Yao Jinluo Dance
01 · Historical Records
From the late sixteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century was the period in which the Yao gold-gong dance matured, became stable and developed continuously. From the middle and late nineteenth century to the present has been the period of the transmission, application, improvement and transformation of the Yao gold-gong dance. The suona and the wooden drum were added to it, so that its musical image became fuller and its dance characteristics more pronounced.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Yao gold-gong dance, called lusang in the Yao language, is a folk traditional dance created by the Bunu Yao people living in Tiandong County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the surrounding areas in the course of long labour. It is called the gold-gong dance because the bronze gongs used in ancient times were mixed with gold. At first the Yao gold-gong dance appeared mainly in various folk activities, danced in order to sacrifice to the ancestors and amuse the gods. Later some Bunu Yao art forms and musical elements were fused into it, the element of amusing the people increased gradually, and relatively fixed performance procedures and routines took shape. Traditionally the gong is both the accompanying instrument of the Yao gold-gong dance and the prop of the dancer. The number of dancers is not fixed: as few as three or five, or as many as a hundred dancing at the same time. The concrete form of the Yao gold-gong dance is divided into two parts, procedure and dance. As to procedure, before the gold-gong dance is danced an opening-gong ceremony must be held: the elder first invites the gong out and dances the opening-gong dance, and only then may the young people dance, until the gong is sealed; sealing the gong means that the elder puts the gong away. The dance has eight basic movements: single gong point, double gong point, striking the mallet with the leg raised to the left and right, striking the mallet behind the back, striking the mallet over the head, striking the gong with a leaning step, turning and striking the gong, and striking the gong twice. The dance repeats cyclically from slow to fast, the more urgent the sound of the gong the quicker the steps, until it ends to the full satisfaction of those taking part. In its dance movements, its gong-and-drum accompaniment, its musical singing and other respects there is a great deal of improvised creation, which makes its forms of expression still richer and more varied.
Opening and sealing the gong
An opening rite in which the elder brings out the gong and dances first must precede the young dancers, and the round ends when the elder seals the gong away.
The eight basic movements
Its eight basic movements include single and double strikes, leg-lift beating, striking behind the back, overhead striking, side-stepping, turning and double beating.
Scaring off birds and beasts
As pioneers of the stony hills with little farmland, the Bunu Yao learned to drive birds and beasts from ripening crops with gong strokes, which grew into the dance.
The gold-bearing gong
The gong serves both as instrument and prop, danced by three or a hundred at once; because old gongs were alloyed with gold the dance takes its name from the metal.
Ruan Guilu
Ruan Guilu, born in 1948 in Tiandong county, learned from village masters as a child and commands both the dance technique and the ritual sequence behind it.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Yao gold-gong dance, called lusang in the Yao language, circulates in the Bunu Yao villages of Tiandong County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the surrounding areas, and the Tiandong County Cultural Centre undertakes the protection of the item. The number of dancers taking part is not fixed: as few as three or five, or as many as a hundred dancing at the same time. Before the gold-gong dance is danced an opening-gong ceremony must be held: the elder first invites the gong out and dances the opening-gong dance, and only then may the young people dance, until the gong is sealed, that is, until the elder puts the gong away. The dance is built from the eight basic movements — single gong point, double gong point, striking the mallet with the leg raised to the left and right, striking the mallet behind the back, striking the mallet over the head, striking the gong with a leaning step, turning and striking the gong, and striking the gong twice — repeating cyclically from slow to fast, the more urgent the sound of the gong the quicker the steps.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Bunu branch of the Yao are the pioneers of the great stony hills. Land is scarce here, and once the crops have ripened birds and beasts come in large numbers to vie with people for food; the Bunu Yao summed up their experience and often used the sound of the gong to frighten off birds and beasts and protect the grain, and gradually developed this into the Yao gold-gong dance. The Yao gold-gong dance and the production, daily life, festival activities and religious beliefs of the local Yao depend on one another. It reflects the spiritual character of the Bunu Yao in revering nature and accepting their fate, and their persistent pursuit of a good life, and it is an important bond for transmitting history and culture, for educating and bringing up the younger generation, and for keeping the community in harmony. Ruan Guilu (as recorded in the official file of the linked inheritor): male, of Yao ethnicity, born in December 1948, a native of Tiandong County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He has loved the gold-gong dance of his home village since childhood and studied it under the old artists of the village, mastering not only the performance skills of the gold-gong dance but also the ritual procedures and the cultural meaning of dancing it. Through long practice, his deep understanding of the folk culture of his own ethnic group gave rise to a distinctive style and set of technical features in his own dance performance, giving him considerable representativeness and influence. He is a representative inheritor of the Yao gold-gong dance among the national-level intangible cultural heritage items in the fifth batch. In order to promote the dissemination and transmission of the gold-gong dance, he takes an active part in the various intangible cultural heritage publicity activities and works hard to train inheritors of the Yao gold-gong dance.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Ruan Guilu 05-2298
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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