Bronze drum dance (Miao people's bronze drum dance in Leishan)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Bronze Drum Dance

Applicant: Leishan County, Guizhou Province

Item No.: 129

Project No.: Ⅲ - 26

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Guizhou Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Leishan County, Guizhou Province

Protection unit: Leishan County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center

Brief introduction of tongqi (Miao people's tongqi in Leishan)

Applicant: Leishan County, Guizhou Province

Bronze drum dance is one of the most popular and influential ancient dances among Zhuang, Yi and Yao people in China. It comes from the natural worship and ancestor worship activities of Zhuang and Yi people in Wenshan. In the performance of bronze drum dance, the drummer beats the drum rhythmically, which causes the change of dance formation and movement. There are many forms of group dance in bronze drum dance. Young men and women can form a circle, or they can be arranged into semicircle, straight, vertical, cross and square. The dancer's mood fluctuates with the dance, the dance method is vigorous and powerful, the dance posture is rough and flexible, the dance scene is cheerful and moving, showing distinct national and regional characteristics.

Copper drum dance of Miao Nationality in Leishan is a unique folk dance of Miao nationality, which is mainly spread in ZHANGAO village, Datang Township, Leishan County, Guizhou Province. The Miao people have the custom of worshiping drums. Each branch has a bronze drum or a wooden drum. Generally, every 13 years, there is a Drum Festival, in which water buffalo or pigs are slaughtered to sacrifice drums. At the same time, people also have to dance to show respect and memory for their ancestors.

Copper drum dance is accompanied by percussion instruments with a face, hollow bottomless and flat waist shaped "copper drum", which is also the representative of dance culture of ethnic minorities in southern China. According to archaeological findings, as early as before the 4th century BC (the end of the spring and Autumn period), bronze drum had appeared in music and dance scenes. Although the Miao people began to contact the bronze drum in the early feudal society (later mainly used as musical instruments), they made an important contribution to the inheritance and development of ancient Chinese bronze drum culture. Up to now, the Miao nationality has preserved a relatively complete form of performance and dance. Miao people in Southeast Guizhou often dance bronze drum dance when they celebrate traditional festivals and festive days.

According to Guizhou's bazhai county annals, when beating a bronze drum, it was "hung with a rope and an ear, one with a wooden mallet, the other with a wooden barrel, and one with a blow to make it sound loud and far away.". Nowadays, it is common for the Miao people to hang the bronze drum in front of the court and in the dam, accompanied by the drummer with a wooden mallet on the drum waist and a leather mallet on the drum face. The dancers formed a circle and stepped on the drums, which were clear and sonorous. When they were in and out, they advanced and retreated. When they were in high spirits, they returned their hands and called out "Hi Chi Chi". Its movements mainly come from hunting life, agricultural production labor and the simulation of animal morphology, such as "riding", "driving ducks", "fishing", "fishing shrimp" and so on.

Miao's bronze drum dance is characterized by the twist of the crotch and the swing of the upper body. The dance steps are bold and unconstrained, with large range and high difficulty. Sometimes it is like a dragonfly skimming the water, sometimes it is like a tiger going down the mountain.

According to legend, there are 12 kinds of Miao people's bronze drum dance in Leishan, one of which has been lost. At present, 11 kinds of dance can be collected, including crab catching dance, turn over dance, welcoming dance, hunting dance, duck step dance, seeing off dance, sacrificial drum dance, grazing dance, fishing shrimp dance, sending drum dance, and total happy dance. Each dance has its own drumbeats and different dancing styles. Each dance contains a certain content, some of them come from the imitation of animals, such as duck walking; some come from a variety of production and life behaviors, such as catching shrimp and crab, hunting and production. Leishan Miao people's bronze drum dance is mainly performed in guzang Festival, harvest celebration, ancestor worship and other activities, and often choose different dance styles due to different festival activities, such as solemn and thick dance posture in guzang Festival, rough and unrestrained dance posture in harvest celebration, exaggerated and interesting dance posture in animal imitation, and so on.

Due to the narrow spread area of bronze drum dance, some performing skills of bronze drum dance and bronze drum dance have been lost. The ancient Leishan Miao bronze drum dance is in an endangered state, which needs to be rescued and protected.

Chinese PinYin : Tong Gu Wu Lei Shan Miao Zu Tong Gu Wu