Stilt (single stilt)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: stilts

Applicant: Tai'an City, Shandong Province

Item No.: 112

Project No.: Ⅲ - 9

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Shandong Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Tai'an City, Shandong Province

Protection unit: Xintai Cultural Center

Introduction to stilts

Applicant: Tai'an City, Shandong Province

Stilts, also known as "stilt Yangko", is a kind of folk dance with a long history, which is widely spread all over the country. It gets its name because it often uses both feet to step on stilts when performing. Stilts are usually performed in the form of dance teams, with more than ten to dozens of performers. Most of them play characters in ancient myths or historical stories. Most of their costumes imitate the costumes of traditional opera. The commonly used props in the performance include fans, handkerchiefs, sticks, knives and guns, etc. Stilt has two forms of performance: "stepping on the street" and "abandoning the field", of which "abandoning the field" is divided into "big field" and "small field". The "big stage" is performed by the dance team, and various formation patterns are carried out while dancing; the "small stage" is performed by two or three people, mostly men and women, sometimes singing while dancing. Stilts used in various places range from 30cm to 300cm. According to the performance style, stilts can be divided into "Wenqiao" and "Wuqiao". Wenqiao focuses on twisting and stepping and plot performance, while Wuqiao focuses on dazzling performance.

Xintai City of Shandong Province is located in the hinterland of central Shandong Province, in the southeast of Tai'an City, adjacent to Laiwu in the north, Yiyuan in the East, Pingyi in the South and Ningyang in the West. It originated in Dawa village, Yangliu Town, Xintai City.

Single stick stilt is a unique folk dance form in Shandong Province. It was born in 1897 and has a history of more than 100 years. At that time, Xintai and Yangliu were economically developed, and folk juggling was very popular. There are many stilt teams and there are many experts. Some of them invented the unique skill of single foot stilt jumping. Later, Wang Jialuo, the second generation successor, developed it to the extreme and formed the basic mode of "single pole stilt", that is, taking logs as props, setting pedals in the middle, accompanied by gongs and drums, stepping on the pedals when performing, and jumping on the ground alone. Wang Zhaojie, the third generation's successor, also integrated the folk opera into the single stick stilt performance, and created the classic play "Bangxi Jinchan", which is deeply loved by the people.

From props, musical instruments, modeling to stunt performance, single stilt has a certain scale and routine, forming a complete performance system, which is the oldest and unique folk art in Shandong Province. Its unique shape, vivid, lively and humorous action has become a unique skill in Shandong and even the whole country folk dance. With the changes of the times, the living conditions of the single stick stilt are deteriorating, there is no successor, and it is on the verge of being lost.

Chinese PinYin : Gao Qiao Du Gan Qiao