What dances are there in China?

Its main form is a dance about hunting and labor. Neolithic rock paintings in Yinshan area of Inner Mongolia depict the image of hunting dance. People dress up as birds, goats, foxes and other animals. Some headdresses include antlers and feathers, while others have tails. The appearance of this dance is closely related to hunting.

Due to the lack of understanding of natural phenomena in primitive society, people have a sense of fear and gradually formed a primitive religious belief-totem worship. Taking animals, plants or natural objects as enclosures, we believe that totems can protect and harm people, and regard totems as ancestors and protectors. The images of snakes, birds and animals seen from unearthed cultural relics and ancient rock paintings are the images of clan totems. According to legend, Fuxi and Nu Wa, who have snake heads, are the ancestors of the Chinese nation with "dragon" as their totem. Fu danced in the name of "Fenglai" and sang the song "Jing"; Nu Wa's dance name "Chong Le" is a tribute to Fu's achievements in inventing nets, teaching people to catch birds and beasts, marrying Nu Wa and teaching people to marry. According to legend, Emperor Yan of Niutou is the ancestor of Qiang nationality with "sheep" as the totem. His music and dance "Liv" and his song "Harvest Year" are to praise the achievements of Emperor Yan in sowing grains and inventing agriculture, and are honored as Shennong. Kang Yin's dance is called "Big Dance", which teaches people to do physical exercise to resist damp diseases. Ge's dance is called "Le Guang", in which three people fuck oxtails and sing eight songs (segments) to pray for abundant crops and birds and animals to multiply. The Yellow Emperor takes "Cloud" as the totem, and "Cloud Gate" is the totem dance of the Yellow Emperor. The "Phoenix Bird Tianzhai" dance is a totem dance in the Di Ku era; "Stone-beating, animal dance" is the totem music and dance of all clans during the reign of Emperor Yao. The music and dance of these ancient clans are full of the struggle life of youth and strength, and also reflect the prayer fantasy and witchcraft etiquette of primitive religions.

Second, the rites and music of the Zhou Dynasty are masterpieces of ancient dance.

Since Yu Xia passed his son to Yu Qi, he has entered the slave society. From the Xia and Shang Dynasties (2 1 ~ BC 1 1 century) to the founding of the Western Zhou Dynasty, slavery reached its peak, and the ruling class of the Zhou Dynasty had fully realized the social role of music and dance in politics and formulated the system of rites and music. In order to carry out this system of rites and music, the Zhou royal family arranged the music and dances left over from the previous generation, including the music and dances of Huangdi, Tang Yao, Yu Shun, Shang Tang and, which were collectively called the Six-Generation Dance. And set up a huge music and dance organization "Da Le Si", and the children of nobles should receive strict education in six arts (etiquette, music, archery, imperial examination, calligraphy and mathematics). /kloc-enter school at the age of 0/3, step by step, learn music first, recite poems and dance. /kloc-at the age of 0/5, he began to learn archery, elephant driving and elephant dancing (the legend of elephants is martial arts dance, and some people think it is totem dance such as fish and shrimp). At the age of 20, I learned all kinds of ceremonies and big dances.

During the festival, the children of nobles were led by western music for six generations. Play different music and dances on different occasions, and play "Le Kai" in triumph; Yan Shangke, performing "Four generations under one roof" and "Sanqu"; Dance "bow and arrow dance" while holding an arrow. In all ceremonial occasions, on the one hand, it emphasizes the sanctity of being ordered by heaven, on the other hand, it emphasizes the dignity of rank. The ritual and music system in the Western Zhou Dynasty was a great creation of political civilization in slave society and a masterpiece of ancient dance before the Zhou Dynasty.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty declined and the princes competed for hegemony. The system of rites and music can not be maintained, and the historical buildings in slave society are facing the trend of falling apart.

Three. Witchcraft Dance and Folk Sacrifice Dance

In primitive society, because people worship totems and are superstitious about ghosts and gods, there are gradually "witches" to communicate with people and gods. The "witch" is in charge of divination, asking God to bless or eliminate the ominous. The "witch" was originally a clan leader. The legendary Yu Xia is not only a hero of water control, but also a wizard. His leg was sick in the flood fighting, so he couldn't walk, so he had to move forward step by step. This kind of footwork is called "Ubuntu", which became a dance step imitated by wizards later, also called "Wubu". Ge Hong's Bao Pu Zi in the Jin Dynasty recorded two jumping ways of "Imperial Step". Cheng Tang, the founder of Shang Dynasty, was also a wizard. In the early years of Shang Dynasty, it didn't rain, so Cheng Tang sacrificed himself and prayed for rain in the mulberry forest. It rained heavily. This rain-praying sacrifice was still left over during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Han dynasty, spring drought begged for rain, witches offered sacrifices to workers violently, and children danced eight feet of dragons. Summer drought prayed for rain, offering sacrifices to Chiyou, and the strong danced with the 70-foot red dragon. In the autumn drought, the witch was sacrificed to Shao Hao, and the widower danced with the white dragon. Looking for snow in winter drought, offering sacrifices to the God of Xuan Ming. Dance 6 feet black dragon. It rained continuously, beating drums and attacking to stop the rain. Now dragon dance has become a folk festival dance.

Wax Festival originated from witchcraft. It is said that it began in the Yi era and was held at the end of the year to pray for a bumper harvest and reward the gods. There are Ba Shen's wax sacrifices: ① Xian Si (Shennong); 2 Sisi (Hou Ji); 3 agriculture (Saturnalia); (4) pillars, tables and scabs (huts, fields, well gods); (5) cats and tigers (cats and tiger gods); 6 parties (earth gods); ⑦ Shui Yong (River God); ⑧ One hundred kinds (Hundred Valley Gods), witches in Huang Guan sang sacrificial songs in yellow clothes during the wax festival, and the band played "Hail to You", drummed and danced "Dance of Soldiers". The twelfth lunar month festival has become a day for farmers to rest and entertain. Both the cat god and the tiger god in the wax sacrifice appear in the concrete image of the corpse, and the image of the god is played by the wizard in the song and dance "Nine Songs" in Chu. From the poem "Nine Songs", we can see the performance of this large-scale witch dance: the altar is decorated with Qionghua Cao Fang and cinnamon sauce; The priest wears jewelry and holds a sword; The band played a pentatonic ensemble and drummed An Ge; The "gods" danced in colorful clothes.

In the early years of the Han Dynasty, witchcraft was still very popular, and Emperor Gaozu often sacrificed mountains and rivers with witchcraft. The famous witches in Jin Dynasty were Zhang Dan and Zhu Chen. Legend has it that they are good-looking, good at dancing, laughing like ghosts, drawing swords and breaking tongues, and invisible. The Record of Ancient and Modern Music contains the song of 1 1 Shenxian, which is a witch's spiritual song.

Witchcraft dance is popular in vast areas. Emperor gaozu used Qin wizards and Jin wizards in the north and Jing wizards and Han wizards in the south to worship the mountains and rivers. To a great extent, the spread of witchcraft entertains people by singing and dancing, makes use of the beauty of witches, and uses acrobatics, magic, opera, painting and other artistic means to pray for people, exorcise evil spirits and cure diseases, which is dazzling. "Witch" and "dance" are homophonic, and there is also "witch who dances down the gods". Witches of all ethnic groups who have survived all over the world so far, such as: the God Witch of the Han nationality, Duan Gong of the Qiang nationality, Shaman of the Manchu nationality, Shigong of the Zhuang nationality, Dongba of the Naxi nationality, Dongsa of the Jingpo nationality, Qiang Mu of the Tibetan nationality and Tea Horse of the Mongolian nationality, although their gods and customs are different, their activities are nothing more than praying for exorcism, which is directly related to primitive witchcraft. Emperor Gaozu once let the world build the Ling Xing Temple, and offering sacrifices to Ling Xing became a national ritual activity. Ling Xing is a daily star, the main valley. Dance the spirit star dance during the sacrifice. The dancers are 16 boys and girls, and the dance action is to teach people the labor process of farming: weeding, farming, plowing, driving birds, plowing and so on. Lingxing Dance spread to the Ming Dynasty, and there is also a "Lingxing Small Dance Score" in Zhu Zaiyu's Music Collection.

Fourth, the Han Dynasty, where folk music and dance flourished.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, folk dances developed remarkably. There was Yuefu in the Qin Dynasty, and Qin Ershi was once in Ganquan Palace. In the early years of Han Dynasty, great-grandfather Liu Bang liked the folk songs and dances of Chu State and used them for court sacrifices. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty expanded the institution of Yuefu, appointed Li Yannian as the governor of Yuefu, and made great efforts to collect folk music and dance, recording 365,438+04 songs and poems of Wu, Chu, Yan, Dai, Qi and Zheng, and more than 800 Yuefu musicians and dancers. For political needs, he also performed "The Great Corner" to entertain foreign guests. The angle of arrival is increasing year by year, and the content is getting richer and richer, so it is also called a hundred plays.

The projects included in the hundred plays are:

(1) Acrobatics-looking for a building, jumping pills, walking a rope, narrowing, etc.

(2) illusion-swallowing a knife and spitting fire is easy.

(3) Wushu-stick dance, sword dance, knife dance, duet, etc.

(4) Pseudo dances-phoenix dance, fish dance, dragon dance, etc.

⑤ Towel dance, shovel dance, Tudor dance, cymbal dance, long-sleeved dance, pan-drum dance, Bayu dance, simple drum dance and duet.

⑥ Musical drama-The Duke Huang of Donghai is always advocated by the gods.

It can be seen that the proportion of dance in the hundred plays is very large.

Music and dance in Han Dynasty is an era of wide acceptance and integration of various skills. Under the influence of acrobatics, illusion, corner arrival and exorcism, dance has developed to a difficult stage, enriching the means of expressing feelings and expanding the performance ability of dance, which is reflected in the program Pan Encouragement. There are not only elegant and wonderful dances, but also superb and complicated skills of "falling on your knees". "Pan-Drum Dance" not only pays attention to the improvement of dance form, but also emphasizes that the external dance capacity expresses the internal poetry and pursues the artistic conception of dance. Another result of the integration of various skills is the emergence of musical dramas. The East China Sea yellow public word has a false shape. The wizard Huang Gong hates the white tiger, and it is a typical routine to stage a fight between man and beast. Huang Gong's magic was ineffective, and he was finally killed by the white tiger, which was full of satire and comedy. Another book, The General Meeting of the Immortals, is the further development of totem dance and witch dance.

Due to the consolidation of feudal system and economic prosperity in Han Dynasty, people's life was improved, and music and dance in various places developed accordingly. Famous songs and dances around the country are: Dong Song, Dong Dance, Zhao Bian, Zhao Dance, Jingyan, Chu Dance, and Zheng Dance.

Fifth, the exchange of music and dance cultures of all ethnic groups.

The ancient music and dance culture of the Chinese nation is formed in the continuous exchange and integration of music and dance cultures of all ethnic groups. This kind of communication existed in the Xia Dynasty. The Chronicle of Bamboo Books records that "Shao Kang acceded to the throne and invited guests from other countries to dance with music". "Later, I acceded to the throne. In the first year, then Baoyu would meet the pool and all foreigners would dance." The dance of the Zhou Dynasty and the Six Dynasties is also the concentration and exchange of music and dance of all ethnic groups. The introduction of music and dance in the western regions began in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there was a "Yue Yue" in the court in the early Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions and introduced the song Mahadule. Li Yannian, the captain of shoes, created 28 new sounds because of Hu Yue, and created and developed them under the influence of foreign music and dance. Ban Gu's Ode to the East describes the grand occasion of four major Yi music and dance performances in Luoyang in Han Dynasty, including gun dance of Dongyi, feather dance of Southwest Yi, halberd dance of West Yi and dry dance of North Yi. Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty liked to dance with Hu, and all the nobles in Kyoto danced together. There are images of Hu people performing acrobatics, magic and inspiration on the Han stone reliefs. The drum dance in Han Dynasty combined the elegance of the Central Plains with the enthusiasm of the Western Regions, and formed the aesthetic characteristics of the dance in Han Dynasty. This dance was lost in the Six Dynasties and only recently appeared in Anhui and Shaanxi.

Another achievement of music and dance exchanges between the Central Plains and the Western Regions was produced in the Northern Dynasties. In the Western Jin Dynasty, Guanzhong people took refuge in Liangzhou, bringing Han and Wei Chuantong music and dance. Lv Guang, an Adi ethnic group, and Ju Qu Meng Xun, a Hun, combined Qiuci music obtained in the Western Regions with the old music of the Central Plains spread in Liangzhou, resulting in a new type of music and dance-Xiliang Music. Dunhuang in Gansu is the capital of Xiliang, and the murals in Dunhuang Grottoes record the rhythm of Xiliang's music and dance.

Hu dance has been the most important dance in the north since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Of the nine ci poems in Sui Dynasty, the Western Region Music Department accounted for six, and Gao Changle was added to ten ci poems in the 16th year of Tang Zhenguan (642). The healthy dance "Hu Teng Dance" and Hu Xuan Dance from Kangju in the prosperous Tang Dynasty were all the rage. The branch-folding dance written by a stone country in Central Asia was still very popular in the Song Dynasty. The fusion of the Song Dynasty's branch-breaking dance and the Central Plains Daqu song and dance changed the original appearance of Hu dance and developed into a new national dance form. "Zhezhi Dance" can be regarded as another typical product of the combination of Chinese and western music and dance after the drum dance in Han Dynasty and the cool music in the North Dynasty, which enriches the treasure house of Chinese traditional dance.

Sixth, the prosperity and development of Yan music in Tang Dynasty.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court has set up a special music and dance organization, focusing on training professional music and dance personnel, attaching importance to inheriting traditions and absorbing foreign influences.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were many music and dance institutions such as Taichang Temple, Jiao Fang, Liyuan and Yichun Academy, which gathered a large number of highly skilled musicians and dancers and attached importance to the cultivation and training of dance skills. The Tang Dynasty inherited the unified achievements of the Sui Dynasty, including the music and dance of Shang Qing in the Southern Dynasty and the music and dance of Xiliang, Qiuci, Koryo, Tianzhu, Guo Kang, Anguo and Shule in the Northern Dynasty. Especially influenced by the music and dance of all ethnic groups in the western regions, the old music and new sounds blended with Han and Hu, which promoted the development of music and dance in the Tang Dynasty.

From nine geisha and ten geisha to sitting geisha and standing geisha, there are three kinds of dances-broken array music, celebrating good music and Shangyuan music, some are magnificent, some are elegant and some are full of fantasy. The three major dances can be regarded as the creation of epic dances in the Tang Dynasty. Small entertainment dance, healthy dance and gentle dance truly represent the artistic style of Tang Dynasty. Sword dance is represented by Jian, Zhezhi, Hu Xuan and Huteng. Soft dance is represented by Green Waist, Liangzhou, Spring Warbler and Black Nightingale. It is Daqu that represents the peak of music and dance art in Tang Dynasty. Daqu in Tang Dynasty is a combination of vertical inheritance and horizontal reference. Daqu in Han Dynasty is structurally composed of "speech" (introduction), "explanation" (paragraph), "momentum" and "chaos" (ending). Influenced by western music and dance in the Tang Dynasty, the form of Daqu was more abundant and perfect. Structurally, there are "loose sequence" (adagio doesn't jump), "middle sequence" (jump, including several paragraphs) and "broken" (complicated strings and rapid climax; Including "virtual urging", "real urging", "skipping rope", "taking a break" (adagio before the end) and "evil" (ending the paragraph in a hurry), forming a complete performing art form. According to Jiao Fangji, there were 46 kinds of Daqu in the Tang Dynasty, with complex rhythm, rich tunes and tight structure, and advanced forms of large-scale songs and dances.

There is a part of Daqu called "Faqu", which is full of elegant mood of music. In French music, the "dress with a feather" is known as the crown of dance in the Tang Dynasty.

Seven, the song dynasty dance and its dramatic factors.

There are three main aspects of dance in Song Dynasty: court team dance, folk team dance and acrobatic dance.

On the basis of the team dance in the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty developed into a team dance for children and a team dance for female disciples.

Folk dances were very prosperous in the Song Dynasty. Every New Year, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Tianning Festival (the emperor's birthday), folk dance teams are very active. There are 70 kinds of Yuanxi dance teams recorded in Old Wulin, and many programs of these 70 kinds of dance teams are still circulating among the people.

Dances in hundreds of dramas in the Song Dynasty were often performed in the army. "Dream of China in Tokyo" contains the article "Drive the troops to the stage for a hundred times". The staff sergeant disguised himself as a masked ghost and a judge, and performed "Holding Gong", "Hard Ghost", "Dancing the Judge", "Mime", "Seven Holy Knives" and "Counting Accounts" amid the sound of gongs and drums and fireworks. Each of these dances, which play various roles, becomes a drama, and it seems that there is a certain drama plot connection.

The dramatic factors in China's dance did not originate from the Song Dynasty. Dawu in the Spring and Autumn Period is a story about cutting the Zhou Dynasty, and the song and dance drama Donghai Palace in the Han Dynasty has taken shape. Song and dance dramas in the Tang Dynasty include Warrior Lan Ling, Tiao Tou, Tiao Niang and so on. Dancer has been equipped with various means of performance, such as dancing, music, acting, singing, and speaking plain English. Actors dress up as roles to express the story. Team dance in the court of song dynasty and Daqu both added dramatic factors. For example, the color of joining the army in team dance, also known as bamboo pole, plays the role of hook, release, talk and dialogue with the leading dancers, not only plays the role of announcer but also plays an organic role in the program, which plays an important role in promoting the development of the plot. Song Daqu also added stories, such as Qingyao, Cuihu Liuyao and Yingying Liuyao in Song Dynasty. The Daqu "Xizhou" includes "Drumming Xizhou" and "Jiro Xizhou". Daqu "Sword" includes "Overlord Sword". The sword dance in Zhifeng Yin Zhen Daqu includes two contents. The first half shows the story that Xiang Zhuang's sword dance banquet is intended to be Pei Gong. The second half tells the story of Zhang Xu watching Gong Sundaniang's sword cursive script. These Daqu songs are very dramatic.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, there have been zaju. There are still hundreds of operas, team dances and zaju in the entertainment programs of the Spring and Autumn Banquets, and this combination has been maintained until the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The two have developed in parallel for a long time, influencing and absorbing each other. The elements of song and dance and martial arts acrobatics contained in China's operas are closely related to China's ancient songs and dances, joining the army and singing and dancing operas.

Eight, the Yuan Dynasty opera dance and religious dance.

The opera art of the Yuan Dynasty is called Yuan Zaju. "Singing", "Cloud" and "Festival" in Yuan Zaju are its artistic expression means. Among them, the "subject" is mainly work, including expression, dance and martial arts. Among them, dance is intrusive, such as the fourth discount of "Tie Guai Li Du Huangjin Couple": "You can watch the Eight Immortals dance once (singing and dancing in the Eight Immortals)." In addition, the folk dance team "Village Dengaku" is used in Liu Xuande Drunk Up the Yellow Crane Tower, and the running bamboo horse is used in Chasing Han Xin. This intrusive dance in Yuan Zaju also includes An Lushan's "Hu Xuan" dance and Yang Guifei's "Nishang" dance in Tang Qiuyu. Martial arts in Yuan Zaju also contains many dance factors, such as various instrumental dances, duet, somersault, flying flags, walking on stilts and so on. Other plays, such as Xiao Weichi's "doing the tune" and Maling Road's "fighting in formation", are a kind of formation dance. Other works in Yuan Zaju have gradually evolved into stylized dance movements to express the modality of characters, such as "Zheng Dan as the master of shame" and "Zheng Dan as the master of sorrow" in Moon Pavilion. At that time, the zaju artists also gave names to some technical dance movements, such as "flying the red flag", "dragging the white" and "walking on stilts".

The religious dances in ancient China were mainly witchcraft, Taoism and Buddhism. Witchcraft and Taoism are inherent religions in China. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism introduced from India flourished and lasted for a long time from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, etc. , the temple Buddha "advocates music for fun"; Jingle Temple in Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty, with female music, "singing around the beam and dancing around the sleeve"; During the Southern Dynasties, Liang Wudi made "kindness" and "great joy", which was called "positive joy" and publicized Buddhism. One of the ten pieces of music in the Tang Dynasty, Xiliang Music, contains the Buddhist music of Hetian, and a group of bodhisattvas in the court of the Song Dynasty presented fragrant flowers in the team dance, all of which were music and dances to promote Buddhism. Shamanism (witchcraft) and Lamaism (Buddhism) were the main beliefs in the Yuan Dynasty, and the court team dance in the Yuan Dynasty was full of religious superstitions. In the Yuan Dynasty, the court dance team was divided into four teams, namely, the King of Music team on New Year's Day, the Shouxing team on Tianshou Festival, the ritual and music band on Zhaohui, which preached Buddhism, and the Yili team. Each team is divided into 10 teams. Among the teams of King of Music 10, the leading team is a band, and there are two women's groups, one playing the song of willow in Changchun and the other performing peony flower dance. In the team of 10, there are also women who are inspired by flowers, and the rest are men's group dances, dressed as ghosts and gods. There is also a dance dressed as a photo of donkey kong in Debate Team. In addition, there are Bao Gai Dance, Sun Moon Fan Dance, Loutai Dance, Umbrella Cover Dance and Golden Wing Peng Dance, all of which are religious dances.

The most famous Buddhist ode dance in Yuan Dynasty was Yuan Shundi's "Sixteen Magic Dance", which was called Buddhist ode dance. It's actually very interesting. Only eunuchs who have received secret training are allowed to watch while performing in the palace, and folk performances are strictly prohibited.

Nine, dance in Ming and Qing Dynasties

Dances in this period can be roughly divided into three categories: court team dance, opera dance and folk dance.

In the Ming Dynasty, the court court dance, a big sacrifice to Daqing, became a big feast of "the dance of all nations coming to Korea" and "the dance of beating the team". The banquet on the Day of the Longevity Saints used the "Dance of the September 1st Treasure Team" and "Dance of the Shouxing Team". The characteristics of the winter solstice banquet are "dancing to celebrate the holy jubilee" and "dancing in the pilgrimage of flowers" Zheng Dan's banquet used "Lotus Pot Dance" and "Winning Drum and Picking Lotus Dance".

The band dances of court banquets in the Qing Dynasty were collectively called Qinglong Dance, including Yang Lie Dance of Jiezhou and Xi Dance of ministers. The content of the dance is very meaningful. At the beginning, the band stood on the two wings, and 13 singers played "Qinglong" and performed "Yang Lie Dance". There are 65,438+06 people wearing yellow canvas covers and 65,438+06 people wearing black sheepskin covers. Everyone wears a mask and jumps and falls like a strange beast. Eight people rode bamboo horses and galloped around like the Eight Banners. A man shoots a wild animal, and the wild animal is frightened by it. At this time, the "Happy Dance" dance team appeared, and the minister 18 people dressed up to celebrate the dance.

Opera and dance in Ming and Qing Dynasties is an important part of China opera. Can be divided into five categories:

(1) intrusive dances, such as "jumping together", "jumping Zhong Kui" and "silent lee" in the Ming version of Save Mother.

2 stylized dance jokes, such as "beginning to bully", "riding a horse" and "walking sideways".

(3) stylized dance movements, such as sleeves, feathers, hair, curls, fans, silks and lengths.

(4) Knife and gun handles.

⑤ somersault.

On the basis of ancient dances in China, traditional Chinese opera and dance developed according to the needs of plots and characters. It not only has the characteristics of China classical dance, but also preserves the essence of China classical dance, which is instructive to open the treasure house of China classical dance and study the development law of classical dance.

China is a multi-ethnic country with 56 nationalities. Due to the differences in life, history, religion, culture and customs of various ethnic groups, various folk dances have emerged. Judging from the folk dances of all ethnic groups that have been passed down to this day, most of these dances were in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.