Duodi Dance
01 · Historical Records
Duodi dance is said to have originated in some Tibetan townships of Zhouqu, Gansu. In ancient times, after humans returned from hunting, sometimes at the turn of the year or at harvest festivals, people would pile up a bonfire, walk around it in circles and dance around it. Activities involving chanting, shouting and hand-holding gradually developed into a folk song-and-dance handed down through generations.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
This activity of chanting and shouting and holding hands gradually evolved into a folk song-and-dance transmitted from generation to generation. Today, when traditional festivals and folk ceremonial occasions such as harvests and sacrifices come round, the Tibetan people of places such as Zhouqu County in Gannan, Gansu Province, dance this dance. Duodi dance takes many forms, has an archaic simple style and a strong ethnic character. The whole performance has a marked rhythm, is accompanied by singing, its tunes are plain and unadorned and its movements are free and unrestrained, revealing distinctive regional stylistic features and a strong local flavour. Duodi dance has more than ten types, such as Laisa Duodi, Geban Duodi and Gongbian Duodi, and each type has its own form of expression and its own meaning. Duodi dance begins with movements of striking the head three times and stamping the feet three times, to symbolise the achievements of the ancestors in splitting heaven and earth from the primal chaos; afterwards it recounts the origins of the sun, moon and stars, of the rivers, mountains, lakes and seas, and praises the virtues of these natural phenomena. In the course of the performance, the dance postures display the wondrous changes of natural scenery; the heavens, the grasslands, the ocean and other scenes each have different forms of dance expression. The dance embodies the social and cultural psychology of the Tibetan people, and plays an important role in gathering the spirit of the people of Zhouqu.
A dozen types of the dance
More than ten types are distinguished, each with its own form and meaning, danced at festivals and at harvest and sacrificial rites.
Three head movements, three stamps
It opens with three head gestures and three stamps evoking the ancestors' ordering of the world, then recounts the origins of sun, moon, stars, rivers and seas.
Sky, grassland and ocean
The movement stages the transformations of the natural world, sky, grassland and ocean each receiving a different dance form.
Campfires and the hunters' return
Legend traces it to hunters returning home and circling a fire at year's end or harvest, the chanting and linked hands becoming a hereditary dance.
Li Zhaxi's improvised verses
Born in Zhouqu in 1946, Li Zhaxi learned Buddhist ritual from childhood, deepened the inherited routines and raw singing and can improvise verses on the spot.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Duodi dance, also called Luoluo dance, is transmitted in the Tibetan townships of Boyu, Gongba, Wuping and others in Zhouqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, and in the area of Diebu County. It is a product of the blending of Qiang culture and Tibetan culture. It has more than ten types, such as Laisa Duodi, Geban Duodi and Gongbian Duodi, and each type has its own form of expression and its own meaning; it is mostly performed at traditional festivals and at folk ceremonial occasions such as harvests and sacrifices.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Duodi dance, that is, Luoluo dance, is the best preserved Tibetan folk dance in the Gannan region at present; it is mainly popular in the Tibetan-inhabited areas of Zhouqu County, Diebu County and other places in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Duodi dance is a product of the blending of Qiang culture and Tibetan culture, and it has very high reference value for research into the origins and development of Tibetan and Qiang culture. At present, because of the spread of mass media, the cultural space on which Duodi dance depends for its survival is growing ever smaller, and it faces the danger of being lost; it urgently needs the relevant government departments to invest appropriate effort in rescue and protection. Li Zhaxi (associated inheritor, as recorded in the official file): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in September 1946, native of Zhouqu County, Gansu Province. He studied Tibetan Buddhist culture and religious ritual from childhood and has a profound understanding of the origins of Duodi dance in Zhouqu. Building on the inheritance of the ancient Duodi dance movement sequences and its original ecological vocal styles and tunes, he has kept excavating and enriching this system; he is able to improvise the words he sings, his dance movements are practised and refined, and he has fully mastered traditional Duodi dance performance in its different forms. To promote the transmission and spread of Duodi dance, he takes an active part in performance activities and takes apprentices to pass on the art. Representative inheritor of Duodi dance, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the third national batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Zhaxi 03-0951
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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