The Performance Forms of Miao Folk Encouragement

What are the manifestations of Miao folk dance inspiration? Come and have a look if you want to know!

There are various forms of Miao drum dance, which can be divided into three categories according to the number of dancers: single, double and group drum dance. According to the inspiring performance forms, it can also be divided into four categories: monkey drum, two-person drum, four-sided drum and reunion drum. There are various forms of performances, and the atmosphere is brilliant for different festivals.

Single person encouragement

Single encouragement in Miao areas includes single encouragement for men and single encouragement for women. men's singles

Encouragement is usually accompanied by men and women knocking on the side, while a man beats drums and dances, waving his hands, with rough and bold movements, simple rhythm and intense strength. Miao people often celebrate festivals and harvest. There are two ways to play this dance. One way is for the performer to beat the drum with a drumstick. The other is that performers dance with fists and drums, which is also called unarmed encouragement. Women's single drum dance is the most common form of performance in Miao areas, which is usually performed during the Spring Festival and other festivals. The accompanist knocks on the side with a mallet or gong, and the dancer dances solo with a drum stick in his hand, sometimes accompanied by someone. His dance steps are slow, his steps are clear, his upper body moves with his limbs, his waist twists and his hips moves, and his dance is generous, lively, steady, elegant or unrestrained.

Double encouragement

Double encouragement can be divided into male double encouragement and female double encouragement. These two forms of encouragement are the same, but their styles are quite different. Men are rough and powerful, and women are charming and feminine. The expression of double inspiration is free. A dancer can play at the same time, or a drummer and a dancer. Move left and right, alternate back and forth, coordinate and unify. They often perform in Qingfeng harvest and festivals.

Collective encouragement

Miao people say that flower drums are encouraged collectively because there are many people participating in the performance. Flower drum dance is divided into four dances, eight dances and mixed dances. Folk also have common names such as "reunion encouragement", "year jumping encouragement" and "year adjustment encouragement". Dancers dance while playing drums. There are two ways to beat drums: hand beating and hammer beating. There are more than 20 kinds of mallet dances, such as beauty combing hair, grooming, cooking, picking flowers and embroidering, supporting the tripod for the overlord, packaging ancient trees, beauty arranging flowers, heroes holding swords, digging ears and flying birds.

Dance method; There are eight kinds of high-five dances, such as "lion rolling the ball", "tiger going down the mountain", "eagle spreading its wings", "crane stretching its legs", "harvesting and threshing", "hoeing lotus" and "chicken eating rice". Flower drums can be divided into two drums and four drums; Flower drum dance wins with a variety of patterns. Phoenix Flower Drum is an inspiration for the popularity in Fenghuang County. This kind of dance is often performed in various festivals, and its form is similar to double encouragement, that is, two people hold drumsticks and dance at each station at the same time, and the accompanist stands at the waist of the drum and beats the accompaniment. Performers are not limited in gender and can be combined at will. In Fenghuang County, there is also an encouraging custom called "ode". During the Spring Festival, the groom must take the bride to her father-in-law's house to pay a New Year call. There is a clip at the entrance of the village, which is Carol. Before entering the door, the bride and groom have to dance an encouraging dance together besides singing, which forms this unique double encouragement. This kind of dance requires two people's movements to be symmetrical, with the same direction, cheerful style and stable and full rhythm.

Monkey drum dance

Monkey drum dance is an encouraging form that imitates monkey movements and dances around Miao drums. It is different from the category of single and double inspiration. Dance not only imitates productive labor, but also imitates monkeys picking peaches, scratching their cheeks and playing drums, which looks funny and humorous. Among them, there are many difficult skills, and the dance is light and agile and emotional. This dance can be performed in a monkey hat, dressed as a monkey, or dressed in casual clothes to imitate the monkey.

Skeleton exchange

Tiaogu, also called Tiaogu, is a kind of Tiaogu performance in which two drummers do the same symmetrical routine at one end of each drum. This style of play is mostly used in drum games or "blocking drums". During the performance, family members hit one end and relatives and friends hit the other; Or hit one in this village and the other in other villages; Either Party A will accompany Party B, or Party B will accompany Party A. It is required that Party A and Party B act in unison, with unity, symmetry and harmony. If Party A plays with Party B, what routines does Party A play and what routines must Party B follow; Immediately after the end of the first game, the second game will be played, that is, what routine actions Party A must follow when Party B fights with Party A.. Play on both sides. If one of them doesn't play properly, it's a loss and the other side wins. So drum to drum is drum to drum style. Drummers are required to be proficient in routines and skills, but also flexible and witty. In the traditional drum party, when they are in diamond cut diamond, a dozen will last all day or all night, and they will stay up all night.

Encourage on all sides

This kind of dance is popular in Jishou City and is a special form of encouragement. The drum it uses is a four-sided drum. Performers are usually two men and two women, who stand separately alternately and dance on their own drums. Generally speaking, the content reflects the work action and happy mood. When men play drums, women act as foil, while when women play drums, men act as foil. Then, four people danced around the flowers, and their movements were consistent and symmetrical, which directly reflected the happy mood of the Miao people.

Reunion encouragement

Reunion drum dance is a special form of collective song and dance, which is characterized by laying a drum flat on the drum table, choosing one person to beat the drum, and everyone dances with the drum. The more, the better. Its movements are divided into big pendulum, small pendulum and fine pendulum. Men generally dance and stand in the inner circle, while women generally dance and stand in the outer circle, singing "Ah-ho". The rhythm of this dance is obvious, the drums can be repeated at will, and the movements are repeated with the drums. The dynamic rhythm with the swing of the waist and hands as the main part is different from other encouraging features, and drumming is also obviously different from other encouraging forms.