Bamboo Horse Dance in Chun'an County, Zhejiang

The Bamboo Horse Dance in Chun'an County originated in the Ming Dynasty. Legend has it that after Zhu Yuanzhang was defeated by Zhang Shicheng, he hid in the cave of Datieshan in Anzitong, Chun'an County. He happened to see a bamboo horse with colorful paper on the outside of the bamboo frame. He whipped it with a whip, and it actually raised its head and howled, and started running quickly in the wind. . With this magical horse, he was invincible, defeated the Yuan army, and seized the throne. Later, people in Chun'an made bamboo horses to worship their ancestors. In the beginning, bamboo horses were used to make sacrificial utensils, with candles lit in their bellies for viewing.

Improvements and innovations have been made to the bamboo jumping horse. Participated in many performances at the Hangzhou West Expo. It won the Shanhua Award, the highest award for folk literature and art in China, in citizens' theatrical performances in six cities across the country!

The Bamboo Horse Dance in Shangsi District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang

The Bamboo Horse Dance originated in the Southern Song Dynasty and is mainly distributed in Lin'an and Shangsi (Zhuantang, Zhoupu) areas of Hangzhou. "Shut up", that is, the difference between singing and performing together and just performing. The performers are usually teenagers in their teens.

Shangsi Bamboo Horse Dance is an "opening" dance. In front of the team is a gong and drum team composed of gongs, drums, suona and other musical instruments, followed by a performance team wearing costumes, and the leader is a big sword flag. Among them, the performance team consists of 24 actors, led by the actor holding a yellow umbrella, followed by the emperor, ministers, niche, actress, clown and other characters, followed by four bamboo horses wrapped in red cloth. During the performance, the person holding the umbrella sings first, and the lyrics are improvised. Then the actors in the performance team take turns singing various operas, such as traditional dramas such as "The Legend of White Snake" and folk tunes from Zhuantang Town. They sang and danced the bamboo horse dance with the bamboo horse. Dayu Shubao Bamboo Horse Dance in Yi County, Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province

Chalugou Village in Dayu Shubao Town at the foot of Yiwulu Mountain is the birthplace of the Bamboo Horse Dance. The artists of the Bamboo Horse Dance based on the hunting characteristics of the Khitan people and the Queen Mother Xiao The fact that they went hunting in Yiwulu Mountain created the Bamboo Horse Dance in the image of Queen Mother Xiao, and it has been passed down from generation to generation to this day. It reflects the hunting life of the nobles of the Liao Dynasty. According to "Yi County Chronicles", in the area of ??Dayu Shubao, Shifobao and Jiudaoling in the east of the city, there is an ancient temple fair that combines sacrifice and market trade - the "Jiulong Eighteen Fairs". The bamboo horse in Chalugou Village Dance is the main content of the lively drama "Kowloon Eighteen Club". According to Liu Chengxiang, a 74-year-old veteran bamboo horse dance artist, his grandfather could dance the bamboo horse dance when he was young. It can be seen that the bamboo horse dance has been popular in the local area for at least 200 years.

When the reporter interviewed an artist named Wang on the spot, he learned that the bamboo horse dance was first performed out of people's love and memory for Queen Mother Xiao, and was later used in folk sacrifices, folk gatherings and other activities. . It is a performance form that integrates lyrics and dance movements. Although the dance movements and performance content are the hunting scenes of Empress Dowager Xiao, during the interview, the reporter found that the lyrics they passed down orally and the performance content and characters were not closely related. . It can be inferred from this that in the long process of spreading, the original lyrics have been modified by generations of artists and evolved into catchy lyrics with Chinese cultural characteristics.

The bamboo horse dance has been popular since the Qing Dynasty. Bamboo horse dance, also known as bamboo horse riding, involves tying bamboo into half a horse's head and half a horse's tail, and cutting them into paper wadding in white, yellow, red, black, brown and other colors to resemble a horse's mane, which is then tied by children. On the waist, two human feet are exposed from under the horse, like a person riding on a horse.

The Bamboo Horse Dance usually involves four people traveling face to face, accompanied by gongs and drums. The four people can dress up as characters from the Eight Immortals, the Three Kingdoms or Journey to the West, or wear masks and dress up as Zhong Kui or the Big-headed Monk to spread their sleeves and dance. , after the sounder stops, sing.

The contents of the songs are mostly narrations of myths, such as "The first month is the new year, the Queen Mother is about to give birth, the peach gathering is held in the Buddhist hall, and the Eight Immortals come out of the cave. The second month is the flowering period, and the monkeys go to steal peaches. If you don't get the fairy peaches, you will cause a lot of trouble. In March, I listen to Lu Dongbin singing, playing with white peonies, turning stones into gold. In April, I listen to He Xiangu singing, fishing for rice dumplings, and scooping up Dongting Lake. At the end of the Dragon Boat Festival in May, I listened to the singing of Lan Caihe, carried a flower basket, and walked on the waves to pick lotus.

The "Bamboo Horse" dance is not only an entertainment activity, but also has implications for the study of ancient combat formations.

The Bamboo Horse Dance, also known as "Running Bamboo Horse", is a famous Han folk dance form in Liaocheng, Shandong Province. It is named after the dance props and movements of the bamboo horse. "Bamboo Horse Dance" is a folk flower party during the Spring Festival, mostly performed before and after the Lantern Festival. The "Bamboo Horse Race" in Gaotang County, Shandong Province has a long history. According to legend, it originated from the story of the Han people's uprising in the late Yuan Dynasty to kill the Tatars and overthrow the dark rule of the Yuan Dynasty more than 600 years ago. Later, in order to commemorate the uprising and the five generals who died at that time, people choreographed a dance using the form of bamboo horses to express the situation at that time.

The frame of the bamboo horse is made of bamboo, and the outside is lined with cloth of different colors and brushed with tung oil. A bamboo pole is placed from the horse's neck to its head. The performer holds the bamboo pole with his hands and can shake the horse's head up and down like a real horse. The horse's body is hollow and people can stand in it. During the performance, the rider can tie the horse's front and rear bodies with straps around his waist. According to reports, except for the white horse, which is performed by a man, the other performers are all women.

Bamboo horse performers generally require four men and four women, divided into roles such as Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo and Chou. Zhengsheng rides a red horse, Qingyi (pretty girl) rides a yellow horse, and Xiaosheng rides a green horse. Hua Dan rides a white horse, and the clown rides a black horse. When the bamboo horse is running, each role has a clear division of labor, performs its own duties, and cooperates with each other tacitly. The main focus is on walking, including "double entrance", "opening four doors", "water slides", "circling eight characters", " There are more than ten kinds of snakes, such as "snake shedding skin", "cross lean", "scissor stock", "circle round", "three dragons coming out of water", "pumpkin vine" and so on. The props in the hands of the actors may be horse whips, swords, guns, swords or halberds, or sticks, which are selected according to the identity of the characters. The performers express the plot and character through expressions, gestures and singing. During performances, the accompaniment instruments are mostly percussion instruments such as gongs, drums, and cymbals. This activity has been organically combined with Yangko, opera and small operas such as Xianzi Opera, Sanju Opera, Lu Opera, Henan Opera, etc., and has gradually developed into a more lively Han folk entertainment and fitness sport that is both educational and entertaining. During festivals, colorful horses are seen jumping and galloping, which greatly enlivens the festive atmosphere and expresses people's wishes for a better life. They are deeply loved by the masses.

The bamboo horse performance mainly relies on formation changes. Since all learning is oral and there are no written records, there are not many changes in the formations handed down today. Jiang Jie, director of the Gaotang County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said: "In the heyday of the bamboo horse dance in Gaotang County at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, performers could perform one hundred single and eight formations. Because the tradition has been lost for many years, now it can only perform dozens of formations. Well, the representative formations include the Heavenly King Formation, the Earthly King Formation, the Dragon Gate Formation, the Humen Formation, the Thunder God Formation, the Sunshine Formation, etc. The fixed routines mainly include the double entrance, the four-door bucket, the water slide, the eight figures, the snake peeling, the cross and the scissors. , running round the field, two dragons coming out of the water, etc. "When running in formation, the performers "ride" on the "horse" and dance according to the changing formations on the ancient battlefield, with rough and bold movements, realistic movements, and vigorous steps. The formation changes in a rigorous structure. Sometimes it is gentle with the tinkling of bells like flowing clouds and flowing water, and sometimes it is rapid and loud with the roar of war drums like thousands of horses galloping, which reproduces the simple folk customs of the people of the Central Plains.

The "Bamboo Horse Dance" is mainly spread in rural areas of Gaotang County. It is a traditional entertainment program for the masses during their leisure time, and is very popular among the people. However, due to various historical reasons, the continuation of the "Bamboo Horse Dance" in Gaotang was episodic. With the strong support of the Gaotang County Party Committee Propaganda Department, the county's Culture, Radio, Television and New Bureau formulated a five-year protection plan to comprehensively and systematically protect the Bamboo Horse Dance through thorough investigation, audio and video recording, data collection, selection and training of young successors, etc. . Inheritors such as Dong Shijun, Ma Haizhong, and Zhao Huchen also remade the bamboo horse and actively searched for inheritors in the village. More than ten people in the village have learned this performing skill. In August 2011, the county’s “Bamboo Horse Dance” was included in the Liaocheng Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List. Bamboo Horse Dance in Yuanjiang, Yiyang, Hunan

The Bamboo Horse Dance is also known as "Bamboo Horse Lantern", "Bamboo Horse Lantern Dance", "Horse Horse Dance" and "Marquee Lantern". Popular in Yiyang and Yuanjiang areas. Also known as "Lightship". Jiaqing's "Mr. Cui Dongbi's Travels": "There is a custom of Lantern Boat Drama on Yuan Ye and Duanyang." According to the 1808 "Yuanjiang County Chronicle": "The Lantern Festival ribbons are cut into lanterns, which can be divided into dragon lanterns, lion lanterns and horse lanterns, or puppets are played in front of the court to sing and dance to celebrate the arrival.

"The bamboo horse is made of bamboo strips to make a horse head and body. Candles can be lit inside the horse head and horse body with gauze sewn. There is a hole in the middle of the horse body where the actor can stand. A bright red flower is hung on the horse head. A bell is hung from the horse's neck, and the bamboo horse is skillfully hung on the dancer's body with a rope. The horse's body is surrounded by colorful cloth hanging on the ground. The horse dancer holds the reins with one hand and other props with the other hand, and walks in a galloping pace, much like a knight. Most of the bamboo horse lanterns are played by folk professional troupes into dramatic character stories, including Zhao Zilong, the savior of Changbanpo, Yang Zhongbao and Mu Guiying, the three brothers, Liu Guan and Zhang, and the Eight Tigers Robbing Youzhou. Their performance actions include: Tan. The accompaniments include drums, gongs and banknotes, which are usually performed during the Spring Festival, especially at the border with Ningxiang. /p>