So, follow me to see the smoke box dance from the perspective of Yi culture!
History of the Smoke Box Dance
The Smoke Box Dance is a traditional folk dance. The origin of the dance varies from legend to legend, but the most common theory is that the Yi people, in order to hunt wild beasts, often wear animal skins and mix with the beasts. Gradually, this imitation of wild animals developed into a dance, which led to the formation of the "three-step string". According to another theory, the three-step string is a way of picking seedlings and walking up and down the mountain. All in all, it shows that the "Smoke Box Dance" was born from the labor and struggle of the Yi people. In addition, it is said that the smoke box dance did not have props at the beginning, but because the rhythm is not uniform and jumping is not neat to clap the hands to unify the rhythm, and then some people used to play with the yellow cigarette box, which made a pleasant sound, and then used to play the smoke box instead of clapping hands. After generations, constantly enriching, developed into today's "cigarette box dance".
The distinctive features of the Smoke Box Dance
The Yi Smoke Box Dance includes two parts: the chord and the miscellaneous chord, forming two styles in the mountainous area and the dam area, and a variety of genres, with as many as 220 sets of dance routines, and 117 sets of dance routines have been collected and collated, of which 62 are chord routines and 55 are miscellaneous chord routines. The dance form has double dance, triple dance and group dance, etc. The dancers hold the round wooden tobacco box which used to hold fire and grass smoke in the old time, and dance under the accompaniment of four strings, striking the bottom of the box to beat the beat, with a bright and fast rhythm and a warm atmosphere.
The sine is the "mother string", and the miscellaneous strings are the "son strings". By convention, the sine must be danced first, and then the miscellaneous strings can be danced. The sine is also known as the "three-step string", "dustbin string", this type of dance is only accompanied by musical instruments, do not sing. The number of participants is not limited, at least two people, up to a dozen people. The name of each set is based on the movement. For example, the "three-step string" is named after the combination of the three movements of step, step, squatting step, and cut the mouth. There are "three-step string", "two-and-a-half-step", "one-and-a-half-step", "crooked string", "Doo Hoof Shell" and so on. In "Crooked Chord", the feet are crossed and the left and right sides are crooked. "Doo Hoof Shell" (i.e. Doo Hoof Dance) is a simulation of the action of the action of the hoof, jumping participants must become a double number, two rows of the dance.