Uyghur Dawazi

Xinjiang
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The Uyghur Dawaizi, which means "high-altitude tightrope walking" in the Uyghur language, is a form of acrobatic art performance that has lasted for thousands of years. The "Turkic Dictionary" written between 1072 and 1074 has a written record of "walking on a soft rope, playing Dawaizi". For more than a thousand years, the performance style of Dawaizi has basically maintained its traditional style. Dawaizi performances are mostly performed in the open air. Its characteristic is that a variety of juggling skills are moved to ropes or wires dozens of meters high for practice. The performers hold a balance bar about 6 meters long, without any safety belts, and perform a series of thrilling skills on the rope, such as walking back and forth, sitting cross-legged, walking with eyes covered, walking on plates, and flying jumps. Accompanied by Uyghur folk music, the high-altitude tightrope walkers dance and sing to the beat, quickly changing difficult skills, performing humorously, and the scene is lively and unique. Dawaizi was popular in Hotan, Shache, Yingjisha and Kashgar, and later spread to Kuche, Turpan, Hami, Yili and Urumqi. In January 1990, Xinjiang Acrobatic Troupe absorbed the only remaining Dawaizi Troupe of Yingjisha County and established a Dawaizi team consisting of five main actors including Adili Wusuer. In addition, there is also the Dawaizi Troupe of Aishanjiang Wusuer. At present, both troupes are in Urumqi. The star of today's Dawaizi performance is Adili Wusuer, the prince of the sky of Xinjiang Acrobatic Troupe. He is the sixth generation of the Dawaizi performance family, and his family has performed this skill for at least 400 years. Adili Wusuer not only created innovative and difficult skills such as small headstand, splits, riding a unicycle, bending over to pick lotus on the high-altitude wire, but also broke the Guinness record of high-altitude tightrope walking twice in 1997 and 2000, becoming a loved aerial warrior. Dawaizi has a long history and unique skills. It is unique in high-altitude acrobatics and is very popular with the audience. It is also well-known in Central Asia, Japan, France and other places, and has a far-reaching influence. However, the inheritance of Dawaizi skills is currently facing difficulties. The high-difficulty and high-risk performances require the artists to have extremely strong physical balance and good psychological qualities. Therefore, even those who are interested in learning often find it difficult to meet the established requirements of the project, which makes it difficult to find Dawaizi successors. Coupled with the impact of modern literary and artistic entertainment activities, the performance market of Dawaizi is almost shrinking. This ancient acrobatic art is increasingly in danger and needs to be protected in an organized and planned manner.

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