Lion Dance

Ⅲ-5Traditional DanceXiangfen, ShanxiBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

The lion dance of Taosi, Xiangfen, Shanxi, began in the Sui and Tang periods; passing through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, it has never declined and is called "Tianta lion dance".

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Lion dance, also called "shizi wu", "shi deng", "wu shi" or "wu shi zi", is performed mostly at New Year festivals and in celebratory events. The lion is regarded as an auspicious beast in the hearts of all the peoples of China, symbolizing good fortune and the fulfilment of wishes; accordingly, lion-dance performances embody the people's good wishes to ward off disaster and harm and to seek auspiciousness and blessings. Lion dance has a long history: the "xiangren" (elephant men) recorded in the "Treatise on Rites and Music" of the Book of Han are the forerunner of lion dance; Tang and Song poems and prose contain many vivid descriptions of lion dance. The lion dance that survives today is divided into two great categories, the southern lion and the northern lion. The southern lion has many acrobatic, highly difficult techniques and a vigorous, fierce bearing; the northern lion is naive and cute, and its performance content is mostly play and frolic. According to the differing materials used to make the lion head and the differing methods of tying and constructing it, the lion dances of the various localities are numerous and richly varied. Tianta lion dance has the artistic characteristics of astonishment, danger, strangeness, superlative skill and beauty. The tower platform stands very high; the movements rise and fall greatly, making people marvel. The performance process contains scientific principles of mechanics, and with safe protective measures it appears dangerous but is in fact free of danger. The lion's eyes, tongue and tail move freely, and it can give performances such as spitting out a strip of banner, which strike people as marvellous. Tianta lion dance fuses skill into strength and culture into acrobatics, and can well be called a supreme achievement; this high-platform performance has beautiful airborne shapes that display a moving charm. Tianta lion dance has a distinctive performance form and superb, unmatched technique. Tianta lion dance won the Excellent Award at the Seventh China Arts Festival and the gold award at the first and third Shanxi Province Square Culture Festivals.

Astonishing, perilous, strange, matchless, beautiful

Its five hallmarks: the towering platform and plunging moves, the science that makes peril safe, the movable eyes and tongue, and the artistry of its aerial poses.

The tiered tower and its mechanics

The core apparatus, a tower of stacked tables and stools whose load points are mechanically calculated so that high performance remains safe.

Movable eyes, tongue and tail

The eyes, tongue and tail work freely and the lion can spit out a scroll, adding wonder and cultural meaning to feats of strength.

From one lion to a pride

The inheritor Li Dengshan refined costume and props, reformed the percussion and expanded the single lion into a pride, adding martial and acrobatic elements.

Reforming the percussion

His reform tied the percussion closely to the dance's rhythm, mood and action, turning it from timekeeping into a structural force.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Tianta lion dance is transmitted in the area around Taosi, Xiangfen, Shanxi; its origin can be traced back to the Sui and Tang periods, and passing through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing it has never declined. The performance is characterized by a high platform of stacked frames, the tower platform towering high and the movements rising and falling greatly, containing scientific principles of mechanics and matched with safe protective measures, so that it appears dangerous but is in fact free of danger. Xiangfen lies in the southern Shanxi basin on the lower reaches of the Fen River, and the tradition of village shehuo is deep; Tianta lion dance is often the finale of the shehuo procession, appearing together with gongs, drums, dry-land boats and the like to form a complete New Year performance sequence. This dance won the Excellent Award at the Seventh China Arts Festival and the gold award at the first and third Shanxi Province Square Culture Festivals.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, rescuing, protecting and studying lion dance are of very great significance for research into aesthetics, folklore studies and the history of music and dance. Li Dengshan (official file record of the associated inheritor): male, Han nationality, born in 1946, native of Xiangfen, Shanxi. On the basis of the traditional lion-dance performance technique, he improved the costumes and props of lion dance, making the "lion" move more nimbly and the shapes more vivid; he also reformed the gong and drum accompaniment, making it fit closely with the rhythm, mood and movements of the dance. He further developed single-lion performance into group-lion performance and added elements such as martial arts and acrobatics, making the lion-dance performance more splendid. Li Dengshan, whose technique is highly skilled, is both a coach and a lion leader, and has made an important contribution to the transmission and development of Tianta lion dance. Representative inheritor of Lion dance (Tianta lion dance), the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage projects.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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