The earliest traditional dance in China is

China dances from primitive society to feudal society are collectively called China ancient dances. In the long historical process, it has gone through several stages of development and evolution, and gradually formed the oriental dance art with China's unique form and charm.

The ancient music and dance culture of the Chinese nation is formed in the continuous exchange and integration of music and dance cultures of all ethnic groups. This kind of communication existed in the Xia Dynasty. The Chronicle of Bamboo Books records that "Shao Kang acceded to the throne and invited guests from other countries to dance with music". "Later, I acceded to the throne. In the first year, then Baoyu would meet the pool and all foreigners would dance." The dance of the Zhou Dynasty and the Six Dynasties is also the concentration and exchange of music and dance of all ethnic groups. The introduction of music and dance in the western regions began in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there was a "Yue Yue" in the court in the early Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions and introduced the song Mahadule. Li Yannian, the captain of shoes, created 28 new sounds because of Hu Yue, and created and developed them under the influence of foreign music and dance. Ban Gu's Ode to the East describes the grand occasion of four major Yi music and dance performances in Luoyang in Han Dynasty, including gun dance of Dongyi, feather dance of Southwest Yi, halberd dance of West Yi and dry dance of North Yi. Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty liked to dance with Hu, and all the nobles in Kyoto danced together. There are images of Hu people performing acrobatics, magic and inspiration on the Han stone reliefs. The drum dance in Han Dynasty combined the elegance of the Central Plains with the enthusiasm of the Western Regions, and formed the aesthetic characteristics of the dance in Han Dynasty. This dance was lost in the Six Dynasties and only recently appeared in Anhui and Shaanxi.

Another achievement of music and dance exchanges between the Central Plains and the Western Regions was produced in the Northern Dynasties. In the Western Jin Dynasty, Guanzhong people took refuge in Liangzhou, bringing Han and Wei Chuantong music and dance. Lv Guang, an Adi ethnic group, and Ju Qu Meng Xun, a Hun, combined Qiuci music obtained in the Western Regions with the old music of the Central Plains spread in Liangzhou, resulting in a new type of music and dance-Xiliang Music. Dunhuang in Gansu Province is the capital of Xiliang, and the murals in Dunhuang Grottoes record the rhythm of Xiliang's music and dance.

Hu dance has been the most important dance in the north since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Six of the nine Ci-Poems in Sui Dynasty were composed by Western Regions Music Department, and Gao Changle was added to ten Ci-Poems in the 16th year of Tang Zhenguan (642). The healthy dance "Hu Teng Dance" and Hu Xuan Dance from Kangju in the prosperous Tang Dynasty were all the rage. The branch-folding dance written by a stone country in Central Asia was still very popular in the Song Dynasty. The fusion of the Song Dynasty's branch-breaking dance and the Central Plains Daqu song and dance changed the original appearance of Hu dance and developed into a new national dance form. "Zhezhi Dance" can be regarded as another typical product of the combination of Chinese and western music and dance after the drum dance in Han Dynasty and the cool music in the North Dynasty, which enriches the treasure house of Chinese traditional dance.

Sixth, the prosperity and development of Yan music in Tang Dynasty.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court has set up a special music and dance organization, focusing on training professional music and dance personnel, attaching importance to inheriting traditions and absorbing foreign influences.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were many music and dance institutions such as Taichang Temple, Jiao Fang, Liyuan and Yichun Academy, which gathered a large number of highly skilled musicians and dancers and attached importance to the cultivation and training of dance skills. The Tang Dynasty inherited the unified achievements of the Sui Dynasty, including the music and dance of Shang Qing in the Southern Dynasty and the music and dance of Xiliang, Qiuci, Koryo, Tianzhu, Guo Kang, Anguo and Shule in the Northern Dynasty. Especially influenced by the music and dance of all ethnic groups in the western regions, the old music and new sounds blended with Han and Hu, which promoted the development of music and dance in the Tang Dynasty.

From nine geisha and ten geisha to sitting geisha and standing geisha, there are three kinds of dances-broken array music, celebrating good music and Shangyuan music, some are magnificent, some are elegant and some are full of fantasy. The three major dances can be regarded as the creation of epic dances in the Tang Dynasty. Small entertainment dance, healthy dance and gentle dance truly represent the artistic style of Tang Dynasty. Sword dance is represented by Jian, Zhezhi, Hu Xuan and Huteng. Soft dance is represented by Green Waist, Liangzhou, Spring Warbler and Black Nightingale. It is Daqu that represents the peak of music and dance art in Tang Dynasty. Daqu in Tang Dynasty is a combination of vertical inheritance and horizontal reference. Daqu in Han Dynasty is structurally composed of "speech" (introduction), "explanation" (paragraph), "momentum" and "chaos" (ending). Influenced by western music and dance in the Tang Dynasty, the form of Daqu was more abundant and perfect. Structurally, there are "loose sequence" (adagio doesn't jump), "middle sequence" (jump, including several paragraphs) and "broken" (complicated strings and rapid climax; Including "virtual urging", "real urging", "skipping rope", "taking a break" (adagio before the end) and "evil" (ending the paragraph in a hurry), forming a complete performing art form. According to Jiao Fangji, there were 46 kinds of Daqu in the Tang Dynasty, with complex rhythm, rich tunes and tight structure, and advanced forms of large-scale songs and dances.

There is a part of Daqu called "Faqu", which is full of elegant mood of music. In French music, the "dress with a feather" is known as the crown of dance in the Tang Dynasty.

Seven, the song dynasty dance and its dramatic factors.

There are three main aspects of dance in Song Dynasty: court team dance, folk team dance and acrobatic dance.

On the basis of the team dance in the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty developed into a team dance for children and a team dance for female disciples.

Folk dances were very prosperous in the Song Dynasty. Every New Year, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Tianning Festival (the emperor's birthday), folk dance teams are very active. There are 70 kinds of Yuanxi dance teams recorded in Old Wulin, and many programs of these 70 kinds of dance teams are still circulating among the people.

Dances in hundreds of dramas in the Song Dynasty were often performed in the army. "Dream of China in Tokyo" contains the article "Drive the troops to the stage for a hundred times". The staff sergeant disguised himself as a masked ghost and a judge, and performed "Holding Gong", "Hard Ghost", "Dancing the Judge", "Mime", "Seven Holy Knives" and "Counting Accounts" amid the sound of gongs and drums and fireworks. Each of these dances, which play various roles, becomes a drama, and it seems that there is a certain drama plot connection.

The dramatic factors in China's dance did not originate from the Song Dynasty. Dawu in the Spring and Autumn Period is a story about cutting the Zhou Dynasty, and the song and dance drama Donghai Palace in the Han Dynasty has taken shape. Song and dance dramas in the Tang Dynasty include Warrior Lan Ling, Tiao Tou, Tiao Niang and so on. Dancer has been equipped with various means of performance, such as dancing, music, acting, singing, and speaking plain English. Actors dress up as roles to express the story. Team dance in the court of song dynasty and Daqu both added dramatic factors. For example, the color of joining the army in team dance, also known as bamboo pole, plays the role of hook, release, talk and dialogue with the leading dancers, not only plays the role of announcer but also plays an organic role in the program, which plays an important role in promoting the development of the plot. Song Daqu also added stories, such as Qingyao, Cuihu Liuyao and Yingying Liuyao in Song Dynasty. The Daqu "Xizhou" includes "Drumming Xizhou" and "Jiro Xizhou". Daqu "Sword" includes "Overlord Sword". The sword dance in Zhifeng Yin Zhen Daqu includes two contents. The first half shows the story that Xiang Zhuang's sword dance banquet is intended to be Pei Gong. The second half tells the story of Zhang Xu watching Gong Sundaniang's sword cursive script. These Daqu songs are very dramatic.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, there have been zaju. There are still hundreds of operas, team dances and zaju in the entertainment programs of the Spring and Autumn Banquets, and this combination has been maintained until the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The two have developed in parallel for a long time, influencing and absorbing each other. The elements of song and dance and martial arts acrobatics contained in China's operas are closely related to China's ancient songs and dances, joining the army and singing and dancing operas.

Eight, the Yuan Dynasty opera dance and religious dance.

The opera art of the Yuan Dynasty is called Yuan Zaju. "Singing", "Cloud" and "Festival" in Yuan Zaju are its artistic expression means. Among them, the "subject" is mainly work, including expression, dance and martial arts. Among them, dance is intrusive, such as the fourth discount of "Tie Guai Li Du Huangjin Couple": "You can watch the Eight Immortals dance once (singing and dancing in the Eight Immortals)." In addition, the folk dance team "Village Dengaku" is used in Liu Xuande Drunk Up the Yellow Crane Tower, and the running bamboo horse is used in Chasing Han Xin. This intrusive dance in Yuan Zaju also includes An Lushan's "Hu Xuan" dance and Yang Guifei's "Nishang" dance in Tang Qiuyu. Martial arts in Yuan Zaju also contains many dance factors, such as various instrumental dances, duet, somersault, flying flags, walking on stilts and so on. Other plays, such as Xiao Weichi's "doing the tune" and Maling Road's "fighting in formation", are a kind of formation dance. Other works in Yuan Zaju have gradually evolved into stylized dance movements to express the modality of characters, such as "Zheng Dan as the master of shame" and "Zheng Dan as the master of sorrow" in Moon Pavilion. At that time, the zaju artists also gave names to some technical dance movements, such as "flying the red flag", "dragging the white" and "walking on stilts".

The religious dances in ancient China were mainly witchcraft, Taoism and Buddhism. Witchcraft and Taoism are inherent religions in China. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism introduced from India flourished and lasted for a long time from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, etc. , the temple Buddha "advocates music for fun"; Jingle Temple in Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty, with female music, "singing around the beam and dancing around the sleeve"; During the Southern Dynasties, Liang Wudi made "kindness" and "joy", which was called "positive joy" and publicized Buddhism. One of the ten pieces of music in the Tang Dynasty, Xiliang Music, contains the Buddhist music of Hetian, and a group of bodhisattvas in the court of the Song Dynasty presented fragrant flowers in the team dance, all of which were music and dances to promote Buddhism. Shamanism (witchcraft) and Lamaism (Buddhism) were the main beliefs in the Yuan Dynasty, and the court team dance in the Yuan Dynasty was full of religious superstitions. In the Yuan Dynasty, the court dance team was divided into four teams, namely, the King of Music team on New Year's Day, the Shouxing team on Tianshou Festival, the ritual and music band on Zhaohui, which preached Buddhism, and the Yili team. Each team is divided into 10 teams. Among the teams of King of Music 10, the leading team is a band, and there are two women's groups, one playing the song of willow in Changchun and the other performing peony flower dance. In the team of 10, there are also women who are inspired by flowers, and the rest are men's group dances, dressed as ghosts and gods. There is also a dance dressed as a photo of donkey kong in Debate Team. In addition, there are Bao Gai Dance, Sun Moon Fan Dance, Loutai Dance, Umbrella Cover Dance and Golden Wing Peng Dance, all of which are religious dances.

The most famous Buddhist ode dance in Yuan Dynasty was Yuan Shundi's "Sixteen Magic Dance", which was called Buddhist ode dance. It's actually very interesting. Only eunuchs who have received secret training are allowed to watch while performing in the palace, and folk performances are strictly prohibited.

Nine, dance in Ming and Qing Dynasties

Dances in this period can be roughly divided into three categories: court team dance, opera dance and folk dance.

In the Ming Dynasty, the court court dance, a big sacrifice to Daqing, became a big feast of "the dance of all nations coming to Korea" and "the dance of beating the team". The banquet of Wanshou Saint's Day used the "September 1st Join the Treasure Team Dance" and "Shouxing Team Dance". The characteristics of the winter solstice banquet are "dancing to celebrate the holy jubilee" and "dancing in the pilgrimage of flowers" Zheng Dan's banquet used "Lotus Pot Dance" and "Winning Drum and Picking Lotus Dance".

The band dances of court banquets in the Qing Dynasty were collectively called Qinglong Dance, including Yang Lie Dance of Jiezhou and Xi Dance of ministers. The content of the dance is very meaningful. At the beginning, the band stood on the two wings, and 13 singers played "Qinglong" and performed "Yang Lie Dance". There are 65,438+06 people wearing yellow canvas covers and 65,438+06 people wearing black sheepskin covers. Everyone wears a mask and jumps and falls like a strange beast. Eight people rode bamboo horses and galloped around like the Eight Banners. A man shoots a wild animal, and the wild animal is frightened by it. At this time, the "Happy Dance" dance team appeared, and the minister 18 people dressed up to celebrate the dance.

Opera and dance in Ming and Qing Dynasties is an important part of China opera. Can be divided into five categories:

(1) intrusive dances, such as "jumping together", "jumping Zhong Kui" and "silent lee" in the Ming version of Save Mother.

2 stylized dance jokes, such as "beginning to bully", "riding a horse" and "walking sideways".

(3) stylized dance movements, such as sleeves, feathers, hair, curls, fans, silks and lengths.

(4) Knife and gun handles.

⑤ somersault.

On the basis of ancient dances in China, traditional Chinese opera and dance developed according to the needs of plots and characters. It not only has the characteristics of China classical dance, but also preserves the essence of China classical dance, which is instructive to open the treasure house of China classical dance and study the development law of classical dance.

China is a multi-ethnic country with 56 nationalities. Due to the differences in life, history, religion, culture and customs of various ethnic groups, various folk dances have emerged. Judging from the folk dances of various nationalities that have been passed down to this day, most of these dances have matured in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.