Nuo Dance
01 · Historical Records
Nuo dance in Nanfeng has a long history and has undergone several transformations. Fu Taihui of the early Qing, in his Jinsha Songshi Nuoshen Bianji (Record Distinguishing the Nuo Gods of the Song Lineage at Jinsha), records: "In the Han dynasty the general Wu Rui . . . reverently followed the institutions of the Duke of Zhou, transmitting nuo to calm the baleful aura." After more than a thousand years of development, by the Ming and Qing periods Nanfeng tiaonuo had absorbed many performing arts — opera, puppetry, lantern display, martial arts and the like — and had become more secular and more entertaining.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Nuo dance is a folk dance widespread in various localities that serves to expel ghosts and drive away epidemic disease and to make sacrifice; it is the dance portion of a nuo ceremony, and is generally performed from the first day of the first lunar month to the sixteenth day. Nuo dance has a long history; it took shape in the grand nuo rite of the court of the Zhou dynasty, and is explicitly recorded in the Zhouli (Rites of Zhou). In the course of historical development, nuo dance formed different styles in different regions, and occupies a different proportion within the nuo ceremony. In nuo dance performance one generally wears the mask of a particular character, including mythological figures as well as secular persons and historical celebrities, and these constitute a vast pantheon of nuo gods: remove the mask and it is a man, put on the mask and it is a god. The accompanying instruments of nuo dance are simple, generally drums, gongs and other percussion. The organisation that performs the nuo ceremony and nuo dance is called a nuoban (nuo troupe); its members generally number from eight to a dozen or more, and it usually has strict troupe rules. Nuo dance usually appears in the climactic part of the nuo ritual and during the repertoire performance stage; the nuo repertoire of each locality is rich and serves the dual purposes of sacrifice and entertainment. Nuo dance is the principal form of expression of tiaonuo; originally a ritual dance for sacrificing to the gods and driving off epidemic disease, it later developed into nuo dance that amuses both gods and people. Nuo dance in Nanfeng is transmitted in 180 villages of Nanfeng County, Jiangxi Province; it spreads widely and is a form of folk dance beloved by the people. The Nanfeng nuo ceremony has a complex structure, comprising the tiaonuo ceremony, the miscellaneous nuo ceremonies and others. The tiaonuo ceremony consists of basic procedures such as raising the nuo, performing the tiaonuo and expelling the nuo; the miscellaneous nuo ceremonies take three forms: jumping the bamboo horse, jumping the union and jumping the Eight Immortals. The Nanfeng nuo ceremony contains many dance forms; 82 are preserved today, among them the solo dances Opening the Mountain (Kaishan), Zhong Kui, the God of Wealth and Nezha; the group dances Jumping the Judge, Nuo Lord and Nuo Lady, and Sword Duel; the acrobatic dance Enacting the Arhats, Guanyin Seated on the Lotus and Samantabhadra Riding the Elephant; and the dance-drama Journey to the West. The masks of Nanfeng tiaonuo are varied in form and abundant in appearance, numbering as many as 180 kinds, including deities who ward off epidemic disease, folk gods of the everyday world, Buddhist and Daoist immortals, legendary heroes, spirits and animals, and secular figures. The props and ritual implements used in it are numerous and can be divided into five main categories: weapons and military equipment such as axes, sabres and spears; ritual instruments such as iron chains, peachwood swords and palm leaves; torches, candles, firecrackers and staves; sacrificial foods such as the three-offering trinity of meat, fish and chicken; and everyday utensils such as handkerchiefs, mirrors and wine cups. Nanfeng tiaonuo is rich in content and varied in form, with a strong local flavour and deep cultural grounding, and is deeply loved by the people. As economic globalisation, modernisation and urbanisation have intensified, the environment on which Nanfeng tiaonuo depends for its survival has changed enormously. The traditional folk-custom ecology that sustained it is gradually lost, the ranks of artists have no sufficient successors, and the nuo troupes are dwindling.
Raising, dancing and expelling
The basic sequence of the Nuo rite at Nanfeng — raising the Nuo, dancing it and expelling evil — which together with the miscellany rites forms its complex structure.
The three miscellany Nuo rites
The three miscellaneous Nuo rites that run alongside the main dance, distinguishing the Nanfeng complex from a single-purpose expulsion rite.
The solo and group Nuo dances
Representative items among the eighty-two surviving dance forms: solo pieces on deity roles, and group pieces built on paired combat and coupling.
The acrobatic dances and the Journey to the West dance-drama
The skill-heavy items and the sole dance-drama in the repertory, showing how the dance absorbed opera, puppetry, lantern craft and martial arts.
The one hundred and eighty Nuo masks
Nanfeng's masks — some one hundred and eighty of them — range across plague deities, folk gods, Buddhist and Daoist immortals, legendary heroes, animal spirits and ordinary people.
The five classes of props and ritual instruments
The props fall into five classes: weapons such as axes, knives and spears; ritual implements such as iron chains, peach-wood swords and palm leaves; lamps and torches; offerings such as the three sacrificial meats; and household items.
The Shiyou troupe and Luo Huiwu
Born in 1939, Luo Huiwu knows every rule of the troupe and dances all eight items in every role; over nearly fifty years he trained five dancers of the Shiyou troupe.
The Jinsha Song clan's discourse on the Nuo deity
A text by Fu Taihui in the early Qing recording General Wu Rui of the Han transmitting Nuo to quell evil, an important clue that Nuo was already danced around Nanfeng in Han times.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Nuo dance that survives today is distributed mainly in Jiangxi, Anhui, Guizhou, Guangxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Hubei, Fujian, Yunnan and Guangdong; localities have their own regional names such as tiaonuo, guizhu (ghost dance) and wanxi (play for joy). It can be seen that tiaonuo already existed in the Nanfeng area during the Han dynasty.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance · Nuo Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the traditional tiaonuo continued to be transmitted among the people, sustaining the lifeblood of its grass-roots culture. In view of this, protection and support are urgently needed. Luo Huiwu (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1939, native of Nanfeng, Jiangxi. Luo Huiwu is familiar with all the ritual procedures of the nuo troupe and is good at performing every role in all eight programmes: Opening the Mountain, Joss Paper, the Thunder God, Nuo Lord and Nuo Lady, Zhong Kui Drunk, Jumping the Bench, the Two Bailangs and Guan Gong. In the nearly fifty years in which he practised tiaonuo, he trained in turn five tiaonuo artists, among them Ye Genming, Nie Maofu and Luo Runyin of the Shiyou nuo troupe. Representative inheritor of Nuo Dance (Nanfeng Tiaonuo), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Luo Huiwu 02-0353
- Hu Zhenkun 02-0354
- Chengzhangqing 03-0911
- Peng Yingfang 03-0912
- Yu Yangfu 03-0913
- Fan Tinglu 03-0914
- Han Fulin 04-1557
- Wang Xuanzhi 04-1558
- Gong Maofa 04-1559
- Cheng Jinsheng 04-1560
- Wang Shunqing 05-2210
- Zhou Guoping 05-2211
- Yulinji 05-2212
- Banyongming
- Xiao Yiping
- Peng Qiusheng
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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