Yao Zhang Drum Dance
01 · Historical Records
The small long drum dance is the folk traditional dance of the Guoshan Yao, a branch of the Yao ethnic group, circulated in the Yao villages of Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong Province; the long drum, an important symbol of Yao culture, spread with the migrations of the Guoshan Yao through the Nanling mountains. The Guoshan Yao migrated frequently in historical times, and the vow rite to Panwang was their most solemn ancestral sacrifice; the small long drum dance was an important part of that rite, in which Panwang was sacrificed to and the ancestors were thanked. Handed down generation by generation for thousands of years, it has remained flourishing. The dance steps of the small long drum dance are based on a low centre of gravity and small-amplitude movement, and the drum beats and the suona melody serve each other as the basis of the rhythm. Its repertoire is numerous and the period of training is long, with masters teaching apprentices and fathers teaching sons, the steps and beats passed down orally phrase by phrase.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The small long drum dance is the folk traditional dance of the Guoshan Yao, a branch of the Yao ethnic group, circulated in the Yao settlements of Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong Province. Accompanied by the suona, the dancer strikes a long drum held in the hand while dancing; because its drum is comparatively small, it is called the "small long drum dance" to distinguish it from the "long drum dance" of the Pai Yao, another branch of the Yao. The small long drum dance is said to have "seventy-two sets of routines", the principal ones being the "new house building dance" and the "drum making dance". The new house building dance uses movements such as "lotus capping the summit", "crossing the ocean on a raft" and "the golden cockerel spreading its wings" to portray the whole process of building a new house — "seeking a house site", "digging the house site", "cutting timber" and "raising the ridge beam". The drum making dance has twelve basic movements: seeking drum timber, cutting drum timber, measuring drum timber, trestling the timber, sawing the drum timber, planing the drum timber, hollowing the drum body (also called "boring to the sky and through the earth"), fighting over the drum timber, repairing the drum timber, testing the drum, sealing the drum and presenting thanks — presenting the whole process of the ancestors "making a drum". The long drum is an important symbol of Yao culture. The small long drum dance is the most representative traditional dance of the Guoshan Yao; it is an important part of the "vow rite to Panwang" in which the Yao honour their ancestor Panwang, and it has been handed down generation by generation for thousands of years and has remained flourishing.
The house-building dance
Movements named Lotus Canopy, Crossing the Sea and Golden Rooster Spreads its Wings enact the whole process of building a house.
The twelve drum-making actions
Twelve actions, from finding and felling the wood to tuning, sealing and thanking, enact the ancestral making of the drum.
The seventy-two routines
Known as the dance of seventy-two routines, it is organised mainly around the house-building and drum-making suites.
Suona and drum
Dancers strike the drum while dancing to the suona; the smaller drum distinguishes it from the Pai Yao long-drum dance.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The small long drum dance circulates in the Yao villages of Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province; the Cultural Center of Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County is the protecting unit for this item. Lianshan lies in the Nanling mountains where Guangdong, Hunan and Guangxi meet, and the Guoshan Yao live interspersed with Zhuang and Han villages. The vow rite to Panwang is generally held after the autumn harvest or in the slack winter season, on an auspicious day chosen by a master priest, who sets up the altar; the long drum dance team of the village then takes up the dance.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance · Yao Zhang Drum Dance.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The small long drum dance weaves the whole process of the ancestors making the drum and building the house into dance, and the name of each routine corresponds one to one to the actual process step; it is at once part of the sacrificial content of the vow rite to Panwang and a vehicle by which the Guoshan Yao transmit productive knowledge and ancestral memory. Because the repertoire is numerous and the period of training is long, few artists can now dance the full seventy-two sets, and the dance survives largely through master-apprentice teaching within the villages.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhao Minghua 03-0938
- Panzhensong 04-1575
- Tangqiaoxinergong 05-2263
- Huang Daosheng 05-2264
- Zhao Xiong
- Panjinhai
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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