First, the origin of dance
When did dance, the mother of art, originate? How long is it? This is a mystery. Generally speaking, researchers believe that dance began in the Paleolithic Age, or earlier. In the ancient legend of China, Chang Qin, the son of Zhu Rong, was the founder of music. Some people say that Di Jun's eight sons began to sing and dance, and his great-grandson Yan began to become a musician. It is also said that the Yellow Emperor created music and dance. In fact, the founder of dance should be a human group. People in the struggle with nature, in the labor of survival, through human movements, have produced the most primitive rhythmic dance movements, which is also instinct? Human behavior? . Therefore, there is a natural and inseparable relationship between dance and labor. It came into being much earlier than the legendary era.
? Dance is of great significance in the life of primitive tribes? It is closely related to religious activities. The preserved Homo sapiens fossils of tens of thousands of years ago are religious works of art in cave murals in late Paleolithic Europe. In the painting, the witch is naked, holding horns as if holding a sacrifice, and the other witches spread their hands up with their five fingers, which is very infectious. In Cangyuan Rock Paintings in China, there are half-squatting or naked male figures, with their hands raised upward and their fingers spread apart, with male roots exposed below and feathers stuck in their heads; In Zuojiang rock paintings, there are also two hands holding high and five fingers stretching. These can be judged as? Frog sacrifice? The remains of Guangxi are still preserved today? Sacrifice the grasshopper? Customs and? Grasshopper dance? . China gradually entered the clan commune period 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, and the early period was matriarchal clan commune period. In the late Paleolithic period, cavemen had funerary decorations, which showed that people's aesthetic consciousness and religious consciousness had been gradually strengthened. With the emergence and strengthening of religious consciousness, there will inevitably be sacrificial activities. At that time, the sacrificial activities were mainly dances. Although there is no specific image left, we can imagine the most primitive dance full of mysterious charm according to the dance images unearthed later and the ancient folk dances preserved to this day.
Second, dance and totem.
Totem was originally a dialect of American Indians, namely? His blood clan? . Totem is a common symbol or symbol of the clan, which has both external and internal significance. Most of them are marked by animals, plants or inanimate natural phenomena, and believe that totems dominate the good or ill luck of all members. Some Indians take eagles as totems, and many indigenous tribes in Australia are named after a totem, such as rain, water, kangaroo and cassowary. The Chinese nation has also gone through such a process. As early as before Xia and Shang Dynasties, totem was the belief and symbol of primitive people, and the Huangdi people took cloud as the totem symbol. In the past, the Huangdi family was named after Yun, so it was named after Teacher Yun. ("Zuo zhuan? Seventeen years in Zhao Gong "). Recently, scholars have made new explorations on the origin of totems. Ethnologist Yang Kun thinks:? Is totem a symbol of female genitalia or not? Homologous cells? . Totem is a symbol of female fertility. Totem worship is a symbol of female genitalia, and the clan itself? Deification and worship? . ? (Folk Literature Forum) Zhao Guohua thinks: In primitive society, some symbols of female genitalia and male genitalia evolved into totems, that is, symbols of clan ancestors. ? (About the Culture of Reproductive Worship)
Totem worship of primitive clans is closely related to dance and martial arts activities. Sacrifice and celebration must be performed with anti-totem dance, and then it gradually evolved into simulated totem dance, resulting in a large number of pictographic boxing dance programs. For example, the clan of the Yellow Emperor took the cloud as a totem, and made music and dance in the name of "Cloud Gate" to offer sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor. The totem of primitive Xia people is dragon. ? It's useless to shoot at Huanglong. Then there was the dragon dance, which has become a symbol of the Chinese nation ever since. Dragons are virtual animals, and the keynote of dragons is snakes. The image of dragon plate unearthed from Taosi belongs to Xia culture, which can be proved. Since then, it has absorbed four feet of animals, including horsehead, ponytail, antlers, scales and whiskers of fish (Fu Xi Kao by Wen Yiduo). It shows that the Chinese nation is a comprehensive image formed by the integration of different totem tribes and a product of tribal integration. The stone dragon unearthed 6,000 years ago in Houwa, Liaodong Peninsula, is the earliest dragon totem image seen at present, and the earliest record of dragon dancing only appeared in the Han Dynasty (see Dong Zhongshu's Spring and Autumn Story). In fact, dragon dance appeared much earlier.
Yi people in Ailao Mountain range and Liangshan Yi people in southwest Yunnan both claim to be? Rollo? , meaning tiger. The Yi people regard themselves as tigers, and some regard Shi Hu as their ancestors, which reflects that the Yi people regard tigers as totems. The tiger-patterned pottery pieces unearthed in Gansu are the objects of totem worship. Yi, Naxi, Lisu and other ethnic groups take Hei Hu as their totem. The Ba people in southwest China and their descendants Tujia, Pumi and Bai take the white tiger as their totem. Yi people take the zodiac as the symbol and the tiger as the head. The Dance of the Twelve Animals is still preserved today. This dance is performed by a witch. The climax of the dance is the performance of the arrival of the tiger god and the action of pouncing on the livestock. You can imagine the original appearance of tiger totem dance. Do Yi people dance and sing while playing songs? Lolita! Lolita! ? Meaning? Tiger, tiger, tiger! ?
The Ewenki people in Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China take bears as their totems. At first, they banned hunting bears, but later they killed bears to satisfy their hunger. Ainu people in Hokkaido, Japan also take bears as totems. They first catch young bears and raise them. Every year when offering sacrifices to bears, they kill them to pray. When offering sacrifices to bears, they are accompanied by songs and dances, mostly women. Some of them wear bear masks and bear-patterned clothes, and the dance name is "Black Baby".
There are also many clans in China who take birds as their totems, and there are also bird-headed pottery sculptures in the Banpo type of Yangshao culture. Legend has it that Fu is a descendant of the family Shao Ao? Call a police officer with a bird? There are 24 species, such as Phoenix, Xuanniae and Bluebird, which may be the combination of 24 clans with birds as totems, and all have certain official positions. Dragon and phoenix totems are two basic categories of ancient nationalities, and phoenix is a mysterious bird. Poetry and ode in business? Xuanniao:? The fate of a mysterious bird gave birth to business. ? Legend has it that Qi, the ancestor of Yin Shang in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, was born when his mother Zhu Di swallowed the eggs of mysterious birds, so the Yin people took the phoenix as their totem. The totem of Manchu is Shenque. According to legend, the ancestors of Manchu were born when their mother swallowed the Zhu Guo held by Shenque. Manchu Sacrifices to Gods and Peace? Shaman? Stand up when you jump? Extreme? Hey magpie, shaman is dancing under the pole. The Mongols regard White Sea Blue as the totem of their tribe (see Wulanjie's Ancient Mongolian Hunting Song and Dance). It is a very old custom for the Mongols to release Christina and take away swans. It is said that Mongolian dances run forward and turn smoothly, all of which imitate Hai Qing and are the remains of totem dances. There are many birds as totems in the world. For example, the descendants of Vancouver Indians in Canada still retain the totem dance of owls. There are not only large woodcarving owls, but also dances. The dancers were all dressed in owls and their prey mice.
Yao nationality in south-central China takes dogs as totems, and has the custom of offering sacrifices to ancestor Pangu every year. Lu Ciyun's Tunxi Fiber Record: At the beginning of the year, Pan Hu was sacrificed, and the fish was rubbed in wooden troughs, and the number of troughs was deducted as a gift. ? Many patterns in Yao embroidery are dogs, and the custom of beating long drums to sacrifice to King Pan has been passed down to this day. Frog (called in Guangxi and other places? A grasshopper? ) is also the totem of some ancient clans. What ethnic minorities are there in Northeast China? Zhu Meng the Golden Frog? Frog festivals are still held in Zhuangdonglan, Bama, Fengshan, Tiane and other counties in Guangxi, and they are held every year in the first month of the lunar calendar? Malamute Festival? In Tiane County and Yunbang Village of Paixiang, the totem dance "Mai Kuai Dance" (the cultural heritage of totem dance in Tao Jin) is still preserved. In addition to tigers and lions, the Naxi people in Lijiang, Yunnan Province also have frogs as totem worship, and the sheepskin they wear should be cut into the shape of frogs (there is Mu Lichun's Naxi sheepskin totem dress in Dongba culture collection). It is also pointed out in the hieroglyphic dance score of Dongba Sutra of Naxi nationality? People living in the vast and fertile land get inspiration from the jumping of the golden frog? (See Shenshou and Dongba Dance Score). This is enough to show the close relationship between totem and totem dance.
Totems appear at different levels with the division, merger and migration of clans and tribes. In different cultural circles, a clan has more than one totem. Totem was the common ancestor of all clan members at the earliest, entered the feudal dynasty and became the ancestor of the surname of the supreme ruler. Using this totem became their privilege. The emperor used dragons and the queen used phoenixes. But as a dragon and phoenix dance (including some bird dances), it has become a national dance deeply loved by millions of people. And totem dance is oriental culture? Pictographic meaning? Principles and laws laid the foundation.
Third, the birthplace of pluralistic dance culture.
Judging from a large number of archaeological data, the cultural origins of the Chinese nation are diverse. In the 1970s, more than ten seven-hole bone flutes with six big ones and one small ones were found in the Neolithic cultural site in Jiahu, Wuyang, Henan, Central China. It can be inferred from the appearance of bone flute that the dance at that time must have entered a higher level, because the songs, dances and music in ancient China were inseparable. In the labor of primitive groups, music is mainly rhythm, dance is rhythmic body movements, and musical instruments are changes and deformations of labor tools. Group dancing with bone flute, comparing simple and rhythmic body movements, and embodying hunting activities? Beating stones and dancing at the speed of all animals? Group dancing is more progressive.
Let's look at the situation in the border areas again.
Located in the Neolithic site of Houwa in Dandong area along the Yellow Sea coast of Liaodong Peninsula in northeast China, primitive stone dragons and humanoid pottery sculptures were unearthed 6,000 years ago. Among them, the portraits carved on both sides (one for women and one for men) reflect the concept of reproductive worship and ancestor worship in primitive society. Hongshan Culture in 5000? Goddess temple? Altars and stone burial places, in which the head of the goddess is completely preserved. This is the product of the rise of farming and the gradual settlement of human beings, and it is the earliest statue of a dancer seen so far. The altar is a place for witchcraft and primitive religious activities, and the goddess is responsible for offering sacrifices, which was called in ancient China? Witch? , is a bridge between man and god, and its means is dance. What does the statue of the goddess show? In the early days, women still enjoyed a more respected position? (Engels, The Origin of Family, Private Ownership and State). Oracle Bone Inscriptions? Dancing? The word is a person dancing with oxtail in both hands. Witch? Word,? Witch? Words? Work? It is the earliest altar, just like two people dancing on the altar. The witch is the earliest dancer. She can communicate with God, entertain God and entertain people, so she has an extremely important position in the primitive tribe.
In Dadiwan, Tianshui, Qin 'an, Gansu, northwest of China, a landscape painting in the late Yangshao period dating back 5,000 years was unearthed in 1980s. Three naked ancestors (one of whom is vague) are dancing. They hold a stick in their right hand, their legs are crossed and their toes are tilted. This dance is characterized by shaking from side to side and changing the center of gravity of their feet from side to side. Hair was thrown to the left to show the intensity and heroism of the dance. The following two kinds of reptiles, based on the position drawn in front of the fire pit in the middle of the building foundation, reflect the original sacrificial customs. This is specially used for clan gatherings and sacrifices? Big house? Its appearance shows that it has begun to take shape in the ancestral temple. The three-person figure is a ancestor worship, and it is also the third ancestor who entertains God by dancing. Hunting life runs through the whole primitive society, and people can survive by hunting birds and animals collectively. Ancestors get together to celebrate, imitate the form of birds and beasts, and reproduce the hunter's bravery and joy of victory, such as Shangshu? About iggy? Beating stones and dancing at the speed of all animals? The description faithfully reflects the dance activities of our ancestors.
It is no accident that the painted pottery pots with dancing patterns unearthed in Sunjiazhai, Datong, Northwest China, and the painted pottery pots with dancing patterns unearthed in Zongri, Qinghai, which has been sleeping for 5,000 years, caused a sensation in the dance world. It is a treasure of Majiayao culture in Neolithic Age (with seashells, bone wheels, oxtail bones, etc. ). There are four parallel stripes on the upper layer of the inner wall of the front painted pottery basin, and three groups perform hand in hand? Group dance? Dancers, a group of five, a total of fifteen people. Their braids hang to the left, their tails (male roots) are thrown to the right, facing the same direction, moving in unison, rotating to the left, and dancing harmoniously, which shows that dance has matured in clan society. These dancers choose to dance arm in arm under willows and beside streams in a quiet environment. There are five to eight inner arcs on both sides of each group of dancers, and there is an oblique willow-shaped broadband line in the middle. With the hook-leaf dotted line as the center, it can be inferred that people at that time were engaged in hunting (the tail ornaments can be proved) and agricultural production and labor. ? The transformation from animal decoration to plant decoration is one of the greatest advances in history? (Gross, quoted by plekhanov). Painted pottery pots unearthed in Zongri have two groups of female dancers with skirts on the inner wall, a group of thirteen and a group of eleven, which are the products of the same period as the former. The historical value of painted pottery dance basin is that it is a typical dance cultural relic in the alternate period of hunting dance and farming dance. As for the clan of dance ancestors, many scholars believe that it belongs to the ancestors of the ancient Qiang nationality, which seems to have reached a consensus.
654.38+0.7 million years ago (730,000 years ago)? Yuanmou? I live in Yuanmou County in northern Wei Chu, near the Jinsha River and Wumeng Mountains. Some people think that the ancient Qiang Rong in Gansu moved here. Therefore, it is not excluded that the owners of Qin 'an sacrificial dance floor painting in Gansu and painted pottery pots with Qinghai dance patterns are descendants of Yuanmou. The Qiang and Rong people later returned to the Jinsha River, which is now the Naxi nationality in Lijiang. Naxi women still retain the tail ornaments and shawls of the sun, moon and stars. When the sun goes down and the bonfire is lit, they sing (called? Jump? ), singing? Hot nest? 、? Li Ali? From walking to jumping, I didn't sleep all night. Rock paintings in Cangyuan, Yunnan and Heishan, Gansu belong to hunting dances.
Liangzhu culture (about 3300 ~ 2250 BC) occupies an equally important position in the development history of China national dance. A large number of cultural relics were unearthed in Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang. 6,000 ~ 4,000 years ago, the ancestors here had created rich material civilization and spiritual civilization, and it was also another center of China's early cultural development. Among a large number of jade cong unearthed from Liangzhu cultural tombs in Jiangling Mountain, Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, there is a carved Yu Pei with five holes for connection. In the center of the carving pattern, there are animal faces, and on both sides are two symmetrical dancers, wearing crowns and dancing with sleeves, which is quite a witch dance. The animal patterns on the jade ornaments are designed to ward off evil spirits.
Fourth, the dance of reproductive worship.
? Materialism holds that the decisive factor of history is the production and reproduction of direct life in the final analysis. But there are two kinds of production itself: on the one hand, the production of means of subsistence, that is, food, clothing, housing and transportation and the necessary tools for this; On the other hand, it is human production, that is, the reproduction of species. ? Reproduction is human instinct. In primitive times, the level of productivity was low, and people wanted to be rich. It was extremely difficult to do this under the conditions at that time. Therefore, people regard reproduction as a mysterious phenomenon and even worship sexual organs. This kind of reproductive worship culture has a great influence on the cultural history of the Chinese nation and the development of dance since ancient times. The reproductive worship of primitive clans has its unique form of expression, namely hermaphroditism. Khoikhoi, a native of Guinea and Cameron, was buried with two faces, with black face representing men and white face representing women. A 6000-year-old pottery figurine unearthed from the Neolithic site in Houwa, Dandong, China, has a male head and a female head. In addition, there are hermaphroditic statues in the clay pots with human faces unearthed from platform 3 of Liuwan, Ledu, Qinghai. As early as 3000 years ago, Hutubi rock paintings in Xinjiang were also depicted by hermaphroditic stone statues. Many scholars believe that the appearance of two-faced people in Houwa shows that the core of China's original philosophy-the philosophy of combining yin and yang to create everything has been born. Zhao Guohua, a scholar, linked the origin of gossip with the fish pattern in Anbanpo, Xi 'an (see Zhao Guohua's theory of reproductive worship culture). In the 1950s, painted pottery pots painted with fish patterns on human faces (combinations of human faces and fish heads) were unearthed at Yangshao Cultural Site in Anbanpo, Xi 'an. 1972, painted pottery pots painted with catamarans and frogs were also unearthed in Jiangzhai, Lintong, Shaanxi. Banpo (Yangshao culture in Neolithic Age) ancestors regarded fish as a symbol of vulva and practiced reproductive worship, so did frogs. Therefore, fish sacrifices were held to breed offspring (because ancestors realized that fish can have children), and painted pottery pots filled with fish were sacrificial vessels for fish sacrifices. From this, Zhao Guohua concluded? Eight diagrams orientation map, river map, Luoshu? . This is a brand-new and unique viewpoint, which provides an important idea for studying the relationship between reproductive worship culture and dance culture. Money has long proposed: Yi's original hexagrams belong to the era of genital worship. ? Fuck? With what? Kun? Are these two hexagrams signs of bisexual genitalia? In Shandong stilts, the green snake and the white snake dance while holding the stick is the disguised male root, and the clam dance is the disguised female yin. Henan Huaiyang Ancestral Temple (in memory of Fuxi Nuwa) retains the "flower basket" dance in memory of ancestors, among which? Scissors Show mating. There is a round hole in the temple, the famous descendants kiln (symbolizing vulva), for children to touch. And the natural cracks in Jianchuan Grottoes in Yunnan are called by Bai people? Aunt Bai? It is also a symbol of vulva, which is touching for children. The large-scale rock paintings in Hutubi County, Xinjiang, with a screen of 1.2 square meters, are covered with hundreds of men and women of different sizes. Most of them are doing regular dance movements, almost all naked. Men show their male roots and testicles, their fingers spread apart (ancestors prayed for more children with five as the extreme number), and some are men and women. Some women dance, some overlap men or make coitus movements. This is a large-scale rock painting praying for population reproduction. Miao people in Rongshui, Guangxi have the custom and dance of genital worship. Mango dance will be performed during the Spring Festival. Mang Hao is a strange face. There will be seven or nine men playing Mang Hao during the performance. With the drums, the Hmong people jump more and more fiercely, deliberately chasing young women and making symbolic movements of sexual intercourse (Qin Guiqing ancient Miao reproductive worship). Other ethnic groups also have similar folk dance remains, such as the Bai nationality? Around the mountains? , Yi's Cuo, Yao's Yellow Mud Drum Dance, Li's? March third? Wait a minute.