Miao Lusheng Dance
01 · Historical Records
The Miao lusheng dance of Shuicheng is also called the “qingji dance”. It is a collective competitive dance performed when Miao people gather together, and derives from the experiences of the Miao “old score” in ethnic struggle and in production and life; the version danced by the lusheng players of the Xiaohua Miao branch of Nankai Township, Shuicheng County, is the most representative.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The lusheng dance is a traditional folk dance performed by the Miao people during ancestor worship and at festivals and celebrations. It originated in ritual dances for praying for a good harvest before sowing in ancient times, giving thanks to the spirits for the harvest after it was gathered, and sacrificing to the ancestors, and it is widely popular in the Miao areas. Lusheng dancing is performed in an ardent and cheerful atmosphere, and has now become a self-initiated dance which the Miao people perform during the slack farming season between the rice harvest and the spring sowing of the following year, as well as at festivals and happy occasions. The dance tunes and dance steps of lusheng dancing differ little from place to place; according to their content, lusheng dance tunes can be divided into ritual tunes, narrative tunes, processional tunes, song-form tunes and dance tunes. Lusheng dancing has several forms: lusheng accompaniment dancing, lusheng leading dancing and solo lusheng dancing. In lusheng accompaniment dancing and lusheng leading dancing there may be 7, 9, 11 or more lusheng players; the players either do not dance or make small movements in the centre of the ground, while men and women of the surrounding crowd dance in encircling layers, producing a magnificent spectacle. The movements of lusheng dancing can be summarised into such main types as walking, shifting, striding, turning, standing, kicking, kicking sideways, hooking and tumbling. These movements are either solemn and dignified, or lively and compact, or bright and uninhibited, or light and nimble, reflecting the diverse forms of life and culture of the Miao people. The lusheng dance of the Leishan Miao takes different postures according to the different content of the festivals; every posture carries certain content, and the performance is graceful and natural, harmonious and rounded, with a marked regional character. The lusheng dance of the Guanling Miao was formed gradually in long-standing farming and hunting life. It contains a large amount of primitive agrarian ritual and sacrificial etiquette, and carries many important pieces of Miao historical and cultural information and primitive memory; the Waishu Miao branch of the Western Miao dialect perform this dance every year in the “walking round the slope” activities. The lusheng dance of the Gunzhong Miao centres on the Gunzhong Miao village and is distributed over parts of the townships of Bakai, Leli, Pingyong, Tashi and Xinghua in Rongjiang County, Guizhou. In the performance there are many kinds of lusheng and many tunes, with a high, resonant and clear timbre; the men’s movements are ardent and cheerful and the women’s movements are light and graceful, giving it a distinctive place among the Miao lusheng dances of Guizhou.
Centred on Gunzhong village
Centred on Gunzhong village, it spreads across parts of Baikai, Leli, Pingyong, Tashi and Xinghua townships in Rongjiang county.
Bright timbre and gendered styles
With many lusheng types and tunes of bright, ringing timbre, its men dance ardently and its women lightly, unique among Guizhou lusheng dances.
Rongjiang tune types
Ritual, narrative, marching, song-form and dance tunes coexist here because so many lusheng types are kept.
Movement types at Rongjiang
Walking, shifting, crossing, turning, standing, kicking, hooking and tumbling are combined in each village's own way.
Slack-season dance on the Duliu river
On the upper Duliu river, Miao villages gather spontaneously to pipe and dance in the slack season after the rice harvest.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Among them, the Miao lusheng dance of Guizhou is mainly distributed in Leishan, Guanling, Rongjiang, Shuicheng and other places.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance · Miao Lusheng Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present this unique form of ethnic folk dance performance is facing the predicament of having few successors and being on the verge of being lost, and urgently needs rescue and protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Jinying 02-0379
- Yu Guizhou 02-0380
- Wang Jingcai 02-0381
- Lanheng 05-2234
- Li Guangde
- Zhu Ying
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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