Nuo dance

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Nuo dance

Applicant: Yongjing County, Gansu Province

Project No.: 110

Project No.: Ⅲ - 7

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Gansu Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Yongjing County, Gansu Province

Protection unit: Yongjing County Cultural Center

Introduction to Nuo dance (Yongjing July Dance Festival)

Applicant: Yongjing County, Gansu Province

Nuo dance is a primitive dance with the nature of sacrificial rites in traditional society, which has a long history. It is said that there were the titles of "Da Nuo" and "Xiang Ren Nuo" in the Zhou Dynasty, which gradually became an important part of the national orthodox ritual system after the Han Dynasty. Nuo dance aims at driving away pestilence and praying for peace, which has strong participation of the masses. During the performance, the dancers wore masks, shouting and chasing, which attracted many followers, and the scene was very lively. Nuo dance is widely spread all over the country, especially in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui of the Yangtze River Basin and Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Hebei of the Yellow River Basin. Among the minorities in Southwest China, there are many kinds of exorcism instruments and Exorcism dances with various forms and complicated functions.

Yongjing Nuo dance, commonly known as "July dance", is popular in the Han nationality villages of Yangta, Wangtai, Hongquan and Sanyuan in the western mountainous area of Yongjing County, Gansu Province. According to archaeological discoveries, as early as the Neolithic age, altars and painted pottery patterns appeared in Yongjing. According to the records of shuijingzhu, there are "gods and men" activities of "hongyiyushang" in the Rock Hall of xiaojishishan in the area of Yangta and Wangtai, which are called "tangshushan" and "tangshuku" by Qiang people. In addition, according to the inscriptions of ink books in the Bingling Temple grottoes and the records of Hezhou annals in the Ming Dynasty, there was a case in Yongjing of the Tang Dynasty when the "anti autumn Jian'er" wore a mask to prevent the fan people from seizing wheat. As a physical example, the ancient masks in the July dance show the cultural customs of the Tang Dynasty and Ming Dynasty.

July dance is usually performed in the ceremony of paying God for a good harvest and praying for good weather and safety of people and animals in the coming year. The whole Nuo dance is composed of xiamiao, xianpan, Xianxian, Huishou dance, Fashen dance, mask play, arena and other links. Nuo dance team is composed of more than 50 people, including jiuxia, Paitou, flagman, gongs and drums player. The two Jiuha leaders led the major brands and the leaders to pray for luck and auspiciousness. Jiuha was dressed in Eight Trigram clothes, holding a big knife and walking in the front of the formation; Paitou and Huishou were wearing red tassels, shoes and hats, robes and colorful clothes, which changed with the change of Jiuha's position; gongs and drums played "Dancing" music. The formation changes of flag bearers include "three turns and nine turns", "running in a big circle", "jumping in a square array" and so on. There are more than 30 masks (commonly known as "face") including Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhou Cang, Cao Cao, Lu Bu, San Yan Er Lang, a Yang, Zhong, Ma Ji Hong, and Lu Er GUI. The number of masks used in each temple varies from 18 to 36. Among them, the most exquisite and the oldest is the mask of jiaogou temple in Yangta.

Nuo dance drama has rich repertoire and various forms. According to the content of their performances, they can be divided into three types: singing and dancing, drama and juggling. The singing and dancing type is represented by singing and dancing and accompaniment of gongs and drums, such as cutting Diao Chan and Fang Si Niang. In the drama type, the story is unfolded by the dialogues and simple singing between the characters, and cheered by gongs, drums and cymbals when fighting. Each play takes a long time to perform and retains the rudiment of the early drama. The main plays are Erlang chasing the ghost, Wujiang, Li cunxiao fighting the tiger, chuwuguan and so on. In the juggling, the mask is funny, the characters gag, and the content is humorous, which makes people laugh. There are mainly "laugh monk catch the rain", "farmer" and other plays.

Yongjing July Dance Festival is a typical representative of Nuo culture in Northwest China, which contains thousands of years of cultural accumulation. It has a certain reference value in the study of ancient religion, folk custom, music, dance and so on. At present, under the impact of modern entertainment, Yongjing July dance will be lost crisis, which needs to be protected.