Qilin dance (Qilin dance in Sui County)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Qilin dance (Qilin dance in Sui County)

Applicant: suixian County, Henan Province

Project No.: 640

Project No.: Ⅲ - 43

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Henan Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: suixian County, Henan Province

Protection unit: suixian people's Cultural Center (suixian Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

Qilin dance (Qilin dance in suixian county)

Applicant: suixian County, Henan Province

Qilin dance in suixian county is popular in daliuzhai village, suixian County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province.

It is said that Qilin dance was originally a palace entertainment project in the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Wenlin Lang Feng Wei, who was in charge of palace culture and entertainment, went back to his hometown and brought a pair of Kirin skins (props) to the Feng clan of Daliu village in suixian County, where he personally taught dance performance. Since then, Qilin dance has taken root in Daliu village.

The performance of Qilin dance is divided into three parts: the first part is "Panmen"; the second part is flat performance; the third part is table performance. The dance movements of Kirin dance are very difficult and the stride range is high, and most of them are martial arts movements, especially the highly difficult dance skills such as jumping table and crossing bridge, cat adjusting tail, climbing mountain and looking at the moon, which are difficult to achieve without solid martial arts skills.

The relationship between teachers and apprentices of Kirin dance is rather special. No apprenticeship ceremony is held for generations. Instead, it is mainly based on the family of the Feng family, and the relatives of the Kirin dancers in the village are included to form a performance group, which continues from generation to generation. Therefore, the Feng family in daliuzhai is known as the "Qilin family".

Qilin dance is a historical miniature of the folk customs in the Central Plains, which provides a precious historical material for future generations to deeply understand the local popular customs, social changes and historical evolution. At present, only Feng Minyi, an octogenarian old artist in daliuzhai village, can master the whole set of dance movements. Qilin dance is in danger of being lost.