him, tearing her heart out and making everyone here cry. Emperor Gaozu loved the voice of Chu, and "Miscellanies of Xijing" said: "Emperor (Gao) often helped his wife lean on the strings. When he finished, every time he cried, he shed tears. "
Fourth, it has both form and spirit and profound artistic conception.
From the dance forms and aesthetic tendencies described in the music and dance fu of Han literati, we can clearly see that the dance of Han Dynasty in the Central Plains has achieved a historical evolution from strong education to distinctive artistry. The artistic beauty of his dance is mainly reflected in the characteristics of both form and spirit and far-reaching artistic conception.
In Song Dynasty, Yuan Wen's urn review said: "Form is also form; God, its spirit is also. " [Note: See "Comments on the urn", quoted from "Sikuquanshu" of Wen. In artistic creation, form and God should be in the relationship of unity of opposites and interdependence. Form cannot be separated from God, and so can God. If the form leaves God, it becomes a body without soul. If God has no image, it loses its material support. Therefore, "both form and spirit" is a high realm in artistic creation. The court women's music and dance in Han Dynasty reached this state.
1. Harmony in form and spirit, showing exquisite dance expression and rhyme. Music and dance are the rhythm of the soul, and lyricism is the main content of classical dance. Dance movements, whether fast or slow in time, continuous, rising or falling, big or small in spatial image, bending or stretching, long or short, should be coordinated with the feelings expressed by the dancers. With the harmony of dynamic image and emotional expression, we can dance with full spirit and exquisite dance charm. There are a few vivid words describing Pan Encouragement in Dance Fu: "Its source is also vivid. If you look down, if you come and go, it will be graceful and melancholy beyond your imagination. If it is not too advanced, if it is fragrant, if it is oblique, it will be shifted to Gu Ying. "
2. The harmony of form and spirit embodies the thoughts of China's traditional philosophy, such as "whether there is mutual existence" and "harmony of yin and yang". The literati's view of dance in the Han Dynasty inspires us that all dances should be "changeable and invincible", and the dynamic characteristics of dance in the Han Dynasty, such as wanting to advance first, wanting to stretch first, being late and fast, stopping suddenly and spinning suddenly, being invincible, etc., fully demonstrate "changeable" and "one style"; In the Han Dynasty, the dance has the dynamic law of rigidity in softness, rigidity in birth, quietness in movement and quietness in movement, giving full play to the "harmony of yin and yang".
3. Harmony of form and spirit shows a profound and broad artistic conception. Artistic conception theory has unique value in traditional aesthetics. "Artistic conception is a specific aesthetic image, a combination of meaning and context. The aesthetic realm refers to the infinite image produced by breaking through the tangible image, that is, the image outside the image and the scene outside the scene, which is the image of the combination of reality and reality. " Yi Fu's "Dance Fu" is another aesthetic achievement of dance in the Han Dynasty. Poetry and ambition here can belong to the category of gods, while dance and expression belong to the category of images. It is a new expansion of the beauty of dance artistic conception to express infinite poetry with limited dance expression, so as to obtain a meaning beyond images, a meaning beyond strings and an intention beyond painting.
The emotional appeal and artistic taste of the dance in the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains have reached the state of clouds and autumn frost, which amazed the viewers. It has the characteristics of both form and spirit, expressing ambition with tolerance and dancing with poetry, which perfectly realizes the dual functions of entertainment and education of dance art and has a far-reaching influence on Chinese traditional dance.