Is there dance in traditional culture?

"Culture" is one of the terms with different opinions so far. There are more than 160 concepts about culture. This shows the complexity and controversy of culture. 187 1 year, British anthropologist Taylor published the book Primitive Culture, in which he defined "culture" and "civilization": "Culture or civilization, in terms of its broad ethnological significance, includes knowledge, belief, art, morality, law, customs and the ability acquired by anyone as a member of society. It can be seen that he divides culture into two parts, one is the achievements that human beings have made (such as art), and the other is the values and social norms that human beings depend on for survival. In other words, culture is all things and ideas that human beings have acquired in society.

China culture has a history of 5,000 years, with ups and downs; It is brilliant to cultivate almost one-fifth of human body and mind. It is as frank and open-minded as the sky. In the long years, in the vast land, there are selfless dedication, spread the glory of the quartet, but also sincere advice, accepted by all parties. The culture of any famous nation, big or small, has its own soil and air, its own carrier and spirituality, and of course its own strengths and weaknesses, naivety and sophistication. Therefore, any national culture has its natural right to exist and develop, and human obligation to respect the equal rights of different cultures. Every nation needs to learn the advantages of other cultures to promote its own development; Everyone should carry forward all the advantages of his own culture to ensure his existence and create a civilized paradise for mankind. That is, the same as the subject; Every discipline can learn the factors that promote its own development from similar disciplines.

In addition to material needs, people also have spiritual needs, and music and dance in spiritual culture are indispensable. It is no exaggeration to say that music and dance, as one of the components of human culture, are a great innovation and invention of human spiritual life, and have become one of the symbols that distinguish human beings from animals. Dance is a kind of body language, which expresses people's thoughts and feelings with rhythmic movements. Its age should not be later than the Neolithic Age. Can dance be reflected in our profound China culture, or can we see what kind of influence it has received from the traditional culture of China? In this way, can it be said that dance is an uneducated art category and so on?

When it comes to any culture, you can't forget your roots. Dance in primitive society also originated from primitive people's productive labor and other social practices. Dance is mainly "imitation" at first. This is especially typical among hunting peoples. It is generally believed that dance originated from productive labor, and its initial function was mainly to entertain the body and mind. "When the hunter has the impulse to experience the happiness brought by using strength when hunting, he will once again engage in imitating the actions of animals and create his own unique hunting dance." ① Imitate the different postures of birds and beasts, imitate the different actions of people in productive labor and hunting activities, and then beautify the combination. So, dance came into being. The heritage of this primitive dance can still be seen in some ethnic minorities in China. For example, the monkey lice dance, the magpie dance, the peacock dance dance, the wheat-cutting dance, the rice-wrapping dance, the seedling-raising dance and the grain-cutting dance of the Dulong and Lahu nationalities, and the "Red Punen" dance, which reflects the gathering life of the Oroqen people, all imitate and simulate the animal posture and productive labor movements. Another example is the black bear fighting dance of Oroqen nationality and the wild boar fighting dance of Ewenki nationality, all of which reflect hunting activities. Besides the theory of labor origin, primitive dance is also closely related to religious sacrifice. Shuo Wen Jie Zi? Ministry of Witchcraft: "Witchcraft, good luck. Women can do invisible things, and so can people who dance to the gods ... Wu Xian, an ancient man, became a witch at first. "At the beginning of the 20th century, some people thought that" dance started with the worship of gods "(2); Later, some people thought that singing and dancing originated from witchcraft-begging for rain. Engels said: "Dance … is the main part of all religious festivals. "Nuo dance in ancient China is a kind of sacrificial dance, which used dance rituals to expel plague ghosts from all directions. The Niuguozhuang dance of Dulong, the "Jin" dance of Jingpo and the death dance of Lisu all belong to ritual dances.

Gradually, when the wisdom of human beings began to expand to selfish desires, the war extended from people to animals, and extended to killing each other between people. Dance is slowly formed from the war. Among them, the martial arts dance in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties is also a kind of military sports. With the frequent occurrence of wars, the army needs to practice. After practice, the soldiers jumped up and down with various weapons, and gradually formed a martial dance. There is a fairy tale in Shan Hai Jing: Around 5000 BC, a man named Xingtian fought with the Yellow Emperor, who cut off his head and buried it in Changyang Mountain. He used nipples as eyes, navel as mouth, and danced with shields and axes. This is the earliest legendary martial arts dance. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, officers used martial arts as a means of military training, and they also performed dances when they met activities such as commending meritorious military service. Book of rites? Wang Wenshizi said that there were two famous martial arts dances in the Western Zhou Dynasty, one called Elephant Dance and the other called Dawu Dance. "Notes to Thirteen Classics" said: "The king of Wen struck and stabbed three ways, and the king of Wu had music, like dancing, and music was like dancing." This shows that there is elephant dance in Zhou Wenwang. Book of rites? Yue Ji specifically narrated six major martial arts dances, such as Rise of King Wu, Destroying Shang, Returning to the South and Consolidating Southern Xinjiang, and praised the achievements of King Wu in Zhou Wuwang. In this martial arts dance, soldiers hold various weapons, simulate simple offensive and defensive actions in battle, and celebrate victory. This kind of martial dance was very popular in the army, courts, places and schools throughout the Western Zhou Dynasty.

According to ancient Chinese literature, the appearance of dance is also related to physical exercise; "Lu Chunqiu? Midsummer? Ancient music: "At the beginning of the Tao family, the yin was stagnant and the waterways were blocked. It was impossible. The people are stagnant, stagnant, and their bones and muscles can't contract, so they are preached as dances. "Painted pottery pots unearthed in Shangsunjiazhai, Datong County, Qinghai Province are precious cultural relics that have been found to prove the history of China dance. Its inner wall is painted with 15 dancers. They hang their heads in braids, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, with light steps and bright rhythm, showing a happy mood. " Lu Chunqiu? "Yisheng" said: "In the past, Ge Zhile, three people fucked the oxtail and cast their feet with songs." Ge Shitian is a legendary name of an ancient tribe with eight pieces of music. These words are used to describe the songs and dances at that time. At that time, literature and sports were not separated. At that time, the main function of dance was to please the body and mind and improve health, and its artistry was not strong. Among them, "sword dance" is one of the dances that have the characteristics of military, sports and dance and are worth grasping and analyzing. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the sword became a common weapon in the army. The "Bronze Medal of the Warring States Land and Water Attack and Defense War" unearthed in Shanbiao Town, Jixian County, Henan Province attracted 10 soldiers who used weapons. At that time, there was a fashion of wearing swords, practicing swords and fencing in society. Some rulers love watching sword fighting, and even recruited a group of "swordsman". When fighting swords, the scene is extremely cruel, which is tantamount to fighting cocks. During this period, theoretical research works on fencing appeared. After the Han dynasty, the sword has basically lost its value as a weapon, but mainly became a symbol and performance instrument that ruled the martial arts that people carried with them. In the Tang Dynasty, fencing continued to be popular, and sword dance appeared. At that time, fencing was one of the "three wonders" in the Tang Dynasty. There are many famous sentences describing sword dance in Tang poetry, which shows the peak of its art and attainments.

Examples of China's traditional culture related to dance that can be cited cannot be fully displayed here. In modern times, dancers or dance art types are often misunderstood by other disciplines as a form with developed limbs and simple mind. Today, we can learn from China's traditional culture to say something about dance, instead of making superficial excuses for today's dance art, it is more important to find reasons for thinking in the vast traditional culture of China. Without deep meditation, treating art with an attitude of quick success and instant benefit will gradually die out.