Why is Shanxi called "the hometown of folk dance"?

Shanxi folk dance has a long history as Shanxi folk songs, so many experts also call Shanxi "the hometown of folk dance". According to Su Shi's Performance Righteousness written by Su E in Tang Dynasty, as early as the pre-Qin period, there was a beautiful dance with the content of "Zhanchiyou" in Taiyuan. According to the first issue of Shanxi Cultural Life News 1985, this primitive dance was rediscovered in Pingtougou, Xixiang, Shouyang County at the end of 1984.

This newly discovered "Zhan Chiyou" dance is called "Love Club" and "Haunted" by local people. It reflects the story of the battle between Xuanyuan Huangdi and Chiyou in primitive society: In order to defeat Chiyou, a beast with a head, a steel head and an iron forehead, Huangdi recruited 24 ghosts. Six GREAT GHOST, led by him, wearing helmets painted with red, purple, pink, green, black and blue masks, leaned on a back frame with fifteen colored green stripes, handmade two embroidered fish and drove eighteen people. First, we rehearsed "pushing the door and face", "lifting the leg monkey", "crouching down" and "riding a horse" before the war, and then used scenes such as "climbing the wall on the side", "crossing the border", "playing chess" and "playing the watch" to show that the Yellow Emperor was defeated by Chiyou.

The scene is spectacular and funny. In the Han tomb excavated in Houcun, Yuncheng, a model of "Hundred Theatre Buildings" was also found, in which male and female dancers danced against each other. There are many beautiful dancing children in Tang tombs excavated in other places in Shanxi. All these show that Shanxi folk dance has long been famous. There are many kinds of folk dances in Shanxi, and there are still about 200 kinds.

Such as Huagu, Zhuan Er Drum, Huaqing Drum, Fan Drum, Five Tiger Mountain Climbing, Box-piercing gongs and drums, Waist Drum, Mouth Huagu, Tiwu Drum and so on. There are various forms of "flower drums" in Shanxi, including high drums (hanging on the chest), low drums (hanging on the waist) and multiple drums (hanging on the waist, chest and shoulders). Shanxi's "Flower Drum Dance" is dominated by Yuncheng and Linfen.

For example, Wanrong County 17 townships have 13 townships with flower encouragement teams. In some towns, every street has a pile of flower drums, so it is called "the hometown of flower drums". The "Yangko" in Shanxi is all over Sanjin. Generally speaking, it can be divided into several types, such as "Kicking and Inspiring" on the North Road (it is said that it was created when Liangshan heroes in Shui Bo fled to Saibei after the failure of the Song Dynasty uprising), "Fenxiaodi Yangko", "Yuanping Phoenix Yangko", "Zuo Quan Floral Dance", "Houmabaidian Yangko" and "Linfen Umbrella Yangko".

In addition, there are lion dances, dragon dances, stilts, dry boats, back sticks, iron bars, pavilions, singing and dancing on the piano, and various lantern dances in Shanxi.