The most distinctive dance of the Dai people is the peacock dance in Ruili County and Mengding County in Gengma County.
Peacock dance is the most famous traditional performance dance among the Dai folk dances in my country. It is popular in Ruili, Luxi, Xishuangbanna, Mengding, Menglian and Jinggu of Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. , Cangyuan and other Dai-inhabited areas, among which the peacock dance ("Galuoyong" in Dai language) in Ruili City in western Yunnan is the most representative.
It is said that more than a thousand years ago, Dai leader Zhao Malijiesu learned to dance by imitating the graceful posture of a peacock. It was later shaped by generations of folk artists and passed down to form the peacock dance.
The Dai people have a long history. Since the 1st century AD, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty developed the southwest, they have maintained economic and cultural exchanges with the mainland. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the leaders of the Dai people sent envoys to Luoyang many times to lead performers of music, dance, magic, and acrobatics. It can be seen that the music and dance culture of the Dai people has reached a very high level as early as two thousand years ago.
In the eyes of the Dai people, the "holy bird" peacock is a symbol of happiness and good luck. Not only do many people raise peacocks in their homes, but they also regard peacocks as a symbol of kindness, wisdom, beauty, luck, and happiness. Among the various types of Dai dances, peacock dance is the most beloved and familiar to people, and it is also one of the dances with the greatest changes and development.
The traditional folk peacock dance of the Dai people has a long history and has been included in religious rituals. Peacock dance is the favorite folk dance of the Dai people. In the dam area where the Dai people live together, there are "Pull" (festivals) almost every month, and there are songs and dances every year.