Elephant foot dance of Dai nationality

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dai elephant foot dance

Applicant: Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Item No.: 658

Project No.: Ⅲ - 61

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Yunnan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture

A brief introduction to the elephant foot dance of Dai nationality

Applicant: Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Elephant foot dance is the most popular, high performing and representative traditional dance of Dai nationality. It has a variety of performance forms, such as solo dance, duel dance, group dance, etc. it can be performed in a variety of occasions or entertained. The purpose of the performance is to offer sacrifices to gods, drive away disasters and evil spirits, and celebrate the bumper year. Xiangjiao drum dance is not only spread to Dai, De'ang, Jingpo, Achang ethnic minorities in China, but also spread to many Southeast Asian countries.

There are many folk legends about the origin of elephant foot drum, such as that made by husband and wife imitating the sound of mango falling into the water, that people killed the dragon who made the flood, and that made with dragon skin to celebrate the victory. But the earliest record can be found in the biography of Bai Yi in the Ming Dynasty: "the big and small long leather drums are made by hand.".

Xiangjiaogu is a typical percussion instrument of Dai nationality. There are two types of performance of elephant foot dance in Dai nationality. One is drum beating dance, which is called "Xieguang" in Dai language, including single person dance, double person dance, duel dance, group dance and so on. The other is drum following dance, which is called "Ga Guang" in Dai language. The "three bends" in "Ga Guang" originated from the action of picking fruits from trees in early human beings, and later became a unique dance of Dai nationality and many ethnic groups in South and Southeast Asia Dance style. In the performance of elephant foot dance, the dancer's arm had to turn the back wheel and move forward. This is the image reflection of Dai People's taking and sowing seeds from the back basket, which shows that Dai society had entered the era of farming at that time. In the performance of elephant foot drum dance of Dai nationality, the dancers mainly beat the drum with the left shoulder back, the drum facing the front and the drum tail facing down. They usually beat the drum with the right hand and the left hand. They usually beat the drum with the fist, palm and finger, sometimes with the elbow, knee, heel and toe. When they beat the drum with the hand, the knee will bend and the elbow will stand. The steps include front half step squat, back half step squat, step full squat, figure eight half step squat, leg stretching, leg lifting, foot kicking, leg sucking, etc. According to the drum's long, medium and small shape, there are three kinds of jump methods: long elephant foot dance, middle elephant foot dance and small elephant foot dance.

The elephant foot dance of Dai nationality is a man's dance that can be entertained and performed, with unique artistic style. Due to the limitation of drum body length on human body movement, most of the dance movements are below the body, such as squat walking, leg lifting, big eight character step, etc., sometimes accompanied by slight body flashing. The elephant foot dance of Dai nationality is a way for Dai people to express their happy mood, so it has become a masculine dance loved by the masses.

The elephant foot dance of Dai nationality has the functions of pleasure, strong body-building and meeting friends with dance. Many information in dance can help people understand the changes of Dai nationality's history and culture, which has high academic research value. At present, the traditional culture of Dai and other ethnic minorities has been greatly impacted by the forced intervention of foreign culture. Few folk artists have mastered the performance skills of elephant foot drum dance, and some difficult drum beating skills have been lost. It is urgent for the relevant parties to strengthen protection measures and rescue them in time.