In the design of costume props, the heroines in the Song Dynasty dance teams generally wore crowns on their heads, and now the "wax flowers" of the flower drum lanterns still retain this decoration, which is unique in the traditional folk songs and dances of the Han nationality in China. "Bamboo pole" "The handle is made of bamboo, painted with vermicelli, tangled with a piece of rattan, the lower end is wax-painted with iron piles, and the carved wood is exposed at the upper end. One hundred thin bamboos are inserted into the wood, and the vermicelli is painted with red tow, one inch at each bamboo end, wrapped with gold paper and penetrated with crystal beads." (Song's "Music Learning Norms"). This is similar to the shape and practice of the umbrella in the hand of the "umbrella handle" of the flower drum lamp.
in terms of formation changes and dance skills, the folk group dances in the song dynasty ranged from a dozen to dozens, and the dance formation changes were "hooking up", "letting go" and "eye of the sea", zigzag and square formation (postures vary from sitting to standing, crossing and dancing in a circle), which is equivalent to the "Liluo City" in today's Flower Drum Lantern. Some dance movements in Song Dynasty, such as Wailuocheng, Four Horses Running to the Trough, Two Dragons Playing with Beads, and Yuanyang Array, draw lessons from and knead martial arts and acrobatics, such as today's martial arts movements such as "fighting the tiger" and "squatting on the crotch", and acrobatic movements such as "overlapping arhats" and "tiger jumping", have been well preserved in the flower drum lanterns.
Flower-drum lanterns have many roles and detailed division of labor. The main actors are "La Hua" (also known as "Orchid") and "Drum Shelf". Female characters are generally referred to as "wax flowers" and are the core members of the performance; Male roles are generally referred to as "drum shelves".
Generally, the artistic personnel of Huagu Lantern Team are composed of gongs and drums, actors, lamp holders and mixed lanterns. The performance of the Flower Drum Lantern is divided into several parts, such as the opening, the upper drum, the middle drum, the site drum, the duet and the small play in the backcourt.
Dance is the main component of Huagu Lantern, which includes "big flower field", "small flower field" and "drum beating". The emotional dance of the collective performance of the "big flower field"; "Little Flower Field" is a small dance drama with characters and plots improvised by two or three people of "Drum Shelf" and "La Hua", and it is the core part of Flower Drum Lantern Dance. "Pangu" is a combination of dance, martial arts and skill performance with plastic arts characteristics.
The singing part is collectively called the Lantern Song, and it is often duet or solo by "Drum Shelf" and "Wahua" between "Big Flower Field" and "Little Flower Field", which can be long or short and has strong improvisation.
Flower-drum lanterns and gongs and drums are an extremely important part of flower-drum lanterns, including scene gongs and drums and lanterns. They are characterized by passionate emotions, changeable rhythm forms, liveliness and compactness, and strong appeal. Scene gongs and drums can exist independently and play alone; The gongs and drums in the light field are integrated with the dance of flower drum lanterns and the performance of small plays, which plays the role of accompaniment and rendering emotions.