Chinese Humorous Folk Dances
3 min readFolk dances originate from people’s labor and life. Most folk dances are collective dances combining singing and dancing created and performed by people to show thecultural traditions, living habits and mentalities of a country, nation or region.
The popularization of Chinese folk dances began in the Song Dynasty. Imperial palace dances of the Song Dynasty were no match to those of the Tang Dynasty, butfolk dances thrived in the Song Dynasty. During every major festival, folk art was performed very actively. Compared with Tang dances, Song dances expressed more stories and feelings. The emergence of “indoor decorated stages”led to commercialization of dances. Performance forms were diversified, contents focused on reflecting social reality, and styles tended to be more lively and humorous.
In the Song Dynasty, dances became increasingly dramatic mainly for two reasons: first, social life became increasingly diversified, providing more stories for folk dances; second, traditional Chinese drama matured and developed. Actually, the dramatic factor in Chinese dances did not originate in the Song Dynasty. Dawu interpreted the story of Emperor Wuwang’s war against Zhou in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Hansong and dance opera Old Man Huang of the Eastern Sea was an embryonic form of drama, and Tang song and dance opera Tapping and Swaying Girl was performed by means of dancing, music, singing and speaking, and actors played roles to show the plot. In the Song Dynasty, dances had more dramatic factors. For example, Sword Dance in Grand Hermit Tune contained two stories: the story of Xiang Zhuang performing the sword dance as a cover for his attempt on Liu Bang’s life at the Hongmen banquet in the Han Dynasty, and the story of Zhang Xu making great progress in cursive script writing after seeing Lady Gongsun’s sword dance. As for folk dances, there were more stories with various plots from real life.
The waist drum dance is also a popular folk dance around China.The styles of Song folk dances fully manifested a lively and humorous characteristic. For example, Land Boat Dance is a form of folk dance performances loved by ordinary people. This folk dance is still popular in many areas today. Land Boat Dance is a folk dance imitating sailing on water. The so-called “land boat”is a boat-shaped wood frame surrounded by wave-shaped cotton cloth and decorated with red silk, paper flowers and even festoon lamps. The overall effect is festive and colorful. It is usually performed by one person, two persons, four persons or seven persons. In the land boat dance, one “helmsman”among the performers rows the boat and makes various rowing movements, and the “boaters”usually take quick short steps in the performance, vividly shaping the scene of boating on water. There are usually several boats lined up in threes and fours in the performance. The “boaters”and “helmsman”closely coordinate with each other, sometimes going slowly, sometimes going fast, sometimes going up, and sometimes going down, rotate and bump with “waves”like small boats in a vast sea. To create a flourishing and lively atmosphere, the land boat dance is accompanied with music. Percussion instrumentssuch as gongs, drums and cymbals are usually used, and sometimes wind instruments such as suona horns are added. It has strong artistic charm and local flavor.
Folk dances are treasures in the treasure house of Chinese ethnic art with a long history, extensive themes, diversified contents and abundant forms. Today, they are still enriching and beautifying Chinese people’s life.
