What kind of art form is Nuo dance? Where did it originate?

What kind of art form is Nuo dance? Where did it originate?

Nuo dance has a long history, and there is a record of Nuo sacrifice in Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yinxu in Anyang. The Zhou Dynasty called Nuo dance "national Nuo" and "great Nuo", and the countryside was also called "local Nuo". According to the records in The Analects of Confucius, when Confucius saw the Nuo dance performance team coming, he stood on the steps in his evening dress and greeted him respectfully (all the villagers were Nuo and stood on the steps in court). As a result, historical allusions were extended. After the Qing Dynasty, many literati performed various folk song and dance troupes during the Spring Festival, also known as "villagers' Nuo", and were introduced into tombstones in some areas and temples. The custom of Nuo sacrifice continued from the Western Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty and developed rapidly. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, although the Nuo dance was poetic and picturesque, it evolved into an interesting custom activity, and in some places it developed into "Nuo opera" and "local opera".

Up to now, the villages in Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi and other places still have a very long way of exorcising dance, and some new specific contents have been added. For example, the "Nuo Dance" in Wuyuan County, Nanfeng County and Le 'an County in Jiangxi Province mainly shows Pangu's "opening the spirit", the legendary "harmony between the two immortals" and "the golden toad of Liu Hai"; Highlights of dramatic performances in Meng Jiangnv and The Legend of the White Snake, as well as works such as Dance of Ji Ma that reflect daily life. The performance form and mask making of Nuo dance have influenced the national dances of many ethnic minorities, such as "Qiang Mu" of Tibetans and "Master Gong Dance" of Zhuang, Yao, Maonan and Mulao ethnic minorities, which absorbed many cultural factors and performance skills of Nuo dance and developed into a unique national dance mode of the Chinese nation.

Experts and scholars have many explanations about Nuo dance, which originated from the totem picture belief of ancient clan commune and was the genetic gene of the initial cultural and artistic belief. It is a folk dance with the functions of catching ghosts, exorcising evil spirits and offering sacrifices, and it is a part of the national dance in Nuo ceremony. At first, it prevailed in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yangtze River, and then it spread to remote areas. Due to the war and other reasons, the wind of Nuo sacrifice gradually weakened in the central region and almost disappeared.

Liu Yi, a student of China Nuo Opera Promotion Association, and the old guy * *, a scholar of Nuo Opera in Jiangxi Province, wrote the first book "A General Introduction to Nuo Culture in China": "Nuo culture is a fusion of religious culture, folk culture and artistic culture. In the difficult historical process, this is a new darling in China's traditional culture. " The origin of Nuo is related to the original hunting, totem worship and folk witchcraft. Nuo in the Zhou Dynasty was brought into the system of rites and music in China. According to the documents of Qin Dynasty, Nuo ceremony is a project to look forward to nursed back to the shade at four seasons, but to seek suitable Xia Han, smooth prosperity, abundant crops, human and animal safety and people's livelihood. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, the palace ceremony was solemn and solemn, and spread to Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea and Japan. At the end of the Song Dynasty, Nuo ceremonies in the imperial palace chose the long-term system and developed in the direction of entertainment. Nuo ceremony was boycotted because Meng Yuan had different beliefs. Palace furniture was restored in the Ming dynasty, but it was not done in the Qing dynasty. However, the "villagers' Nuo" recorded in The Analects of Confucius and the Rural Party has continued in folk customs, and it has merged with religious beliefs, literary styles and folk culture, and evolved into various forms of Nuo dancing and Nuo opera, which is still popular in many villages in China, especially in Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and other provinces.