Tujia waving dance has a long history, which is said to have evolved from White Tiger Dance and Bayu Dance.
"Huayang National Records Eight Records" records:
Ba Shi Yong Rui, singing and dancing move people's hearts. The former disciple held his head high, and the world called him the King of Wu Attack, singing before the song and dancing after the song.
Therefore, the martial arts masters cut down the songs and dances in Zhou, which is Bayu Dance, and the White Tiger Dance is the predecessor of Bayu Dance. The characteristic of "waving hands on the same side" in waving dance is to simulate "walking like a dragon, walking like a tiger", and its basic action is to perform a white tiger.
In addition, the spear and crossbow recorded in Du You's "General's Canon" are exactly the same as the military dances such as "Jia", "Xing" and "Bow and Archery" in the waving dance, so it is inferred that the waving dance and Bayu dance have the same origin and different branches, and originated from the Zhou Dynasty.
There are many legends among the people. Generally speaking, when Peng Gong led his troops to fight, he ordered his men to seduce the enemy by singing and dancing, or to shake hands and sing to drive away homesickness. After the victory of the battle, this swing dance spread to the people.
It is also said that Tujia people are naturally fond of singing and dancing, and waving dance is purely an artistic activity for Tujia people to entertain themselves.
The whole swing dance activity is carried out in the form of ritual dance and singing, and the content is about the origin of human beings, national migration and heroic deeds.
After the ceremony, the "horse body" or the host of the altar led the masses into the wave hall or wave flat to sing and dance.
Some swing songs in Yongshun, Baojing and other places are called "Sabah songs", which were first sung by horses. Lyrics are mainly composed of myths and legends and past production and life scenes, and then the masses blend in.
The ancient Tujia people danced this dance before the war to boost morale. There are several kinds of swing dances: single pendulum, double pendulum, big wave and small wave. Dancing, beating gongs and drums, magnificent and touching. When dancing, both hands swing on the same side, kick and wave, and move back and forth in pairs, which is vivid in artistic conception.
Hand-waving dance is not only a folk entertainment and fitness sports activity, but also a unique artistic spectacle on the stage. It is the song "Wave in front of the hall and walk slowly hand in hand". The gongs and drums are loud and the reverberation is around the beam. "
Hand-waving dance has a strong sacrificial color, and the song is born with the dance, and the dance is named after the song. Every year from the third day to the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, men, women and children from one village gather in front of the church or the Tuwang Temple to shake hands.
First, the toast held a broom in his hand and sang the song of sweeping evil spirits. Then, the flag-waving team held high the dragon and phoenix flags, surrounded the drums with hammers, blew horns, earth numbers and suona, set off three-eye guns and firecrackers, dressed in "Xilankapu", covered with flower towels, and held a magic stick, and entered the stadium with a "hello" and danced.
Swing dance is mainly divided into big swing dance and small swing dance. The big wave comes once every three or five years, and tens of thousands of people from several counties take part, lasting for seven or eight days.
There are complex military hunting contents and routines in the dance. A small wave is a village of its own, held every year, with farming as its content. When dancing, people form multi-layer circles, lead the dance, and everyone dances together, which is very impromptu.
Big waves must be carried out in the wave hall, which is large in scale and takes a long time. Generally, it starts from the ninth day of the first month and ends on the fifteenth day of the first month. Wave teams generally take villages as units, with a large number of participants.
The specific content of the performance mainly includes eight parts: breaking into the temple, creating the world, the origin of human beings, migration and settlement, farming, defending against the enemy and self-defense, and sweeping the hall and closing the shelf. Interspersed with sowing seeds, singing folk songs, playing winter quinoa, playing flower drums and singing grass gongs and drums songs, showing Tujia ancestors' wading through mountains and rivers, migration and reproduction, farming activities, daily life and war scenes.
Small waves are small in scale and short in time. It was held in Tuwang Temple, where the village is located, from the 9th to 11th of the first month. Its contents are offering sacrifices to Peng Gong, killing mosquitoes, bullfighting, blocking ice, digging, sowing, transplanting rice, weeding and harvesting, indicating the joy of harvest.
There are solo, lead singer, chorus and other forms of waving dance, and the tune changes with the content of the dance.
"Zhuzhici" records:
The pumice city is a nest, and the water waves are beside the land palace.
There are thousands of people with red lights and lingering songs.
In some places, there is also a Tuwang Temple in front of Bo Tang. The lawn in front of the temple is empty, and fir trees are planted in the field. Colorful lights are hung on the trees, and Tujia people dance around the fir trees. Some places dance in the corner of the venue.
Tujia people turned this swing dance into "slapstick songs", "mowing songs" and "mowing gongs and drums" combined with farming activities. Rough and funny performances, or two people singing and dancing, lively and free and easy; Or a few people lead the singing, and everyone dances harmoniously, which is very lively.
In some places, gongs and drums are hung in the center of the square in front of the temple. One person beats the drums, and those who wave their hands step on the drums or swing, or double swing, or swing. There are many sets and rich contents.
Some places dance for one day and one night, some places dance for three to five nights, or 10 more nights. This kind of dance is healthy and beautiful, with a strong flavor of life and a wide mass.
There are many flags in the stadium. People hold dragon and phoenix flag teams made of red, blue, white and yellow silk, wear "Xilankapu" and hold wine cans with the word "Fu" written on them. Carrying grain, prey, Baba, jiaozi and tofu; Hand-held eyebrow piercing stick, magic knife, barrel, shotgun, darts and other props. The drums and guns were deafening, the songs were moving, men and women were in love, and the atmosphere was very warm.
As described in a Tujia "Zhi Zhu Ci"
Pumice city, brocade is the nest, and water waves are beside the land palace.
Thousands of lights, thousands of people are empty, and a song is lingering.
The body movements of waving dance mainly come from productive labor, daily life and fighting. In the long-term development and change, all localities are not exactly the same, but their basic characteristics are the same, that is, turning straight, bending knees, trembling and sinking.
Handshake is the most important feature of handshake, that is, both hands swing on the same side. It requires tacit cooperation between hands and feet, consistent movements, and hands swinging with the rhythm of the body. The swing amplitude of the hand is generally smaller than that of the shoulder, and the swing lines are smooth, natural and generous.
Bending your knees requires that your knees bend slightly downward, your upper body is straight, and your feet are hard, which is solid and steady; Trembling refers to the slight shaking of feet and arms, giving people a feeling of elasticity and tenacity; Sinking means that the body feels downward with the remake, and the action is calm and solid.
These movements, such as twisting, turning, bending, squatting, etc., require the alternating transformation of muscle tension and relaxation in all parts of the body, as well as the close cooperation of the upper and lower limbs. Therefore, waving dance requires higher coordination of the body.
Tujia waving dance in Xiangxi is a huge carrier that integrates song, dance, music and drama. The music of waving dance is divided into two parts: vocal accompaniment and instrumental accompaniment. Vocal music is mainly singing and waving songs.
There are drums and gongs on both sides of the hand percussion instrument. A cowhide drum, a pair of drumsticks and a gong. The diameter of the drum ranges from 0.6m to 0.85m and the height ranges from 0.65m to 0.85m.. The diameter of the big gongs varies from 0.65 m to 0.85 m, and the concave-convex depth is about 0.04 m. The drumsticks and gongs are arranged according to the size of the drums and gongs.
When playing, one or two people beat drums and gongs in their palms to direct the audience. Commonly used Qupai are simple pendulum, double pendulum, grinding eagle wings, sowing and so on. The rhythm is steady, the intensity is clear and profound.
Tujia people in Bo activities recall the hardships of their ancestors' entrepreneurship, cherish the memory of their ancestors' achievements and show the life scenes of Tujia ancestors. The whole activity has a strong trace of ancestor worship.