Dai Kongque Dance
01 · Historical Records
The peacock dance is called "Galuoyong" in Dai. According to legend, more than a thousand years ago the Dai leader Zhaomalijieshu learned to dance by imitating the graceful postures of the peacock; it was later refined into its final shape by generations of folk artists and handed down. At the Dai folk festivals held once a year, such as the Water-Splashing Festival, the Door-Closing Festival, the Door-Opening Festival and the Ganbai fair, the Dai people gather to strike the big gongs, beat the elephant-foot drums and dance, and the peacock dance is passed down from generation to generation in these settings.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Dai peacock dance is the most renowned traditional performing dance among the folk dances of the Dai people of China. It is transmitted in the Dai settlements of Ruili and Luxi in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, as well as in Xishuangbanna, Mengding, Mengda, Jinggu, Cangyuan and other Dai areas, while the peacock dance of Ruili City in western Yunnan (called "Galuoyong" in Dai) is the most representative. According to legend, more than a thousand years ago the Dai leader Zhaomalijieshu learned to dance by imitating the graceful postures of the peacock; after being refined into its final shape by generations of folk artists it was handed down and became the peacock dance. In the minds of the Dai people, the peacock, the "sacred bird", is a symbol of happiness and good fortune. The peacock dance is the most beloved folk dance of the Dai people; in the basins where the Dai live there is almost a "bai" (festival) every month and singing and dancing every year. At the Dai folk festivals held once a year, such as the Water-Splashing Festival, the Door-Closing Festival, the Door-Opening Festival and the Ganbai fair, wherever there is merrymaking the Dai people gather, striking the big gongs, beating the elephant-foot drums and dancing the gracefully posturing "peacock dance"; amid the singing and the dancing there appears an atmosphere of rejoicing at the harvest and a fine scene of ethnic unity. The Ruili Dai peacock dance consists mainly of solo dances, but there are also two-person peacock dances. The dancers are mostly male. The peacock dance has rich and varied movements of the hands and techniques such as leaps and turns; the joints of the limbs and of the torso must bend and stretch downwards on the beat and the whole body shivers evenly, forming the graceful "three bends" of the dance posture. The jiazi peacock dance has an especially rich dance vocabulary, with lifelike movements imitating the peacock's manner, such as "flying down the mountain", "peering through the forest", "strolling in the forest", "shaking the wings" and "touching the water". It is not only performed on its own at important and lively ethnic festivals, but is also frequently merged into the collective dance "Gaguang". The peacock dance carries the significance of sustaining ethnic unity, and its representativeness has made it the dance with the strongest sense of ethnic cultural identity among the Dai.
Galoyong and the chieftain's dance
Called galoyong in Dai, the dance is traced to a chieftain who mimed the peacock over a millennium ago and was refined by generations of artists.
Three curves and rippling flexions
Rich hand shapes and leaping, turning skills combine with downbeat flexions and even rippling to form the graceful three-curve pose.
The vocabulary of the framed peacock dance
The framed version has an especially rich vocabulary: running downhill, peering in the wood, strolling the forest, shaking wings and touching water.
Water festival, rains retreat and the bai fairs
At the water festival, the closing and opening of the rains and the bai fairs, it is danced to gong and elephant-foot drum, alone or within the collective ga guang.
Yuexiang's peacock boxing
The second-batch inheritor Yuexiang, born in 1948, fused earlier masters' movements into his own peacock boxing, his mimicry of the bird minutely observed.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Ruili Dai peacock dance is transmitted mainly in the Ruili and Luxi area of the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, and is also transmitted in Dai settlements such as Xishuangbanna, Mengding, Mengda, Jinggu and Cangyuan, while the dance of Ruili City is the most representative. The Ruili peacock dance consists mainly of solo dances, with two-person peacock dances as well; the dancers are mostly male. It is performed in two forms, barehanded and with the jiazi; the dance vocabulary of the jiazi peacock dance is especially rich.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The peacock dance is light and graceful in style, subtle in its emotional expression, and beautiful and flowing in bearing; it is the crystallisation of the wisdom of the Dai people and has high aesthetic value. Yuexiang (official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Dai ethnicity, born in 1948, native of Ruili, Yunnan. He blended together the dance movements and techniques of the older generation of peacock dance artists and created his own distinctive set of "peacock fists". The peacock dance he dances is vivid and lifelike, and his performance imitating the habits of the peacock is exquisite in detail, drawing the admiration of the beholders. Representative inheritor of the Dai peacock dance of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items. Wangla (official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Dai ethnicity, born in 1946, native of Ruili, Yunnan. Representative inheritor of the Dai peacock dance of the second batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage items.
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)
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