Cultural characteristics of Dai dance

Dai people love and worship peacocks. Many people not only keep peacocks at home, but also regard peacocks as a symbol of kindness, wisdom, beauty, auspiciousness and happiness. Among all kinds of Dai dances, peacock dance is one of the most popular and familiar dances, and it is also one of the dances with the greatest changes and development. Peacock dance is a folk tradition in A Dai with a long history, which has been incorporated into religious etiquette. Therefore, "peacock dance" must be performed at every Buddhist festival and when welcoming the New Year. There is a beautiful legend about why peacock dance was performed. It is said that in ancient times, peacock feathers were not as bright as they are now, and there were no beautiful "round eyes" feathers. It is loved only because it is docile. Once, when a local Hinayana religious festival was held, I heard that the Buddha came here for this purpose. In order to get the light of Buddha, devout believers flocked to the temple and surrounded the Buddha statue. A male peacock, who lives on the distant Tianzhu Mountain, got the news of the Buddha's descent and hurried to the temple. Unfortunately, it was too late to get close to the Buddha, but he was in an uproar outside the crowd. After the peacock's piety was perceived by the Buddha, it threw a beam of Buddha light at the peacock. Unfortunately, this magical Buddha's light only fell on the peacock's tail running back and forth, so that the roots and feathers of the male peacock's tail were instantly decorated with "round eyes" with gold rings, which became what people see now. When the Buddha left, he specifically told the peacock: See you at the "Pendulum Para" Festival next year. Since then, Buddha Sakyamuni will sit high on the lotus throne and watch the "peacock dance" presented to the Buddha by peacocks who came from Tianzhu Mountain. At the same time, peacocks will also show people the brilliance of feathers endowed by the Buddha. Since then, whenever religious festivals and annual festivals are celebrated, people will perform traditional folk peacock dance to worship Buddha and pray for good luck.

Peacock dance, which spreads in Dehong Autonomous Prefecture and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, has the longest history. In Nanzhao unofficial history in the Ming Dynasty, there was a record that "the young and the old married and danced, and the Lusheng was called peacock dance". Traditional folk peacock dance, called "Galoyong" and "Gananluo" in Dai language, can be performed by one, two or three people. In traditional peacock dance, men are used to wearing golden helmets, masks and peacock wings with braces, and dancing with musical instruments such as elephant feet drums, gongs and cymbals. Dance has strict procedures, including rich and varied meaningful hand shapes and various dances such as jumping and turning. With its graceful "three bends" figure, the peacock's expressions and natural scenes such as "peeping in the forest", "walking in the forest", "drinking in the spring" and "chasing and playing" were shaped. Although the traditional peacock dance, performed by men, is often vigorous and tall, with little feminine beauty, imitating the smooth dancing and graceful modeling of peacocks often fascinates the audience, ignoring the gender of the performers.

The important musical instrument accompanying Dai dance is the "elephant foot drum". In the Dai people, there is no one who can't play the elephant's foot drum, from children aged 3 or 4 to ancient and rare old people. The senior player of the elephant foot drum is not only a drummer, but also an excellent dancer. Because the performance level of Dai dancers is closely related to the performance of drummers. Before dancing, dancers and musicians generally don't practice together, and they rely entirely on their feelings for tacit cooperation and performance. Because drummers are familiar with dance, they will choose and constantly change the rhythm and speed of drums according to the level of dancers, and even guide dancers to show difficult skills. Musicians will also take part in dancing on appropriate occasions. They can use their fingers, palms, fists, elbows, heads and feet to knock out all kinds of drums that imitate the sounds of nature. If they go down with a hammer, the drum is long enough to unbutton China's jacket, and then they can button all the buttons with a hammer. Musicians sometimes step on a small elephant foot drum about 80 cm long and dance while beating the drum. Their dancing is flexible and cheerful, which is an excellent form for young men to show their personal encouragement level and skills.