The Beginning of Wa Bamboo Dance and Dance Forms

The bamboo stick dance is a kind of dance that exists in some ethnic minorities in China, but its meaning is different in each ethnic group. In the Li ethnic group, the bamboo stick dance usually exists in the form of a ritual, while in the Wa ethnic group, they believe that the soul of a person is immortal after death, and that they need to sing and dance in another world, so they will dance a bamboo stick dance to send off the old man.

So, let's take a look at the Wa culture together with me!

The Wa are a people who live across the border and are found in China, Myanmar and Thailand. There are nearly 300,000 Wa in China, distributed in Cangyuan, Ximeng, Gengma, Shuangjiang, Zhenkang, Yongde, Lancang and other counties in the western and southwestern parts of Yunnan Province, as well as in Xishuangbanna Autonomous Prefecture and Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. Among them, Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County and Ximeng Wa Autonomous County are the main areas inhabited by the Wa, and the population of the Wa in these two counties accounts for about 58 percent of the total population of the Wa in China. The Wa in China are distributed between the Lancang River and the Salween River, in the southern section of the Nushan Mountain Range. In this section, the mountains overlap and there are very few flat dams, so it is also called the A Wa mountainous area.

The Bamboo Pole Dance, also known as the Bamboo Kung Dance, has three types of postures: sitting, squatting, and standing, with various variations. In the rhythmic and regular clanking sound, the dancers should not only jump in and out nimbly at the moment of the bamboo pole splitting and closing, but also do all kinds of graceful movements in a dashing and natural way. When a pair of dancers deftly jumped out of the bamboo pole, the pole holder will shout out "Hey! Heh heh heh!" The occasion is extremely bold and unrestrained, and the atmosphere is warm. If the dancers are not skillful or timid, it will be the bamboo pole clamped feet or hit the head, the pole holder will use the bamboo pole to lift the people who are clamped to the outside of a fall, and the group rose and laugh. On the contrary, good at jumping bamboo pole dance young man at this time, often because of the agile, flexible and won the favor of the girls.

Dance form and China's Hainan Province, the same as the Li people's bamboo dance. That is, two large bamboo poles flat on the ground, outside the two large bamboo poles, people two a pair, face to face with small bamboo poles, sliding back and forth along the large bamboo poles, dancers in the two poles sliding in the gap between the collision of jumping. The dance moves imitate ants, turtledoves, leopards, paintbrush and other animal forms to jump, lively and cheerful.

The movement of the bamboo pole dance is to generate loads in the form of movement unique to people's muscle activities, stimulate the internal organs, improve the state of the human cardiovascular circulatory system and respiratory system function, enhance the human body's muscle strength and joint flexibility, and improve the human body's working ability. It is a kind of body language, which is one of the best ways for people to exchange ideas and express their emotions. Bamboo dance needs musical accompaniment, which can promote people's understanding of the rhythm of music, harmonize the movement and enhance the sense of rhythm.

Initially, the bamboo pole dance, generally in the Walled City has the prestige and influence of the old man held after the death of the pestle and mortar to hit the bamboo pole and dance, Walled City men, women and children can participate. The local old man said, "Although people die, but the soul does not die, it goes to another world after the same can not be separated from the song and dance, so people have to sing and dance to send him off." It is this open-minded view of life and death that has created many Wa funeral dances. But now it has become an entertaining dance.