The Dai people are one of the ancient ethnic groups in Yunnan Province. They live in the border areas of southwest Yunnan Province, mainly in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Gengma and Menglian Dai Autonomous Counties. It is a cross-border ethnic group. It is distributed in areas adjacent to neighboring countries Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. It has a population of about one million and mainly believes in Theravada Buddhism. The Dai people love art and are good at singing and dancing. Peacock Dance, as a representative dance of the Dai people, has a long cultural history. The earliest record of "Peacock Dance" is in the "New Book of Tang" in the history of the Tang Dynasty: In the 16th year of Zhenyuan (800 AD) of the Tang Dynasty, Su Guo sent a team to Chang'an to perform a performance. This performance included The show is called "Peacock Peach Stage". According to the study of ancient proverbs, "Peacock Peach Stage" means peacock performance, and can also be understood as peacock dance. This is the earliest record of peacock dance in the Tang Dynasty. The Dai people love peacocks. In their opinion, some of the qualities of the peacock are similar to the qualities they respect and love. So people give it a more obvious, richer and expanded meaning, making the peacock a symbol of beauty, majesty, peace, As a symbol of auspiciousness, it has naturally become the subject of Dai culture and art.
1. The evolution of peacock dance from folk to stage in the last century
From the development process of peacock dance we can see: the early "Double Peacock" performed by Mao Xiangtiao "Dance" is the earliest stage masterpiece of peacock dance. It is based on the original ethnic folk dance and adopts the method of arrangement, adaptation and development. This is a "primary transformation" targeted at the aesthetics of the ethnic minority people in the region. . Generally, traditional artistic methods are used to appropriately organize, arrange and display original ethnic folk dances. Therefore, this kind of transformation does not require any effort. Since the adapter has lived in ethnic areas for a long time and is influenced by the original traditional culture, his thoughts The concept is more prudent, and the requirements for art are dual. On the one hand, he worships primitive ethnic folk dances and must dance at festivals, celebrations, and sacrifices. On the other hand, he has a strong curiosity and desire to imitate the dances of the outside world. Therefore, his transformation only took advantage of the randomness of folk dance, and made some free play and reference on the basis of the original moves. At the same time, he reorganized and arranged it based on the special characteristics of the dance, so that It has a beginning and an end, with ups and downs, which is more in line with the theme. Although the movements are still the same, it has become a complete work and is accepted and loved by people.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, the works of this period used original dance materials to varying degrees. After refining the national character and re-creating it, they formed works that combined national characteristics and the spirit of the times. Their basic It is characterized by strong national characteristics. Although it has been created, the existence of the original material can still be seen, and it can be specifically pointed out that a certain section, a certain action in the work comes from the original material. It obviously adds modern color to the melody and rhythm, abandoning the original single and lack of change dance characteristics. However, the technical requirements are not particularly high. The artistic style is relatively popular, easily arouses excitement, and is easy to spread, without overemphasis on creation. the author’s personal style. This type of creation is mainly represented by Jin Ming's "Peacock Dance" and Dao Meilan's "Golden Peacock".
After the 1980s, peacock dance has entered into a kind of inheritance of national aesthetics. The creation method of absorbing the soul of the nation and reborn is the symbol of this kind of work. It requires the reformer to understand the dance and national history of ethnic minorities. Have an in-depth understanding of folk dances, customs, religious and psychological qualities, etc., and be able to integrate them, and be able to skillfully grasp the connotation and characteristics of folk dances. On this basis, the basic characteristics are summarized and refined, and modern techniques and comprehensive expression methods are used to create, focusing on spiritual resemblance rather than physical resemblance. You cannot see the accumulation of original materials, or even the specific original materials, but it shines The style of folk dance, these works are not only full of modern flavor, in line with modern aesthetic standards, but also have a high artistic level and appreciation value. It requires not only a thorough understanding and understanding of folk dance, but also superb skills. Here Mainly represented by Yang Liping's "Sparrow Spirit".
From the original Dai folk peacock dance to Mao Xiang’s “Double Peacock Dance”, from Jin Ming’s “Peacock Dance”, Dao Meilan’s “Golden Peacock” to Yang Liping’s “Sparrow Spirit”, Peacock dance has moved from the Dai people to the stage, from the stage to the world, into the classroom and into people's hearts.
After entering the 21st century, as the form of stage works continues to improve, choreographers are paying more and more attention to the exploration of the beauty of the dance form, ignoring and disrespecting tradition, increasing the distance from the nation. Secondly, another form of folk dance represented by the market takes the market as its starting point and alienates tradition.
2. In the 21st century, does the 21st century value the market and stay away from the sacred stage peacock dance? "Peacock on Blue Waves"
In 2002, the China Song and Dance Troupe launched a large-scale song and dance "Journey to the Secret Land" which can be regarded as a national The representative work of folk dance creation and fashion, this time the dance called "Blue Wave Peacock" is displayed in front of people in a bright color. In China at the beginning of the century, under the strong promotion of the market economy, the market-oriented literary and artistic line was increasingly recognized by people.
During this period, the market economy has already become an important factor that dominates people's social life, social concepts and behaviors. The aesthetic value of traditional art has changed. The value of form is higher than the value of content. Sensational, stimulating and novel aesthetics have become popular in the world. This entertainment-oriented and consumer-oriented urban culture has been disseminated through the operation of mass media and has enhanced the trend of artistic kitsch. It has also intensified the marketization, commercialization and fashion trends of ethnic and folk dances, and triggered the Quite controversial. Unlike previous folk dances that innovated with the times, the emergence of "Peacock on Blue Waves" has given us a sense of cultural crisis.
1. Strong sensory impact
"Peacocks on Blue Waves" uses a bright color to create a group of dynamic modern peacock images. The choreographer combined the movements of peacock dance with Arabic rhythms in the works and teachings (many movement elements in the works were taken from "The Dai Girl" and "The Peacock Flying"), completely changing everything from body posture to movement to the image itself. The face of traditional peacock dance. The actor wears a green short top, a loose fishtail skirt, and a peacock feather headdress. With a charming expression, he dances the middle part of his body vigorously. The music in the dance is modern music with traditional elements, interspersed with Arabic drum beats, and ends with the actor constantly shaking his hips to a climax, and finally ends abruptly in various shapes formed by three-turn postures.
If you put aside the title of folk dance and look at it from the perspective of commercial dance, "Peacock" should be a popular work, with strong visual impact, sexy dance postures, dynamic rhythm and The exotic colors greatly cater to the senses and aesthetics of modern people. However, if we analyze "Peacock on Blue Waves" from the perspective of national dance, I think it is a failure. No matter in terms of a single dance vocabulary or the overall dance image, "Peacock on Blue Waves" is completely far away from the boundaries of Dai dance. First of all, from the perspective of rhythm, the main rhythm of "Peacock on Blue Waves" is in the middle section, which uses the round hips, straight hips and shaking hips in Arabic dance. The body posture is to lean back and push the hips, highlighting the reverse front and back of the chest and crotch. Rhythm. The choreographer seems to be very keen on this kind of exaggerated mid-section performance, and also uses a similar expression technique in another Hani dance work "Trembling". Secondly, the charming and exaggerated expressions in "Peacock on Blue Waves" are more in line with the Western extroverted personality. For example, "belly dance", the original intention of this dance is to attract the opposite sex. Since plump breasts and soft abdomen are the characteristics of female beauty, of course, this beauty must be boldly reflected. Its way of thinking is also direct, thinking that it is beneficial to the survival and development of human beings. If it is beautiful, it is beautiful, and vice versa, it is not beautiful. This is quite different from Chinese tradition, and it is also completely opposite to the beauty of Dai dance.
2. The crisis of staying away from the Holy Spirit under the commodity economy
? After experiencing the gender breakthrough of peacock dance in the 1950s and the spiritual beauty of "Sparrow Spirit" in the 1980s, "Bibo" "Peacock" completely abandons the euphemism of traditional peacock dance in which women simulate peacocks, and instead directly expresses sexy and beautiful girls. The peacock is no longer the representative of Chinese female beauty, but the beautiful woman itself like the peacock has become the subject of expression. The romantic meaning of traditional culture has become a vacuum in the gorgeous navel-baring outfit of "Bibo Peacock". The image of peacock that was once vivid in history and culture has become an insignificant boo, and women and their dancing bodies stand out. ?The expression method of "Peacock on Blue Waves" impacts people's senses in an extremely modern way. The composition breaks through the past tradition of Dai music creation and adopts modern music rhythm and internationally popular orchestration techniques, giving it a fresh and fashionable charm. Echoing this, the dance incorporates some characteristics of modern jazz and belly dance. These fashionable elements do not appear in a hidden manner, but with bold body expressions that run counter to traditional culture, subverting the traditional Dai dance. When the gorgeous peacocks dance the middle part of their bodies in the fierce music, the sacredness in traditional culture also disappears.
In the article "From the Spirit of the Bird to the Tail of the Bird", teacher Liu Jian divided the peacock dance of different eras into different levels: "The Golden Peacock" features a soft and graceful dance. Female dance proclaims, "I am entertaining gods"; "Spirit of the Bird" proclaims, with its sacred gesture, "I am a god"; "Peacock Flying" proclaims, with the spirited dance of girls, "I am a human being"; while "Peacock on the Blue Waves" A completely different language declares "I entertain people", and at the same time the sacred meaning of the peacock is completely lost. The weakening of religious connotations and the enhancement of entertainment aesthetics in peacock dance are exactly the product of the market economy of this era.
At the end of the century, traditional artistic concepts and value standards were deconstructed by the surging commodity tide. Some artistic creators are no longer pursuers of lofty ideals, nor engineers of the human soul. They shattered the spiritual mirror they had set for themselves for hundreds of years, stayed away from the grand classic narrative, broke away from the web of ideas, and in the process of commercialization, secularization and desire of art, they extinguished the last bit of spiritual fire in their hearts. With the continuous deepening of the market economic system, people have formed new cultural concepts and atmosphere, changing the traditional aesthetic value orientation and taste. The increase in productivity has brought about an improvement in material standards, increased people's aesthetic consumption of dance, and is satisfied through the market. On the one hand, the increase in consumers has brought about the growth of new dance demand, which has brought good opportunities for the prosperity of folk dance.
In terms of dance creation, the development of the market economy and the intervention of foreign cultures have given creators a wider degree of freedom, and political tolerance has also enabled creators to give full play to their potential. But from another perspective, the deepening of market economy has also led to the prevalence of the utilitarian principle in art. In order to obtain necessary economic support, dance creation must satisfy the taste of the market. This makes ethnic dance creation tend to be commercialized under the constraints of the market economy. Economic interests are used as the direct purpose of creation, alienating the nation and tradition.
Obviously, the utilitarian mentality has created another artistic form of national art under the modern market economy. The author believes that if this form becomes a trend, it will be devastating to the development of national folk dance. Sexually speaking, it can only be a certain form of modern market dance, but cannot become the mainstream of national dance.
3. Inheritance and development of national culture
The cultural tradition of a nation and the inheritance and development of a country’s traditional culture are faced with the same contradictions and problems as national dance. In China's reform and opening up, how to protect, inherit and carry forward the fine parts of the nation's cultural traditions while accepting the achievements of advanced human civilization is an important issue that every Chinese in the new century should seriously consider. The inspiration for the development path of national dance reflected from the stage development process of peacock dance also makes us have a deeper reflection on the inheritance of contemporary national dance creation.
The Chinese nation is everlasting and Chinese civilization has a long history. Peacock dance is just a small wave in the river of civilization. However, even for the sea, every drop of water has its sparkling precious value. How to prevent this wave from being annihilated and how to prevent this drop of cultural water from dying out also requires the joint efforts of every Chinese person. Only by being rooted in the historical soil accumulated by Chinese civilization, taking the core values, aesthetics and worldview of national culture as the ideal and artistic conception, using protection, sublation and innovation as means, and making use of all available latest achievements of human civilization and science and technology, can we achieve The trees of civilization, culture and art of the motherland are evergreen, blooming with the brightest flowers and bearing more abundant fruits.