History of Chinese dance
[1] The earliest Chinese character for "dance", , appears in the oracle bones and represents a dancer holding oxtails in each hand.
[2] According to the Lüshi Chunqiu (compiled around 239 BCE): "In former times, the people of the Getian clan (葛天氏) would dance in pairs [or threes] with oxtails in hand, stamping their feet and singing eight stanzas.
Daxia was a dance performed in praise of Yu the Great of the Xia dynasty, famous for his work on flood control.
[14] Dawu was an important dance in six parts describing the military exploits of King Wu of Zhou, and may involve martial elements such as the use of weapons.
Another six formed what was called the "Small Dances", to be performed by younger members of the aristocracy in minor ceremonies and sacrifice rituals.
In the Book of Rites, it is recorded that Marquis Wen of Wei expressed concerns about falling asleep during the measured and stately court performances and preferred the popular new music and dances of Wey and Zheng; however, his Confucian advisor condemned these as decadent and disorderly.
[17][18] During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, descriptions of professional dancing girls also appear in ancient texts.
In one account, a sword dance was said to have been performed by Xiang Zhuang at a banquet in an attempt to assassinate Liu Bang (the founder of the Han dynasty) at the Feast at Hong Gate.
Large-scale performances of this dance involved brandishing weapons to the accompaniment of drums and songs in the Ba language.
[27] Zhang Heng recorded various performances in his Lyric Essay on Western Capital (西京賦), describing dancers dressed as beasts, fish and dragons.
[28] One famous Han dynasty dancer is Zhao Feiyan, a great beauty who rose from a humble beginning to become an Empress.
She was named Feiyan or "Flying Swallow" after her slender figure and lithe dance steps, so light that she appeared to be quivering like a flower in the hand.
Another dancer was Wang Wengxu (王翁須) who was forced to become a domestic singer-dancer but who later bore the future Emperor Xuan of Han.
[31] The music and dance of Kucha became popular, as did that of Western Liang (in modern Gansu province), which may be an assimilation of styles from Han and other non-Han people.
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, who was of Xianbei origin, married a Turkic princess who also brought music and dances of Central Asia to China.
[32] This period saw civil wars as well as conflicts with the "Five Barbarians", resulting in the splintering of China into multiple states and dynasties established by Han and non-Han Chinese people.
The imperial court of the Jin dynasty (266–420) was relocated to the south and many Han Chinese also migrated southwards due to pressure from the northern Hu tribes.
[33] When the capital shifted to Jiankang (in present-day Nanjing), music and dance from the Wu region in the lower Yangtze River became popular.
[34] In the later part of the 6th century, Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty ended the strife and division of China, and re-unified the country.
Large scale performances at banquets with singers, dancers and musicians at the Tang court were called Grand Compositions (大曲).
[51] A particularly renowned example is the Rainbow Skirt Feathered Dress Dance (霓裳羽衣舞) choreographed by Consort Yang and set to a tune said to have been composed by Emperor Xuanzong himself.
[67][68] The popular centres of entertainment in the Song capital Bianliang (present-day Kaifeng) and later at Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou) were the wazi (瓦子, meaning "tiles") or wasi (瓦肆, "tile market"), where theatres in the form of fenced-off rings called goulan (勾欄) may be found.
[69] Many familiar dances of present-day China were mentioned in the Song dynasty, examples are the Flower Drum (花鼓); Playing the Big Head (耍大頭), which is the Big-headed Monk (大頭和尚) of later eras where the performer wears a large head mask; and the Dry Boat (旱船) Dance which is known from previous dynasties where a boy may dress up as a girl wearing a boat-like structure made of cloth so that he appeared to sit in a boat, and accompanied by a boatman holding an oar.
In the north, Chinese theatre developed in the form of the zaju variety show, and in the south, the nanxi opera.
Even by the Ming dynasty, pure dance was already becoming uncommon outside of folk traditions and group performances during festivals, and would become increasingly rare.
[72] Dance performances by females, already in decline due to the practice of foot-binding as well as other social restrictions, also faced bans in later periods, for example women were forbidden to perform in Beijing theatre by the Qianlong Emperor during the Qing dynasty, and men therefore replaced women in female theatre roles and dance parts.
According to the Han dynasty text Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals by Dong Zhongshu, as part of the ritual, clay figures of the dragons were made and children or adults may then perform a dance.
[27][85] Some of the performances are depicted in Han dynasty stone relief engravings, and the props used appear to be cumbersome and do not resemble modern form of the dance.
[31] Suggested origin of the dance include India and Persia,[88][89] and during the Northern and Southern dynasties it had association with Buddhism.
[90] Another version was performed by two persons, and was described by Tang poet Bai Juyi in his poem "Western Liang Arts" (西凉伎), where the dancers wear a lion costume made of a wooden head, a silk tail and furry body, with eyes gilded with gold and teeth plated with silver, and ears that move, a form that resembles today's Lion Dance.
