The main dance forms of the Zhuang nationality
The main dance forms of the Zhuang nationality belong to the nature worship remnants of the "toad abduction dance" "copper drum dance" "drum dance", etc. The following is my compilation of the main dance forms of the Zhuang nationality.
Bian Tan Dance: also known as the "hit Lu Lie" "Valley Hammer". It is circulated in Guangxi Mashan, Du'an and other villages. The word "Gu Han" means wooden mortar for pounding rice in Zhuang language. In the past, the Zhuang used to pound rice with a wooden mortar and pestle by hollowing out thick logs. This dance originated from the labor of pounding rice, and the initial form was performed around the wooden mortar, which later developed into beating the bench with a bamboo stretcher. It can be said that only the Zhuang "flat stretcher dance" is a prop dance that gets rid of the limitation of pounding pestle and mortar and is more lively and free than the original form, and the acoustic rhythm is more diversified and melodious. This dance not only shows the labor process of rice-planting, harvesting, threshing, and pounding, but also retains the ancient charm of using the sound of bamboo tubes as accompaniment. The "Flat Stretcher Dance" is especially popular among middle-aged women, and the number of people performing it is usually four, or as many as ten people in a group, either striking the bench together or striking each other crosswise, one after another, in a staggered manner, with a healthy dance posture. Spring Festival night lights everywhere, people organize their own knocking dance, bursts of laughter, the village boiled, a harvest scene. Zhuang proverbs have "the first month of the Spring Festival Hall noise boom, this year everywhere Wo Tai Feng" said.
Pounding dance: the original is the ancient Luo Yue, Xi Ou people "pounding", after the development of many ethnic forms of song and dance. Such as the "rice pounding dance" of the Buyi and Li, the "pounding and pestle dance" of the Wa, the "pounding stick dance" of the Gaoshan, and the "pestle and mortar song" of the Gaoshan. etc. The dance of pounding the pestle and mortar has existed since ancient times. Liu Xun of the Tang Dynasty described the sound of pounding rice in his "Recorded Differences in the Ling Table": "There is a pounding hall in Guangnan, which is a groove made of muddy wood, with about ten mortars and pestles on both sides, and men and women standing in between them, in order to pound the rice and grain, and the sound of knocking on the side of the groove is like drums, which can be heard for miles and miles, even though a woman who is skillful in making the anvil in the autumn can't be as bright as it is in the Liu Liang." Regarding the word pounding hall, Song Zhou Dai Fei in the "Ling Wai Dai Answer" in the solution: "take the grain pounded in the groove, the sound of the monk temple of the wooden fish, the female accompanied by the intention to transport the pestle and mortar into a rhyme, the name of pounding hall ......" It can be seen, pounding hall refers to the women pounding rice rhythmic and melodious musical sound. In other areas, the pounding dance is called "hulling dance", "hulling dance" and so on.
Jade Bird Dance: spread in Liuzhou Wuxuan Zhuang residential area. Props made of bamboo scotch bird-shaped, outside the paste green silk sewn to green floss for feathers. The local people love the jade bird's green fur, clear cry and gentle nature, and regard it as a symbol of good luck. During the Spring Festival, a man dressed as Pei Kingfisher, another person dressed as an old man, the rate of birds along the question to the family New Year's Eve performance blessings. When performing the dancers into the props, two hands or hooked bird head, eyes, mouth, wings joystick, bird head rotation, eyes open and closed, mouth sound, performance flying, foraging for food, drinking water, bathing, sleeping and other friendly, moving dynamics. At the end of the dance, a feather is plucked from the props and sent to the host to wish the host family prosperity. The host is rewarded with meat, wine and red packets. The performance of sending blessings along the door is reminiscent of the Pai Men performance of the Han Chinese Yangge. The performance of the technique and the Dai Peacock Dance is similar, all kinds of bird-shaped props dance into the Zhuang people's wisdom and creativity.
Toad Dance: the "frog dance". The local frogs are called "toad", and there is a legacy of worship of the toad. Every year in the first month of the lunar calendar, people perform a series of dances related to frogs in the "Toad Festival", and this custom has been spread to Tian'e, Nandan, Fengshan, and the Zhuang residential areas along the Hongshui River in Guangxi.
The grand event of the "Membrane Abduction Festival" can be divided into two parts, starting with folkloric activities such as "looking for frogs", "filial piety of frogs", "burial of frogs" and so on. First, there are folk activities such as "finding frogs", "mourning frogs", "burying frogs", etc., and then a series of performances of the toad-quadrant dance will begin. The venue is set up in the wide field between the pangyongs, and the sedan chair made of colorful paper is placed at a high place, and colorful flags such as dragon, phoenix, tiger, and toadstools are inserted on both sides of the sedan chair. On the opposite side of the palanquin, two bronze drums are suspended, and next to them is a band consisting of gongs, drums and suona, and two large drums, and all kinds of performances take place between the bronze drums and the drums, and are directed by two actors wearing women's masks and long skirts striking the drums. Dance series include: "The birth of toad abductors, honoring toad abductors, worshipping copper drums, toad abductors' fist, knife and stick dances" as well as dances reflecting the labor life, such as "raking the fields, gripping the rice seedlings, planting the rice seedlings, fishing and fishing for shrimps, spinning and weaving", and finally, the "Celebration of the Harvest Dance". Finally, there is the "Harvest Celebration Dance". In this series of dances, except for "the birth of the toad", the dances are played by four actors wearing different masks and life costumes. The children and teenagers who play the role of the toad-guide wear shorts and have black and white frog tattoos painted all over their bodies, and they jump around to express their joyfulness in foraging for food and catching insects. In addition, there is a milkwoman, a fortune-teller, in the performance to maintain order and active atmosphere.
"Toad拐舞" is a customary dance unearthed in recent years, it and people painted on the bronze drum casting the image of frogs, are frogs God worship psychological manifestations. In the folklore of the Zhuang people, the frog is the son of the God of Thunder in the sky, and is the messenger of determining the rain and shine on earth, and the activities of worshiping and sacrificing to the frogs are related to the adequacy of the rain and the agricultural harvest of the year, so there is such a customary dance. Although the content of the dance and the form of performance are not the same everywhere, there are "toad拐出世"""敬蟆拐 "and "拜铜鼓", and there are dances reflecting the labor life, and all of them are wearing masks. These performances reflect a variety of dance cultural factors merged into one of the characteristics.
Bai around the three spirits - "around the three spirits" is a traditional festival of the Bai people in the Dali region of Yunnan, held in the lunar calendar every year for three consecutive days from April 23 to 25, a grand ritual song and dance activities. At that time, villagers from all over the region are dressed to participate in, automatically into a line formation, by two older *** hold willow branches as a pioneer, touching the scene and said and sang, the masses and the singing, followed closely by the king whip, octagonal drums, double Swallow and other performances team to show off their skills, lively. This custom has a long history, in the past, "around the three spirit" of the three days, along the Cangshan Mountains, alongside the Erhai Sea, day and night, the first day of lodging Xizhou near the Sheng Yuan (Yuan) Temple, the second day of lodging on the beach on the river Ei City, and finally around the Sungsheng Temple three towers east of the Majuyi activities before the end of the end. According to the Republic of China, "Dali County Zhi Zhi Manuscript" records: "twenty-three, four, five days for the 'around the three spirit will be', in the Hei Chau Sheng Yuan Temple, Juxiang people more superstitious, now forbidden to abolish the statue of the gods destroyed." Now the ancient style still exists, has been a mass recreational activities.
"Around the three Spirit", also known as "around the mountain forest", about its origins say a lot, each said differently. If you look at the time of the event, just before and after the rain, mango rice-planting season, its purpose, obviously with the meaning of singing and dancing to the gods to seek rain, its form is also similar to the northern rice-planting songs. As described in Lu You's poem "Time and Time" cited in the previous chapter, the timely rain of the mango seeding is favorable for the growth of seedlings, and a good harvest is expected that year. In addition, the willow branches in the hands of the leaders of the teams also carry the meaning of begging for rain in folklore, which is similar to that of the Han Chinese rice-planting songs. Meaning, it and the Han Chinese rice-planting song umbrella in the hands of the umbrella and tiger brace, is a symbol of wind and rain, people and animals safe, the leader of the improvisation of singing, gagging style is also similar to the umbrella. The two only lies in the activities of the venue and the specific form of the different, such as around the three Spirit but also along the Cangshan Erhai tour around the three days, highlighting the incense around the temple line, day line and night characteristics.
The Bai props dance also has its own characteristics, such as the "king whip" are performed by women, men with octagonal drums and "double flying swallows" with the dance. Double Flying Swallows, with four small bamboo panels decorated with ribbons, holding two hands in the performance, it is the same as the Northeastern duo of "hand Yuzi", but the dance is stronger, the name is also very distinctive. White flag men's headscarf and dress form chic, rich ethnic colors, dance octagonal drum, double flying swallows, its dynamic image is naturally different. Octagonal drum props, now used is actually hexagonal, how the original shape, and then how to evolve, whether the hexagonal shape is easy to place in the hands of the dance, or there are other reasons, yet to be further proof. As for the White Flag folk dance by the far-reaching influence of Chinese culture, it is self-evident.
Water fighting horns dance - "Fighting horns dance" is the performance of two cattle fighting horns folk dance, circulated in the upper reaches of the Duliu River in Guizhou, the water tribes around the residential areas. Cows are the faithful friends of farmers who don't speak, and in the past, they were an important production tool for farming labor. Therefore, for thousands of years, farming peoples have loved cows and sung praises to them through various art forms to express their love for cows and send their prayers for a good agricultural harvest. Some ethnic groups also have customs and festivals related to cows. Chinese folk dance, the Han have "buffalo dance" "cattle lamp", Zhuang have "spring cattle dance", Dong have "teasing spring cattle The Zhuang have the "Spring Bull Dance", the Dong have the "Teasing Spring Bull", and the Bai have the "Juggling Bull Dance". The Miao, Dong, Yao and Buyi ethnic groups have the custom of bullfighting, the Mulao ethnic group has the custom of honoring the bull and the "Bull King Festival", while the Shui ethnic group has created the distinctive "Dance of Fighting Horns". The ancestors of the Shui people were one of the ancient Baiyue people, who were good at planting rice and loved plowing oxen. When they saw the neighboring Miao and Dong people fighting oxen in the New Year, they liked it too, but they couldn't bear to let the oxen fight with so many scars and bruises. So they came up with a cow horn props on behalf of the cow, two people holding props to show the two cows top corner fighting, for athletic performances, therefore, it is called the "horn dance".
"Bucket Dance" props, the first in the bucket hat device on a pair of special bull horns, the dancers hands on the bucket hat and dance. Later, and inlaid with two small mirrors for the bull's eyes, bucket bucket hats decorated with the lower end of the flower from the chicken feathers of the cloth strips, the back of the nail on a piece of long silk cloth to cover the back of the dancers, so that the props are more beautiful. When performing, the dancers shake the props, the sunlight "bull's eye" flashing luminous, chicken hair flower cloth strips fluttering and swaying, such as staring up at the eyes, ferocious to fight the bullock. Music together, another "bull" jumped up and ran to the two horns of the gadgets touched, and then, or against or pull, high and low, and flash, and turn, fight difficult to distinguish. Tension and warm atmosphere and the Miao, Dong cattle fighting compared to some other fun.
Dance, to "wave step" as the keynote, it is said that this step is the ancestors of the water tribe to imitate the creation of the waves, because of the combination of the cow's left and right, shaking the hair, rolling and other dynamics and footwork, highlighting the cow's tame and naive side, revealing that people love the cow's deep feelings. Accompanying musical instruments are "three drops of water" (three different tones of the reed-sheng) and copper drums, and the ancient music gives the dance a simple and warm color. The performance of "Dou Jiao Dance" reminds us of the ancient book about "Jiao Dai" in the ancient Hundred Operas. Ancient books, "the book" recorded the ancient Jizhou "Chi play": "its people two two three three, head wearing a bull's horn and against each other, Han Zuojiao play, cover its legacy also." This quote can be said that the "fighting horns dance" is the remains of the ancient horn play.
Buyei textile dance - Buyei "textile dance" is also known as "weaving dance", circulated in Guizhou Huishui, Luodian, Wang Mo and other Buyei residential areas. The ancestors of the Buyi are one of the ancient Baiyue people, also known as the "Zhongjia" in ancient times, and have been famous for weaving and batik, and the "Zhongjia Cloth", which is skillfully woven, has long been famous in the world. Among the ethnic minorities in southern China, women of the Zhuang, Dai and Li ethnic groups are mostly capable of weaving and embroidery, and the Zhuang brocade, Dai brocade and Li brocade are comparable to each other in terms of their respective strengths. There are also many dances reflecting textile and embroidery in these ethnic groups, which illustrate the characteristics of the farming culture in China since ancient times of men plowing and women weaving, but this form of expression like the Buyei textile dance can be said to be unique.
The "textile dance" is usually performed by a group of three people, using two wooden sticks that are flat in the middle and rounded at both ends as props. Two men standing opposite each other, hands holding the ends of the props, a woman with two feet on the props in the middle, that is, standing on the ground more than a meter high from the wooden stick performance. Performance of the two men closely match the movement of the woman's feet, so that the wooden stick up and down, left and right regular swing, as if the loom in the girl's manipulation, flying shuttle spinning, weaving, wonderful. Although the actor stands on the wooden stick in the air, he is as dexterous as usual in front of the loom, showing in detail the process of spinning, pulling yarn and weaving cloth. The actor's steady leg movement and boldness of the performance is marvelous.
Buyei women have always been hard-working, hardworking and thrifty virtues of the family, the day and men like the field labor, but also at night in front of the family heirloom light spinning, weaving. Hard labor has developed their dexterous hands and sharp eyes, and created a superb textile dance, and in this way to their children and grandchildren to teach textile skills and promote the good. Ancient textile machines, with the development of the rural economy has been gradually eliminated, however, the Buyei people's exquisite textile skills are still being passed on to the development of the people's wisdom crystallization of the textile dance, the Buyei folk dance has become a glittering pearl.
;