Dragon Dance (grass dragon dance)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dragon Dance

Applicant: Songjiang District, Shanghai

Item No.: 107

Project No.: Ⅲ - 4

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Shanghai

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Songjiang District, Shanghai

Protection unit: Community Service Center of Yexie Town, Songjiang District, Shanghai (cultural and Sports Service Office of Yexie Town, Songjiang District, Shanghai)

Introduction to Dragon Dance (grass dragon dance)

Applicant: Songjiang District, Shanghai

Dragon dance, also known as "Dragon Dance", is the most widely distributed and far-reaching folk dance in China. This kind of dance has various forms of expression, and the styles of dragon dance in different nationalities and regions are quite different.

According to the shape of the dragon, there are many forms of dragon dance, such as cloth dragon, yarn dragon, paper dragon, grass dragon, Qian dragon, bamboo dragon, brown dragon, bench dragon, shutter dragon, lotus dragon, fire dragon, chicken feather dragon, meat dragon and so on. Different forms of dragon have different dance styles and techniques. The traditional performance procedure of Chinese dragon dance is generally composed of "invite the dragon", "leave the dragon", "dance the dragon" and "send the dragon". Dragon dance is an important part of the spirit and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

It is an old custom of Yexie town in Songjiang District of Shanghai to pray for rain. It is said that there was a drought here in the Tang Dynasty. Han Xiangzi, one of the eight immortals, was a native of Nianjing village in Yexie town. In order to solve the crisis of his hometown, he called Qinglong in the East China Sea to rain heavily, which made both sides of yantietang in Yexie town get Susheng. After that, every year, the villagers used golden straw to tie up four grass dragons, including ox head, tiger mouth, antler, snake body, eagle claw and phoenix tail, to pray for good weather. In the process of inheritance, folk dances such as grass dragon dance, rolling lantern dance and Shui nationality dance have gradually formed.

Grass dragon dance is a group sacrificial activity, which is held at the local Guandi temple fair on May 13 and September 13 of the lunar calendar every year. The activities included seven links: "praying", "walking clouds", "praying for rain", "fetching water", "raining", "rolling the dragon" and "returning to the palace". During the ceremony, the tablets of "Shenxiao" and "qinglongwang", which symbolized Han Xiangzi, were worshipped, and Chen Daogu, wheat, beans, banggua, carp and other offerings were placed to show gratitude. In the performance, the dragon dancers make full use of four methods: hand (swing, swing, turn), eye (look, look, look), body (turn, tilt, twist), step (step, squat, delay) to cooperate with the whole team and integrate Xiao and long. When performing the "rain" stage, eight village girls were dancing the joyful "harvest dance" step, while splashing the basin and bucket of water to the audience, which is called "dragon splashing water". Splashing on the dragon water is auspicious, so the lantern watchers scrambled to let the village girls splash water to push the grass dragon dance to the climax.

The primitive style of wucaolong has profound cultural connotation, unique and representative, and its regional style is extremely distinct. Until 1950, a grass dragon dance ceremony was held in Yexie town to relieve the drought. Since then, this activity has been interrupted for a long time with the decline of the temple fair. In recent years, wucaolong has recovered in Yexie Town, but many of its skills have gradually lost and need to be rescued and protected.