Nuo Dance
01 · Historical Records
Nuo dance in Le'an is represented by the gun nuoshen (rolling the nuo god) of Donghu Village within the county. Donghu Village lies thirty li south of Le'an county town, and the Yang clan of the village has handed down this ancient tiaonuo ceremony from generation to generation; the locals call it the gun nuoshen. It has a history of nearly a thousand years, its rules are strict and it is not taught outside, and it has been kept up to the present as a rite for warding off evil, welcoming blessing and protecting the locality and its people. The nuo god temple in the village was first built in the eighth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty and has now collapsed; a couplet once stood in front of it: "Nuo drives away plague so that the population flourishes and the herds thrive; the gods protect the village so that the town stands and the hamlet is at peace." The Donghu nuo troupe consists of twelve men.
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. Donghu Village of Le'an County lies thirty li south of Le'an county town in Jiangxi Province, and the Yang clan of the village has handed down an ancient tiaonuo ceremony from generation to generation, known to the locals as gun nuoshen; the rules of this rite are strict and it is not taught outside. The gun nuoshen of Donghu already has a history of nearly a thousand years, and has been handed down by the locals to the present as a rite for warding off evil, welcoming blessing and protecting the locality and its people. In front of the nuo god temple in the village (first built in the eighth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, now collapsed) there once stood a couplet: "Nuo drives away plague so that the population flourishes and the herds thrive; the gods protect the village so that the town stands and the hamlet is at peace." The masks worn in the gun nuoshen differ from those of other nuo dances: they do not cover the whole face but are composed of two separate pieces, one for the forehead and one for the lower jaw, and there are eighteen of them, among them the pig mouth, the chicken mouth, the goose king, the Eastern Peak, the Judge of Hell, the white tiger spirit and the crooked-mouthed granny. The accompanying music consists of one drum and one gong, in an inverted 3/4 rhythm with the weak beat first and the strong beat after, which is very distinctive. The Donghu nuo troupe consists of twelve men; the main programmes it performs include Chicken Mouth, Pig Mouth, Clashing Boards, Singing a Literary Play, Catching Ghosts, the Bull Demon King, the Seven Stars and Stepping on Firecrackers. This nuo dance has both solo and duet dances, usually performed with props; its dance movements are archaic and rugged, hard yet gentle, with action and technique such as the kicking leg with crouching stance, the rebounding shot, the face-brushing hand fling and the converging step. In case of plague or calamity all eighteen nuo gods go out, moving from village to household to search out and expel evil; the whole process appears comparatively primitive, with few traces of human embellishment. The modelling movements and performing style of the pig mouth and the chicken mouth in the gun nuoshen are indeed rare among China's nuo dances; they are the only surviving oldest nuo ceremony and nuo dance.
The rolling Nuo deity of Donghu
The ancient Nuo rite of the Yang clan at Donghu village in Le'an, kept under strict rule and never taught out, maintained for nearly a millennium as a rite of protection.
The eighteen two-part masks
Unlike other Nuo masks, these are made of two separate pieces for brow and muzzle; the eighteen include pig-snout, chicken-beak, goose-king, Dongyue, judge and white-tiger spirit.
One drum, one gong and the reversed three-four beat
The accompaniment is a single drum and gong in a reversed three-four metre, with the weak beat first and the strong beat after.
The repertory of the twelve-man troupe
The twelve-man troupe's main items, both solos and duets, mostly danced with props.
The movement skills of the rolling Nuo deity
The technique of the rolling Nuo deity, archaic and rough yet supple within its strength; in epidemics all eighteen gods process from house to house to expel evil.
The couplet of the Donghu Nuo shrine
The village Nuo shrine, first built in the eighth year of the Qianlong reign and now collapsed, once bore a couplet praying that Nuo expel plague and bring thriving herds and a peaceful village.
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).
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
The modelling movements and performing style of the pig mouth and the chicken mouth in the gun nuoshen are indeed rare among China's nuo dances, and researchers regard them as one of the oldest surviving nuo ceremonies and nuo dances. Their masks do not cover the whole face but are composed of two separate pieces, one for the forehead and one for the lower jaw, eighteen in all; the accompaniment uses only one drum and one gong, in an inverted 3/4 rhythm with the weak beat first and the strong beat after.
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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