Reba Dance
01 · Historical Records
Historical records state that Reba originated in the eleventh century CE and was created by Milarepa, the second patriarch of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dingqing Reba dance originated in Qiongbud Dingqing; its founder is said to be Qiongbu Milatuibage, also known as Milarepa. The Dingqing Reba dance has three main schools: the Gacu Reba popular in Sezha, also called "Sezha Reba", with a history of more than five hundred years; the Wotuo Reba popular in Jue'en, with a history of more than nine hundred and forty years; and the Dongluo Reba popular in Sangduo, also called the Kangsa Reba, with a history of more than three hundred years. In 2002 Dingqing County was named the "Hometown of Reba Art" by the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Reba dance is a dance form performed by Tibetan "reba" artists. Reba is a comprehensive art performed by itinerant troupes who make a living from performing, generally organised around the family as the basic unit. It is centred on the bell drum and combines storytelling and singing, xie (song and dance), acrobatics, qigong and the Reba play into one. The predecessor of Reba was the "shamanic rites" and "totem dance" of the Bon religion, Tibet's indigenous faith. The Dingqing Reba dance is both a drum dance and a comprehensive performing art that integrates speech, song, dance, acrobatics and qigong. Legend has it that Dingqing County in the Chamdo area was then a tropical place where elephants lived. People killed elephants, spread their hides on the ground and danced on top of them to sacrifice to the gods, and thus Reba dance was created. Dingqing County can indeed be called the birthplace of Reba dance. The most famous of them is the Wotuo Reba of Qiongbud Dingqing. The Wotuo Reba is characterised by techniques of extreme difficulty; pole-climbing, breaking stones on the abdomen and spinning while clamping a knife are all signature feats of the Wotuo Reba. The Kangsa Reba is one of the important Reba schools still active on the stage today within Chamdo. Its traditional programmes include the one-beat drum, three-beat drum, six-beat drum and nine-beat drum, with xianzi dance, zhuo dance and male-and-female debate (the equivalent of comic crosstalk) interspersed among them. The three forms of Reba differ little in their modes of expression, and all of them are renowned worldwide for their bold and unrestrained dance movements and their highly difficult dance poses. Their music is marked by simplicity and brightness, resonance and stir, freedom and flow, and their main subject matter is things such as averting disaster and warding off misfortune, celebrating a good harvest and wishing for auspiciousness. After the founding of the People's Republic, folk Reba artists did decline in number, but because literary and artistic workers at every level went deep into everyday life and took folk artists as their teachers, the traditional Reba was not only inherited fairly well but was also reformed to some extent in performing technique and costume, so that it could meet the needs of stage performance.
Gatso Reba of Sezha
One of the three main Reba lineages of Dingqing, current in Sezha for more than five hundred years.
Wotuo Reba
The Wotuo lineage of Jue'en, over nine hundred and forty years old, famed for pole climbing, stone-breaking on the belly and whirling with knives.
Donglo Reba of Kamsa
The Donglo lineage of Sangduo, over three centuries old and still staged, with one-, three-, six- and nine-beat drum items plus Nangma, Dro and comic dialogue.
Bell drum and net-fringe costume
Reba centres on the bell drum and unites storytelling, song, acrobatics, breath arts and drama; performers wear a net fringe of black-and-white yak hair.
The powerful style of Zhagasi Dorqung
The inheritor Danzeng Quta carries on the forceful style of the founder Zhagasi Dorqung and has preserved the full set of drum routines.
Pole climbing, stone breaking and knife whirling
The most difficult feats of the Wotuo lineage, whose music is bright and impassioned and whose themes are averting disaster and celebrating harvests.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Reba dance is distributed in Chamdo, Gongbo and Nagqu of Tibet, and in the Tibetan-inhabited areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu. Dingqing Reba has an ancient tradition, many schools and superb technique, and it is an indispensable unique variety among Tibetan folk dances.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Reba Dance · Reba Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It has a long history, rich content, a distinctive style, superb technique, witty spoken passages and strange masks, and at the same time it absorbs the essence of the ancient Zhangzhung culture, religious culture and folk art. It has therefore become a wonder among the splendid cultural and art of the Tibetans in ancient times, and it has high artistic value and research value. Today Reba dance has appeared on stages at home and abroad and is cherished by a broad audience. Dainzin Quta (associated inheritor, official archival record): Male, Tibetan, born in 1942, a native of Dingqing, Tibet. His work carries on the forceful, resonant dance style of Zhagasi Duoqiong, the founder of Dingqing Reba; the traditional dance routines of the "one-beat drum", "three-beat drum", "one strike three-beat drum", "five-beat drum", "two strikes five-beat drum", "six-beat drum" and "nine-beat drum" have all been preserved by him in full. His representative works are Reba Ling and Reba Qing. Representative inheritor of the Reba dance (Dingqing Reba), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second batch. Dainzin Quta began to join the Reba publicity troupe of Sezha Township at the age of 17, and won awards for programme choreography many times in county, prefecture and autonomous-region cultural exchange performances. Selo Quzhen (associated inheritor, official archival record): Female, Tibetan, born in 1947, a native of Mangkang, Tibet. In her youth Selo Quzhen studied the "Dongluo Reba" under the old artists Tashi Quzhen and Luozhui. Dongluo Reba is one of the performance forms of Dingqing Reba, a family Reba dance with a history of more than five hundred years, whose traditional programmes include the one-beat drum, three-beat drum, six-beat drum and nine-beat drum, interspersed with some xianzi, zhuo dance and male-and-female debate. From 1976 to 1984 she served as the instructor for "Dongluo Reba" at the Dingqing County Folk Art Troupe, and to this day she has trained a group of "Dongluo Reba" successors. Representative inheritor of the Reba dance (Dingqing Reba), 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:
- Danzengquta 02-0374
- Silangquzhen 02-0375
- Ganiao 02-0376
- Yunzhang 05-2231
- Sanbao
- Mayulin
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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