What is the unique Hui people "small drum stilts"?

In the Shenyang stilt art circle, there is a unique form, which is the Hui "small drum stilts".

Small drum stilts originated in the late Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty in Hebei Sanhe County and Beijing Tongxian area. In the Guangxu period, Hebei area of the Hui people migrated to the northeast in large numbers, the old artists Tie Luzhang and others to bring this art form to Shengjing. Shenhe District "Hui Hui camp" area is a Hui settlement, this dance there soon became a Hui people enjoy the self-entertainment dance. At that time, led by the iron Luzhang and others, June 20 every year in the Hui people's Daldai Festival during the organization of rice-planting songs, so the last century, the 20's and 30's small drums on stilts had flourished for a while. Later by Jiang Fugui, Zhu Changyou, Dou Qingzhen and other veteran artists continue to host until the liberation of Shenyang, and then by the veteran artists Li Qinglin, Tie Yufa, Zhu Lianrui, etc. continue to host, there has been more than one hundred and thirty years of history.

Small drum stilts out of the customs, after several generations of artists to develop and improve, on the basis of the original greatly enriched and improved. It is not exactly the same as Hebei's "cultural stilts" "martial stilts", also different from the Tianjin stilts, it is based on the characteristics of the art of stilts and the appreciation of the Hui people in the Shenyang area in the form of performances and the content of the masses, to do a greater update. Whether in the character disguise, performance form, dance style, movement characteristics, it gradually formed a complete set of unique Guandong Yangge art.

Small drums and stilts are performed by a team of twenty people, with only two gongs and two drums (****four people) accompanying the performance, and the remaining sixteen people performing on the ground. In other words, there is only rhythm and no melody.

The actors perform in long shirts, not short dress; woodcutter with a stretcher, fisherman with a fishing rod, etc. This is the performance props. The changes in formation are all directed by the big head (Wu Sung in costume), which is also not found in general Yangge stilt performances.

There are two kinds of performances: one is the marching performance (commonly known as "street trips"), and the changes in the action formation are relatively simple, sometimes cross-marching, sometimes walking "two dragons spit beard" and other formations.

The venue performance is the main form of performance, the time required about two hours each, the performance of the content is very rich. The main forms are:

The front stage is quite similar to the prologue in a play. Yangge team entered the venue, the big head type stick sounded twice, all the players stood in two horizontal rows, and then according to the order of the characters to exchange venues, suddenly go round, suddenly go single yoke pear, and so on.

The next pair refers to each pair of two people in turn to perform, according to the characters in costume to show the interest of life.

The martial arts field is the most exciting stage of the performance of stilts with small drums. The big head type double stick flying dance, action has tie grass, finger stick, disk time, five under the stick and so on. Green and white snakes, fluttering butterflies, fishermen touching fish, silly pillars and the old seat of the fluttering butterflies and so on gradually put the performance to a climax.

Finally, the performance is transformed into a post-daiba performance with a singing performance and "hitchhiking".

The most important performance of the snare drum and stilt walker is called "Piling Up Mountains". The form of the performance is: the center of the venue to set a vat, the vat is filled with wine, the wine lit, behind the vat with tables and chairs to build a hierarchical platform, all the actors on stilts to remove the legs, around the vat to run around, and then according to the order of the characters, sitting on the platform, led by the fishermen and woodcutters, the chorus of the crowd, sang the Manchu court poetry. Its leader and chorus have no accompaniment, only clear singing.

The dance movements of the snare drum stilts are characterized by the powerful lower edge of the whole body, the lower limbs are slightly flexed, walking steadily, and the stilted legs paddle the ground outwardly in figure eights. The upper body is slightly tilted back, slightly swinging, the hands dance up without eyebrows, without shaking the shoulders, without squinting. The whole movement is robust and powerful, but not low and soft.

The drum beats are fiery, fast and exciting, or smooth and soothing, and the whole performance follows the rhythm of the gongs and drums. The drum beats are fiery, fast and exciting, such as "one stick", "five sticks", "over the door", etc., while the drum beats are smooth and soothing, such as "the old three points", "the next pair", "the next pair", "the next pair", "the next pair", "the next pair", "the next pair", "the next pair", and so on. The drum beats are smooth and soothing, such as "the old three points", "the next pair", "single yoke pear", and so on.

After the founding of New China, a large number of professional art workers went into the rural areas of the Northeast, learning local folk songs and dances, processed and adapted to the stage performance. Especially after learning the Liaonan stilts, removed the wooden stilts under the feet, on the stage to play the strengths of the dance, created a new type of rice-planting programs. This new program not only kept the style and rhythm formed from the stilts, but also portrayed the image of new peasants, reflecting the new outlook of the rural areas in Northeast China at that time, which was very popular among the masses. Among them, "Big Yangge" created by Liaodong Song and Dance Troupe in 1952 was processed and adapted by Song and Dance Troupe of Northeast People's Art Theater to make it more perfect, and in order to show that it was a program with characteristics of the Northeast, it was given the name of a place in the Northeast and was called "Big Yangge of Northeast China" when it was performed. It inherited the strengths of Liaonan stilts, and incorporated the creation of local professional dance work, and became the beginning of sublimation from "Liaonan stilts" to "Northeastern rice-planting songs" and from folk songs and dances to stage art, and it is also the origin of the word "Northeastern Rice-planting Songs". It is also the origin of the word "Northeast Yangge".

The general characteristics of the style of Northeast Yangge are: unique style and rhythmic features, artistically reflecting the character of the people of the Northeast and the aesthetic habits of the countryside, people living here by the mountains and rivers and the climate of the cultivation of the brave, rugged, optimistic, and active. They are also influenced by the diligence, simplicity and open-mindedness of the people around their ancestral homes in Hebei, Lu and Henan, and thus develop a tough, straightforward and stubborn character. This formed the aesthetic taste of the rural people in Northeast China who like strong colors and rough lines, and this habit is also reflected in the folk art. Strong sound, distinctive rhythms, rough movements, stilts and drums meet this aesthetic requirement. Suona a blow, drums a sound, the vast field suddenly lively, lively, joyful rhythm and dance, to the cold fields to bring a school of life, brightly colored costumes, stepping on stilts performances, from afar to give a person the warmth of spring and the power of life.