Dai Peacock Dance

Yunnan
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The Dai Peacock Dance is the most famous traditional performance dance among the Dai folk dances in my country. It is spread in the Dai settlements of Ruili, Luxi, Xishuangbanna, Mengding, Mengda, Jinggu, Cangyuan, etc. in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Among them, the Peacock Dance (called "Ga Luoyong" in Dai language) in Ruili City in western Yunnan is the most representative. It is said that more than a thousand years ago, the Dai leader Zhao Ma Li Jieshu imitated the graceful posture of the peacock and learned to dance. Later, it was processed and formed by generations of folk artists and passed down to form the Peacock Dance. In the minds of the Dai people, the "holy bird" peacock is a symbol of happiness and auspiciousness. The Peacock Dance is the most favorite folk dance of the Dai people. In the dam area where the Dai people live, there are "Bai" (festivals) almost every month and singing and dancing every year. During the annual folk festivals of the Dai people, such as the Water Splashing Festival, the Door Closing Festival, the Door Opening Festival, and the Fair, as long as there is a place of fun and joy, the Dai people will gather together, beat the gong, beat the elephant-foot drum, and dance the graceful "peacock dance", presenting a festive atmosphere of harvest and a beautiful scene of national unity in the singing and dancing. The Ruili Dai Peacock Dance is mainly a solo dance, and there are also double peacock dances. Most of the dancers are men. The Peacock Dance has a variety of hand movements and techniques such as jumping and turning. The joints of the limbs and torso must be flexed and extended downwards, and the whole body trembles evenly to form a beautiful "three bends" dance posture. The dance vocabulary of the peacock dance is particularly rich, with "running down the mountain", "peeking in the forest", "strolling in the forest", "shaking wings", "touching water" and other movements that vividly simulate the demeanor of the peacock. The peacock dance is light and graceful, with delicate emotional expression and graceful dance posture. It is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Dai people and has high aesthetic value. It is not only performed alone in important and lively ethnic festivals, but also often integrated into the collective dance "Ga Guang". The peacock dance has the significance of maintaining national unity, and its representativeness makes it the dance with the most cultural identity of the Dai people.

Intangible culture related to the heritage

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