The History of Ancient Chinese Dance

Its main forms were dances about hunting and labor. On the Neolithic rock paintings in the Yinshan area of Inner Mongolia, images of hunting dances are carved. People dressed as birds, goats, foxes and other animals. Some heads are adorned with antlers and feathers, and some with tail ornaments. The creation of this dance is closely related to hunting. Due to the lack of understanding of the phenomena of nature in primitive societies, a sense of fear, and gradually formed a primitive religious beliefs -- totem worship. Animals, plants or natural objects as a circle of totem, that the totem can be blessed or disaster, the totem as an ancestor and protection of God from the unearthed artifacts and ancient rock paintings seen on the human face snake body, bird body, human face, human face and animal body image, is the image of the clan totem. Legend has it that Fuxi and Nuwa, with their human heads and snake bodies, are the ancestors of the Huaxia people, who used the "dragon" as their totem. Fuxi's dance, called "Fenglai", sings the song of "Reticulum"; Nuwa's dance, called "Charging Music", celebrates Fuxi's invention of the Reticulum, which teaches the people to catch birds and beasts, and Nuwa's performance of formulating marriages and teaching the people to get married. Legend has it that the bull-headed Yandi was the ancestor of the Qiang people, who used the sheep as their totem. Yandi's musical dance, "Supporting the Plough", and the song "Bountiful Years" celebrate Yandi's achievements in teaching the people to sow grains and inventing agriculture, and he is honored as the Shennong Clan. The dance of the Yinkang Clan is called "The Great Dance", which teaches the people to exercise in order to fight against the disease of yin and dampness. Ge Tian's dance was called "Guang Le", in which the three of them sang eight kuai (segments) with the tail of a cow, praying for a good harvest and the reproduction of birds and animals. The Yellow Emperor used "cloud" as a totem, and "Cloud Gate" was the totem dance of the Yellow Emperor's clan; the "Phoenix Bird Tian Zhai" dance was the totem dance of Emperor ?ào; "Striking the stone and patting the stone, the rate of all beasts dancing" was the totem music and dance of the clans of Emperor Yao. These ancient clans' music and dances were performed in the time of Emperor Yao. The music and dance of these ancient clans are full of the struggle for youth and strength, and also reflect the primitive religious fantasies and witchcraft rituals.

The ritual music of the Zhou Dynasty, which is a collection of ancient dances, has entered the slave society since Xia Yu passed his son to Qi. After the Xia and Shang dynasties (21st to 11th centuries B.C.) to the Western Zhou Dynasty, slavery reached its heyday, and the ruling class of the Zhou Dynasty had fully realized the social role of music and dance for political purposes, and formulated a system of rituals and music. In order to carry out the implementation of this system, the Zhou royal family organized the music and dances that had survived from the previous generations, including the Yellow Emperor's music and dance "Yunmen", Tang Yao's music and dance "Dahan", Yu and Shun's music and dance "Dashao", Xia Yu's music and dance "Daxia", Shang Tang's music and dance "Do Ho Suh", and the Zhou Wu Wang's music and dance "Dawu", which were known as the six dances of the Six Generations and used for sacrifices. A large music and dance organization called "Da Si Le" was set up, and the children of the nobles were strictly educated in the six arts (rituals, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy, and mathematics). at the age of thirteen, the students were enrolled in the school, and gradually learned music, recitation of poems, and small dances, and at the age of fifteen they began to learn archery, driving, and the dance of the "Elephant" (which, according to the legend, is a kind of martial arts dance, but is also thought to be a kind of totem dance such as fish and shrimp). At the age of 20, they learned various rituals and the Great Dance.

When the great festival was held, the daisyaku led the children of the nobles to perform the Rokuyo Odori dance. Different music and dances were performed for different occasions, such as the Kairaku for victory, the Shidairaku and Sanraku for enjoyment of guests, and the Bow and Yagami Dance for the shooting ceremony. In all ceremonial occasions, the sanctity of being commanded by Heaven was emphasized on the one hand, and the dignity of hierarchical distinction on the other. The ritual and music system of the Western Zhou was a major creation of the political civilization of the slave society, and it was a great success of the ancient dances before the Zhou. During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods, the Zhou royal family was declining, and the vassals were competing for supremacy, so the ritual and music system could not be maintained, and the historical edifice of the slave society was facing the trend of collapsing. Witch Dance and Folk Ritual Dance In primitive society, due to people's worship of totems and superstitious beliefs in gods and ghosts, gradually produced a communication between man and god "witch". The "witch" was in charge of rituals and divination, seeking God's blessing or purging bad luck. "Witches were originally appointed by clan leaders. Legend has it that Xia Yu was not only a hero of water healing, but also a great sorcerer. He was so sick that he couldn't take a step forward because of the disease in his legs, so he could only move forward in broken steps, which was called "Yu's Steps", and became the dance steps for wizards to follow in later times, also known as "Witch's Steps". Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty recorded two ways of dancing the "Yu Step" in his "Hug Park Zi". Cheng Tang, the founder of the Shang Dynasty, was also a great sorcerer. In the early years of the Shang Dynasty, when there was a severe drought and no rain, Cheng Tang sacrificed himself and prayed for rain in the mulberry grove, which brought down heavy rain. This kind of prayer and rain sacrifice, in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period there are still remains. Han Dynasty spring drought for rain, stormy witch sacrifices **** work, children dance 8 zhang Qinglong. Summer drought for rain, sacrifice Chi You, the strong dance 7 feet red dragon. Autumn drought for rain, the violent witch sacrificed Shao Hao, widowers dance 9 feet white dragon. Winter drought for snow, sacrificed to the gods of XuanMei. They danced the 6-foot black dragon. When the sky is flooded with obscene rain, the drums are attacked to stop the rain. The Dragon Dance has become a folk dance for festivals.

The wax festival, which originated from sorcery, is said to have begun in the time of the Ikkyo clan, and is a festival held at the end of the year to pray for a good harvest and to thank the gods. There are eight gods in the wax festival: ①Shin Nong (Shen Nong's); ②Shi Nong (Hou Ji); ③Nong (the god of farmers); ④Post, Table, (thatched hut, the ground, the god of wells); ⑤Cat, Tiger (the god of cats and tigers); ⑥Fang (the god of the dyke); ⑦Shui Yong (the god of the river); ⑧Hundred Seeds (the god of the hundred valleys), and the festival is held when the sorcerers wearing the yellow clothes and yellow crowns sing the festival songs, the band plays the "Yu Song," and the band plays the earth drums and dances the "Soldiers' Dance" and the "Dance. The day of the wax festival becomes a day of rest and recreation for farmers. The cat god and tiger god in the wax festival appeared in the concrete image of the god's corpse, and the image of the god was played by a wizard in the song and dance for the gods of Chu, the Nine Songs. From the verse of "Nine Songs", we can see the performance of this large-scale witch dance: the altar is decorated with flowers and grasses, osmanthus wine and pepper paste; the officiating priest wears jade and holds a long sword; the orchestra plays five tones, pats the drums and sings songs; and the "deities" wear colorful clothes and dance. In the early years of the Han Dynasty, the style of witchcraft was still prevalent, and Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty often offered sacrifices to the gods and goddesses of heaven, earth, mountains and rivers. In Jin Dynasty, there were famous witches such as Zhang Dan Chen Zhu. Legend has it that they were beautiful, good at dancing back and forth, talking about ghosts and laughing, and would pull out their swords and break their tongues and hide their shadows. The Records of Ancient and Modern Music recorded 11 songs of "Divine String Songs", which are witch's séance songs. The witch dance was spread in a wide area. The ancestor of Han Gaozu used the Qin and Jin witches in the north and the Jing and Han witches in the south to offer sacrifices to heaven, earth, mountains and rivers. The spread of witchcraft is to a large extent the use of songs and dances to entertain people, using the beauty of witches, acrobatics, illusions, operas, paintings and various artistic means to bless people, exorcise evil spirits, heal the sick, and dazzle people's ears with color. "Witch", "dance" homophonic, "witch, dance to the gods also". So far, the remaining witches of various ethnic groups in various places, such as: the Han's God Witch, Goddess, the Qiang's Duan Gong, the Manchu's Shaman, the Zhuang's Shih Gong, the Naxi's Dongba, the Jingpo's Dongsa, the Tibetan's Qiangmu, and the Mongolian's Chama, although the deities are different, and the customs are different, but their activities are nothing more than praying for blessings and avoiding calamities, descending to the gods to drive away the ghosts, which are directly or indirectly related to the original Wiccan religion. Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty ordered the world to set up a shrine to the Spirit Star, and its worship became a nationwide ritual. Lingxing is the star of the heavenly field, which is the main grain. During the festival, the Spirit Star Dance was performed. The dancers were 16 boys and men, and the dance movements were the labor process of teaching the people how to plant fields: weeding, plowing, cultivating the fields, driving away the birds, and pounding the grain. There is still a record of the "Yeongseong Odori" in the book.

Customary music and dance flourished in the two Han dynasty Qin and Han dynasties folk dance has significant development. The Qin Dynasty has been the House of Music, Qin Ershi in the Ganquan Palace, "as the corner of the haiku of the view". In the early years of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, preferred the folk music and dance of Chu, and used the popular music and dance for court rituals. Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty enlarged the organization of "Lefu", appointed Li Yannian as the governor of the Concordance, vigorously collected folk music and dance, and recorded 314 songs and poems of Wu, Chu, Yan, Dai, Qi and Zheng, and there were more than 800 musicians and dancers in the Lefu. In order to fulfill the political needs, it also performed big jokers to entertain foreign guests. Jiaojia changed year after year, and its content became richer and richer, so it was also called Hundred Operas. Hundreds of plays include the following items: ① acrobatics - seeking, jumping pills, walking rope, punching narrow and so on. ② illusion - swallowing knives, spitting fire, easy cow and horse head. ③ Martial arts - stick dance, sword dance, knife dance, sparring and so on. ④ False Dance - Phoenix Dance, Fish Dance, Dragon Dance and so on. ⑤ Dance - Scarf Dance, Dance, Duo Dance, Dance, Long Sleeve Dance, Pan Drum Dance, Bayu Dance, Jian Drum Dance, and Pair Dance. (6) Song and Dance Opera--East China Sea Huang Gong, the General Association of Immortal Advocates. From this, we can see that dance is a large proportion of the hundred operas.

The Han Dynasty music and dance is a wide range, fusion of skills of the times, dance by acrobatics, illusions, angle, haiku, the influence of the development of difficult, rich in the means of conveying feelings, expanding the performance capacity of the dance, from the "Pan drum dance" this program is embodied. It has both "Luo Yi from the wind, long sleeves and cross", elegant and wonderful dance posture, and "floating and tired kneeling, hocking and stepping and falling", highly complex skills. The Pan Drum Dance not only focuses on the improvement of the dance form, but also seeks to express the inner poetic meaning of the external dance, and pursues the meaning of the dance. Another result of the fusion of techniques is the emergence of song and dance theater. In "Huang Gong of the East China Sea", there are characters and false forms; the sorcerer Huang Gong is tired of serving the white tiger, and the performance of man-beast fights is a typical routine of jiaoliao opera. Huang Gong's spells did not work and he was killed by the white tiger, which is rich in satirical comedy. Another "General Fairy Initiative" has a tiger, leopard fake form, there are gods and fairies, is a totem dance and the further development of witch dance. Two Han Dynasty due to the consolidation of the feudal system, economic prosperity, people's lives have improved, music and dance around the corresponding development. The famous songs and dances of different places include: "Dong Ge", "Dong Dance", "Zhao Acura", "Zhao Dance", "Jing Yan", "Chu Dance", Wu "Yue Yin", "Zheng Sound", "Zheng Dance". The exchange of music and dance culture of various ethnic groups The ancient music and dance culture of the Chinese nation is formed in the continuous exchange and fusion of music and dance culture of various ethnic groups. Such exchanges, the Xia Dynasty has been, "Bamboo Book Chronicle", "Shaokang is the throne, Fang Yi guests, offering its music and dance". "After the hair of the throne, the first year, and then Paul Yong will be on the pool, the barbarians into the dance". The Six Dynasties Dance of the Zhou Dynasty was also the concentration and exchange of music and dance of various ethnic groups. Western music and dance of the introduction, about the time of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the beginning of the Han Dynasty Palace has "ü-Tepan music". Emperor Wu of Han sent Zhang Qian through the Western Regions, the introduction of the "Mahabharat Tule" song, the Concordance Lieutenant Li Yannian because of the hu music more to create a new sound of twenty-eight solutions, in the acceptance of foreign music and dance under the influence of the creation and development. Ban Gu "Dongdu Fu" depicts the Han dynasty four barbarians music and dance gathered in Luoyang performance of the scene, there are East Barbarians "spear dance", Southwest Barbarians "feather dance", West Barbarians "halberd dance" and North Barbarians "dry dance". Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty was fond of Hu music and dance, and all the nobles in Kyoto followed suit. In the Han Dynasty, there are images of Hu people performing acrobatics, illusions and drums on the Han statues. The Pan Drum Dance of the Han Dynasty blended the grace and elegance of the Central Plains with the warmth and exuberance of the Western Regions, forming the aesthetic characteristics of Han Dynasty dance. The dance fell into obscurity during the Six Dynasties, and it was not until the 21st century that it was found to be still in circulation in the folklore of Anhui and Shaanxi.

Another result of the exchange of music and dance between the Central Plains and the Western Regions arose during the conquests of the Northern Dynasties. During the Western Jin Dynasty, people from Guanzhong took refuge in Liangzhou, bringing with them the traditional music and dance of the Han and Wei dynasties. Lv Guang and the Xiongnu people frustrated the qu channel Mengxun Ping the West gained the "tortoise music" and the transmission of the old music of the Central Plains in Liangzhou, resulting in a new type of music and dance "Xiliang music", Gansu Dunhuang is the capital of Xiliang, Dunhuang Grottoes mural record of the "Xiliang music and dance" of the rhythm of the grace.

Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the north of the most important hu dance, sui daiye years of the nine parts of the kabuki, the western part of the possession of 6, to the tang zhenguan sixteen years (642) in the ten parts of the kabuki and add "gaochang music". Sheng Tang Jian dance "Huteng Dance" and from the Kangju of the "Hu Xuan Dance" is popular for a while. The Tsuge Odori dance from Shikoku in Central Asia was still popular in the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the "Cudgel Dance" was fused with the great song and dance forms of the Central Plains, changing the original appearance of the Hu Dance and developing it into a new form of folk dance. The dance can be regarded as a typical product of the combination of Chinese and Western music and dance after the Pan Drum Dance of the Han Dynasty and the Xiliang Music of the Northern Dynasty, which enriched the treasure trove of Chinese traditional dances. Tang Dynasty Yan Music Since the Zhou Dynasty, the court set up a special music and dance institutions, centralized and trained professional music and dance personnel, attaching importance to the inheritance of traditions and the absorption of foreign influences.

To the Tang Dynasty, the music and dance institutions include the Taishang Temple, the Church, the Pear Garden, Yichun Yuan, etc., which concentrated a large number of highly skilled music and dance artists and emphasized the cultivation and training of dance skills. Tang Dynasty inherited the results of the great unification of the Sui Dynasty, both in the southern dynasty of the Qing Shang music and dance, but also in the northern dynasty of the Xiliang, Guzi, Goryeo, Tianzhu, Kangguo, Anguo, Shule, and other eastern and western music and dance, especially accepted the influence of the western regions of the various ethnic groups of the music and dance, the old music and new sounds, the Han-Hu mingled to promote the development of the Tang Dynasty music and dance.

[Sui dynasty music and dance figurines: long-sleeved dance and accompanied by the band]

From the nine parts of the Kabuki, ten parts of the Kabuki development to the sitting part of the Kabuki, standing part of the Kabuki, to the scale of the three dances -- "break the formation of music," "Celebration of the music" and "on the Yuan music" as a representative of the grandeur of the grandeur of the Kabuki, and the Anxu Xianyia, and full of fantasy colors. The three dances can be regarded as the creation of epic dances in Tang Dynasty. The real representative of the Tang Dynasty dance art style, is a small recreational dance Jian dance and soft dance. The Jian Dance is represented by the Sword, the Cudgel, the Hu Spin and the Hu Teng. The soft dance is represented by "Green Waist", "Liangzhou", "Spring Warbler", and "Crowing at Night". Representing the peak of Tang Dynasty music and dance art is the Song and Dance Daqu. The Tang Daqu is a combination of vertical inheritance and horizontal borrowing. In the structure of the Han Dynasty Daqu, there were parts such as "Yan" (introduction), "Xie" (music section), "Tend" and "Chaos" (end). (end part) and other parts. Daqu form in the Tang Dynasty by the influence of Western music and dance, become richer and more perfect, in the structure of the "loose sequence" (slow plate not dance) "in the sequence" (a beat dance contains "row all over the"), "in the sequence" (a number of segments), "in the sequence" (a beat dance contains "row all over the"), "in the sequence" (a number of segments), "in the sequence" (a beat dance contains "row all over the"). A number of paragraphs), "into the break" (the climax of the rapid section of the complex string; including "false urging", "real urging", "gun all over"), "breaks", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat", "the beat". ), "resting beat" (the slow board before the end), "brake" (the sharp end of the section) and so on, forming a complete performing art form. According to the Records of the Teachers' Workshop, there were 46 kinds of big songs in the Tang Dynasty, which had complex rhythms, rich tunes and tight structures, and had the advanced forms of large-scale songs and dances.

Some of the big songs were called "Faqu", which was rich in the elegant mood of "Qing Shangle". The Nishang Yuyi of the Faju is regarded as the crown of Tang Dynasty dance. Song Dynasty Dance and its Dramatic Factors Song Dynasty dance has three main aspects: the court team dance, folk team dance and the dance in the hundred operas. In the Song Dynasty, the team dance of the Tang Dynasty was developed into the team dance of children and the team dance of female disciples (see Song Dynasty court team dance).

Folk dances flourished in the Song Dynasty. Every New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Tianning Festival (the emperor's birthday), folk dance team is very active. There were 70 kinds of dance teams in the New Year's Eve recorded in the Old Story of Wulin, and many of the programs of these 70 dance teams are still in folklore (see Folk Dance Teams of the Song Dynasty).

The dances in the Song Dynasty's Hundred Operas were often performed in the military. Tokyo Dreaming Records" "driving on the Baotsu building of the army presented a hundred plays" article, soldiers disguised as masked and cloaked gods and ghosts, judges, etc., in the drums and flutes, smoke and fire, firecrackers, shouting, performing "hold gong", "hard ghosts", "dance judge", "mime", "seven holy knife", "rest tent", "wipe stagger", etc., performers from one or two to more than a hundred people. The performers ranged from one or two to more than a hundred people, some wearing masks, some painted in green, green, yellow and white, with golden eyes and different costumes, fighting and stabbing two by two, and posing for battle. These played a variety of characters dance, each into a play, but also seems to have a certain link to the plot of the drama.

Theatrical elements in Chinese dance did not originate in the Song Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the "Dawu" was the story of King Wu's conquest of the Zhou Dynasty, and in the Han Dynasty, the song-and-dance drama "Huang Gong of the East China Sea" already had the embryonic form of a drama. In the Tang Dynasty, the song and dance dramas include "King of Lanling," "Dialing the Head," and "Treading the Shaking Niang. Treading Shaking Nyonya" already has dance, music, performance, singing, speech and other performance means, by the actors dress up the characters, to express the storyline. Theatrical elements were added to the court dances and songs of the Song Dynasty. Such as the team dance in the military color, also known as bamboo sticks, as a hook team, put the team, speech, and the leader of the dialogue, not only played the role of the announcer or the role of the program is an organic member of the program to promote the development of the plot plays an important role. Song dynasty opera also increased the storytelling, such as the opera "Green Waist", Song dynasty, there are "Cui Nurse six", "Ying Ying six". The Song dynasty also added storytelling, such as the Song dynasty's "Green Waist", which featured "Cui Gu Li Mu" and "Ying Ying Li Mu". In the song "Sword and Tool", there is "The King's Sword and Tool". The "Sword Dance" in the "Peak Zhenyin Daqu" includes two contents, the first half of which shows the story of Xiang Zhuang's sword dance at the Hongmen Banquet; and the second half of which shows the story of Zhang Xu watching Gongsun Danniang's sword dance and advancing his cursive writing. These great compositions have taken on a strong dramatic character.

From the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, after the miscellaneous plays, in the Spring and Autumn Festival three feasts in the entertainment program, is still a hundred plays, team dances, miscellaneous plays performed one after another, until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, but also maintains this combination of forms. They developed in parallel for a long time, influencing and absorbing each other. Chinese opera contains the song and dance, martial arts and acrobatics elements, and the ancient Chinese song and dance opera, military theater, song and dance theater, etc., has a lineage of connection. Yuan Dynasty Opera Dance and Religious Dance The Yuan Dynasty Opera Art is called Yuan Miscellaneous Opera. The Yuan dynasty opera art is called Yuan miscellaneous opera. The "singing", "cloud" and "section" in Yuan miscellaneous opera are its artistic means of performance. Among the three, "Ke" is the main work, including expression, dance and martial arts. Among them, there are inserted dances, such as the "Iron Crutch Li Degree Golden Girls", the 4th fold: "I can see my eight immortals dance a time you see (on the eight immortals, song and dance section)." In addition, "Liu Xuan De drunk up yellow crane tower" in the folk dance team dance "village field music", "chase Han Xin" in the use of running bamboo horse and so on. Other examples of such insertive dances in Yuan miscellaneous dramas include An Lushan's "Hu Spin" dance and Yang Guifei's "Neishang Yuyi" dance in "Tang Minghuang's Autumn Night Sycamore Rain. The martial arts techniques in the Yuan miscellaneous dramas also contain many dance elements, such as various instrumental dances, sparring, somersaults, and pouncing flags on stilts. Some other plays, such as "Little Yuchi" in the "do tune formation section", "Maling Road" in the "pawns pose formation section", which is a team dance. Yuan miscellaneous dramas in other work, gradually evolved into programmed dance movements to express the characters' moods, such as "Bay Moon Pavilion" in the "Jordan to do shyness Section", "Jordan to do panic folding tragic hit sad action with names, such as "Puffing Red Flag", "Drag the Red Flag", "Drag the Red Flag", "Drag the Red Flag", "Drag the Red Flag", "Drag the Red Flag", "Drag the Red Flag" and so on. ", "dragging white practice", "on stilts" and so on. The religious dances of ancient China are mainly Wiccan, Taoist and Buddhist dances. Wicca and Taoism are the inherent religions of China, and since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism imported from India has been flourishing, and has not declined until the Northern and Southern Dynasties as well as the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, etc., ancestral temple Buddha "do advocate music, in order to seek blessings"; Northern Wei Jingle Temple in Luoyang, set up a female music, "singing around the beams, dance sleeve Xu turn"; Southern Dynasty Liang Wu Di system "good", The Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty made "Shan Ya" and "Da Le", which were called "Zheng Le" to publicize the Buddha's teachings. Tang Dynasty, one of the ten music "Xilang music", there is "ütepe Buddha song", the Song Dynasty court team dance in the bodhisattva offering incense and flowers team, are also promoting Buddhism music and dance.

The Yuan Dynasty to believe in shamanism (Wicca) and Manuism (Buddhism) is mainly in the Yuan Dynasty court team dance is full of religious superstitious colors. Yuan dynasty court team dance, *** divided into four teams, New Year's Day with the "Leyin Wang team", Tianshou Festival with the "longevity team", the court with the "ritual band", to promote Buddhism with the "saying team". Each team is divided into 10 squads. Among the 10 teams of the "King of Music Team", the lead team is a band, and there are two women's teams, one playing the song of Changchunliu and the other dancing with peonies, and in the 10th team, there are also women performing the Hanayoko drum dance, while the rest of them are men's teams dancing and pretending to be deities and ghosts. The rest of the dances are performed by men dressed as gods and ghosts. In the "Saying Team," there is also a dance in which the Eight Great Vajra are danced. In addition, there are also "Bao Gai Dance", "Sun and Moon Fan Dance", "Block Dance", "Umbrella Dance", "Golden Wing Peng Dance", all of which are dances with religious colors.

The most famous dance of the Yuan Dynasty is the "Sixteen Heavenly Devils Dance" created by Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty, which is called "Praise to Buddha", but is actually for the entertainment of the people, and only the eunuchs who have received the secret precepts are permitted to watch it when it is performed in the palace and it is strictly forbidden to perform it for the people. Ming and Qing Dynasties dance The dance of this period can be roughly divided into three categories: court team dance, opera dance and folk dance. Ming Dynasty Palace Dance, the great rituals into a feast with the "dynasty team dance", "tasseled whip victory team dance". Halloween feast with "nine barbarians into the treasure team dance", "Shouxing team dance". The Winter Solstice Banquet used the Zan Shengxi Team Dance and the Hundred Flowers Pilgrimage Team Dance. On the first day of the feast, the "Lotus Flower Dance" and "Lotus Dance" were used for the feast.

The general name of the Qing Dynasty Palace Banquet Band Dance is "Qinglong Dance", which includes the "Yanglie Dance" and "Heiqi Dance" of the ministerial dance. Dance content is allegorical, the beginning of the band stood two wings, singers 13 people, playing "Qinglong" music, performing "Yang Lie Dance", there are wearing a yellow painted cloth cover 16 people, wearing a black sheepskin cover 16 people, each wearing masks, jumping and falling, like strange beasts. And on the bamboo horse riding 8 people, circling and chasing, like the eight banners soldiers. A person shot a beast, the beasts followed and deterred. At this point, the "happy dance" dance team on the stage, the minister of the court dress 18 people, dance to celebrate.

The Ming and Qing opera dance. Can be divided into five categories: ① insertion of dance, such as the Ming publication of the "eye lotus to save the mother" in the play "jump and harmony", "jump Zhong Kui", "mute back wind". ② Programmed dance segments, such as: "Rise and Shine", "Tripping the Horse", "Walking the Edge". ③Programmed dance movements, such as water sleeves, plumes, hair flinging, whiskers, fans, handkerchiefs, long silks and many others. ④ Knife and gun handle. ⑤ Heeling. Opera dance is formed on the basis of ancient Chinese dance and developed according to the needs of the plot and characters. It not only has the characteristics of Chinese classical dance, but also preserves the essence of ancient Chinese dance, which has a revelatory effect on opening the treasury of Chinese classical dance and studying the development law of ancient dance.

China is a multi-ethnic country, *** there are 56 ethnic groups. Because of the different life, history, religion, culture and customs of each ethnic group, a rich and colorful ethnic folk dance has been produced. From the point of view of the folk dances of various ethnic groups that have been handed down to the present day, the vast majority of these dances have been finalized and matured in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (see Ming and Qing Dynasties Dance, Han Folk Dance, and Chinese Folk Dance).