Present situation of Tujia and Miao music and dance

The traditional dances of Tujia nationality include inspiration, swing dance, eight treasures bell, Meishan dance, vault, flag dance, eight skirts dance and drama.

Gong, drum, song and dance in Tujia funeral ceremony. After an old man dies normally, he must jump into mourning. The older the deceased is, the more people will go to the funeral. Not only will relatives hang him, but the villagers in the neighborhood will also participate. It's called "when people die, many families lose their lives, and more than a dozen sides help." Most funerals are held the night before burial. In front of the dead body, the singers beat drums and sang songs, and the second, fourth and eighth singers in the team answered accordingly, danced with the drum festival and performed according to the qupai. When there are hundreds of people, they should sing and dance on the front dam of the coffin to celebrate their mourning.

Hand-waving dance is a traditional dance loved by Tujia people. Tujia language is called "Sheba" and Chinese is called "playing". When dancing swing dance, one person beats drums and gongs in the circle, and male and female dancers dance around the circle under the guidance of good dancers, and change their dancing posture with the advance and retreat of drums. Change a program every week or several weeks, and connect many actions in series to form a complete paragraph. Swing dance is rich in content, mainly including "horse dance" to show ancient wars, "banquet dance" to show court sacrifices to local emperors, "hunting dance" to show hunting life, "production dance" to show working life, and "mosquito beating" and "buffalo beating" to show daily life.

Babel chime dance is a ritual dance of Tujia nationality. When the Tujia people "untied money" for their ancestors, they asked Teacher Tu to preside over the sacrificial ceremony. Teacher Tu wore eight dresses, a red silk handkerchief tied to her head, a knife pinned to her waist, and two sweet bells in her hand, singing and dancing. Praise ancestors' entrepreneurship and migration, pray for ancestors' peace and the luck of future generations.

Playing coloratura, also known as flower drum, is a common folk dance of Tujia nationality. When dancing, most people use clowns. Once they appear, they are all holding a small fan (or handkerchief), and the action is relatively simple. With big and small footwork, your hands swing from side to side, and your body naturally swings to both sides with your feet and hands. Men's movements are big and rough, while women's movements are small and soft, singing and dancing, relaxed and happy, which is deeply loved by Tujia youth.