In the mountains of Taijiang county in southeastern Guizhou, there is a Miao village of more than 300 families, called rice platoon. The world-famous Anti-Paimu Drum Dance was born here. In May, 2006, "Anti-row Seedling Encouragement" was approved by the State Council to be included in the list of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects.
Brief introduction of anti-row wood drum dance
The anti-wooden drum dance is a unique dance of sacrifice and entertainment for the Miao people. It consists of five drums: Niula, Niugaodou, Niugang Didang, Niuagou and Niudian Town. It tells the history of Miao ancestors who resisted exclusion in flashback, which is a classic dance epic.
"Niula" means "dance without patterns", which shows the happy and quiet life of the Miao people. "Buttons hit high", which means "Turtledove Dance", shows the living environment and cultural life of Miao people who entertain themselves. "Niu Gang Di Dang" means "river worm dance", which means the hardships of Miao migration; Niuagou is a "dance of labor", which reflects that the ancestors lived a beautiful life of farming, fishing and hunting before the great migration of Miao nationality; "Diandian Dance" is a kind of "hunting dance", which tells the story of the hunting life of Miao ancient ancestors who bravely captured wild animals.
Wan of Fanpai Village has mastered all the drums and dance steps of the wooden drum dance, and is the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of Fanpai Miao wooden drum dance. Every slack season, Wan will call his disciples and find a vacant lot to practice wooden drum dance.
Wan always asks his disciples to remember the rhythm of the drum. He said that it is very important to jump around on the wood, stimulate the drums and understand them. When the drum stick collides with the drum surface, the drum body, the drum edge and the drum stick collide and make different sounds. Be sure to know these sounds before dancing, so that the movements can change with the rhythm of the drums.
The movements of wood drum dance are numerous and complicated, with large opening and closing range of head, hands and feet and wide swing range. Wan explained while demonstrating. He said that the anti-throwing action should be big, and the whole dance action is basically imitating the movements of insects, birds, fish, animals and birds. Only the same hand swing, hip swing and sudden turn can be smooth and natural.
In the Miao people's concept, the wooden drum is the habitat of the ancestors' souls, the wooden drum is sounded to awaken the ancestors' souls, and the wooden drum is jumped to remember the ancestors, so as to communicate with them and get their blessings.
With the drums beating, the villagers jumped around the wooden drums and threw their hands and feet. Dance movements are bold, vigorous, agile, dexterous and lively. Anti-Paimu Drum Dance is bold and vigorous, vigorous and passionate, which shows the tenacious temperament and strong vitality of the Miao people. It is the essence of Miao dance and an important cultural link connecting the past, present and future of Miao society.
Anti-Paimu Drum Dance is a tragic epic that expresses the migration history of Miao people in the form of dance, and expresses the wisdom of Miao people in opening up a new living environment. As early as 1990s, Anti-Paimu Drum Dance had already left Guizhou, went abroad and performed in 10 countries. Nowadays, more and more people come to Fanpai to feel the charm of wooden drum dance, experience the lifestyle of Miao family members and appreciate the implication of Miao traditional sacrificial culture.