The peacock dance is the most characteristic dance of the Dai people.
What is the origin of the Dai Peacock Dance
The Dai Peacock Dance is the most prestigious traditional performance dance in China's Dai folk dance, which is spread in the Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, Ruili, Luxi and Xishuangbanna, Mengding, Munda, Jinggu, Canyuan and other Dai inhabited areas, which is known as "Dai" (Peacock Dance). Among them, the Peacock Dance ("Garoyong" in Dai language) in Ruili City in western Yunnan is the most representative. Legend has it that more than a thousand years ago, the Dai leader called Ma Li Jie number to imitate the beautiful posture of the peacock and learn to dance, and then processed by successive generations of folk artists molding, passed down to form the peacock dance.
Peacock dance, the Dai language called "Jialuochong", "annoying Luochong" or "Jarnan Luo". This is the most popular dance of the Dai people, which has been passed down in the Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Dehong and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan. Many villages of the Dai people have people who are good at peacock dance, and due to the passing of the dance from one generation to another and the elaborate creation of folk artists, various peacock dances with different characteristics and genres have been formed. The content of the peacock dance mostly shows the peacock running down the mountain, strolling in the forest, drinking water from the spring, chasing and playing. Dragging the wings, spreading the wings, shaking the wings, pointing at the water. Stomping branches, resting branches, open screen, flying and so on.
Peacock dance has a rich variety of hand movements and jump, turn and other skills, limbs and torso joints to beat downward flexion and extension, the whole body evenly trembling, the formation of a beautiful "three bends" dance. The dance vocabulary of Shelf Peacock Dance is particularly rich, with "running down the mountain", "peeping in the forest", "walking in the forest", "shaking wings "flying down the mountain", "peeping in the forest", "strolling in the forest", "shaking wings", "pointing at the water" and other movements that vividly simulate the peacock's demeanor. The peacock dance, with its light and graceful style, delicate expression of emotion and graceful dance posture, is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Dai people and has a high aesthetic value. It is not only performed alone in important and lively national festivals, but also often integrated in the collective dance "Ga Guang". The Peacock Dance has the significance of maintaining national unity, and its representativeness makes it the most culturally recognized dance of the Dai people.
The emotion is inherently subtle, the dance vocabulary is rich, and the dance posture is rich in sculpture. Dance movements are mostly kept in a semi-squatting posture with even trembling, every joint of the body and arm is bent, forming the unique three bends dance posture modeling, hand shape and hand movements are also more, the same dance posture and footwork, different hand shapes or hand movements, there are different aesthetics and moods, the Peacock Dance has a strict program and requirements, there is a standardized status map and footwork, and each movement is accompanied by a corresponding drum language. Due to the climate and natural conditions, there are more peacocks in the Dai area. The Dai people have the habit of keeping peacocks since a long time ago. The Dai people believe that the peacock is beautiful, kind and wise, and is a symbol of good luck, and they have reverential feelings for it. The Dai people often take the peacock as a symbol of their own national spirit, and dance the peacock dance to express their aspirations and ideals, and glorify the beautiful life.
After the founding of New China, the peacock dance has a greater ` development and improvement. 1975 World Youth Gala, the women's collective dance "Peacock Dance" won the gold medal, folk dance "double peacock dance" won the silver medal. The Peacock Dance performed by the dancer Yang Liping enjoys a great reputation both inside and outside the province. She is the only one who can express celestial and human music with that breathtakingly beautiful body language, thus inspiring our understanding and tolerance of the infinite possibilities of art. Her dance is timeless because of its purity, invaluable because of its originality, and not rare because it is televised. Her courage to defy artistic dogma and established rules is related to her talent, but her subversive and original spirit has made her a spiritual ally and artistic benchmark for her successors.
Due to the climate and natural conditions, there are more peacocks in the Dai region. The Dai people have the habit of keeping peacocks since a long time ago. The Dai people believe that the peacock is beautiful, kind and wise, and is a symbol of good luck, and have reverential feelings for it. The Dai people often take the peacock as a symbol of their national spirit and express their good wishes by dancing the peacock dance. At the same time, in the minds of the Dai people, the peacock, the "holy bird", is a symbol of happiness and good fortune. Dai Peacock Dance is the favorite folk dance of the Dai people, and in the dam area where the Dai people live, there are "pendulums" (festivals) almost every month and songs and dances every year. In the Dai annual "Water Festival", "Shut the Door Festival", "Open the Door Festival", "Catch the Pendulum" and other folklore festivals, as long as they are happy and joyful, they will have a lot of fun. As long as the festival is a place of fun and joy, the Dai people will gather together, ringing the gong, playing the elephant foot drum, jumping up and down the beautiful "peacock dance", singing and dancing in the sound of the harvest of the festive atmosphere and the beautiful scene of national unity.
In a variety of Dai Peacock Dance, especially Ruili jumped the peacock dance is more exciting, but also more popular, almost every village has a peacock dance masters, and even have to dance peacock dance for a living professional artists. Ruili Dai Peacock Dance is mainly a single dance, but also a double peacock dance. The dancers are mostly male. Dai Peacock Dance has a rich variety of hand movements and jump, turn and other skills, limbs and torso of the joints to heavy beat downward flexion and extension, the whole body uniformly trembling, the formation of a beautiful "three bends" dance.
The Dai Peacock Dance has a strict program and requirements: each action before the start, after the end of the closing style; there are fixed steps, positional charts and fixed action combinations; each action combination has a fixed drum accompaniment. The dance vocabulary of Shelf Peacock Dance is especially rich, with "running down the mountain", "peeping in the forest", "strolling in the forest", "shaking wings", "pointing", and "shaking the wings".
The Dai Peacock Dance, with its light and graceful style, delicate expression of emotions and graceful dance posture, is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Dai people and has a high aesthetic value. It is not only performed alone in important and lively national festivals, but also often integrated in the collective dance "Gaguang". The Peacock Dance has the significance of maintaining national unity, and its representativeness makes it the dance with which the Dai people have the most sense of national cultural identity.