Miao folk dances include Lusheng dance, bronze drum dance, wood drum dance, Xiangxi drum dance, bench dance and drum ladle dance. I sorted out how many kinds of Miao dances there are. Welcome to appreciate and learn from them.

Flower drum dance

Flower drum dance-usually in the Spring Festival and traditional ethnic festivals such as "June 6th", "August 8th", "Catch Autumn" and "Catch Summer". Its activity form is that two people each hold two drumsticks about a foot long, stand on both sides of the drum and beat the drum at the same time, and the other person plays the drum waist with a single stick as accompaniment. The rhythm of the two requires unity and the movements pay attention to symmetry. Men and women can dance around them, no matter how many.

Before the dance began, people used to sing an old song to praise the achievements of the drummer in memory of our ancestors. Most of the actions of "Flower Drum Dance" come from life, such as transplanting rice, cutting rice, threshing and dressing, and some are based on martial arts, such as "dragon wrapped around waist" and "snow covered top". Its action is characterized by free and easy men and strong women. The inspiration derived from "Flower Encouragement" is "Double Encouragement" (for both men and women), which is characterized in that when drumming, two people can play at the same time or one can drum and the other can dance as a foil. Actions can be improvised, but great emphasis is placed on comparison and coordination.

Reunion encouragement

Reunion encouragement-is a form of encouragement by singing and dancing. When dancing, a drummer drums in the center of the venue, and the dancers dance around him, standing on the drums with bright rhythm, light and heavy, waving their hands and swinging around the circle. Sing a folk song after each dance, and the song and dance will be repeated alternately until the end of the party. Lyrics mostly reflect the content of work life and love between men and women. Dance has three basic movements: big swing, small swing and fine swing.

Waving one's hand and swinging one's waist is the unique rhythm and style of "reunion encouragement" in New Year's dance encouragement-except that Grandpa is often used in accompaniment, its activity form and action style are basically the same as "reunion encouragement". Single-person Encouragement-is a popular performing dance of Miao nationality in western Hunan. They often perform in harvest celebrations and other traditional festivals. There are two kinds of actors and actresses. Men hold sticks or boxing drums in both hands, and dance with rich movements, such as imitating animal forms and martial arts, which are rough and powerful; Women dance while accompanying drums or gongs, holding a drum stick in each hand and beating drums on the wooden frame. Dance movements mostly show labor production and daily life, such as digging, transplanting, spinning, weaving, looking in the mirror, dressing and so on. Their style features, except for some fierce and unrestrained places, are mostly elegant and dignified.

Mugugu

Wood drum dance-also called "jumping drum dirty" in some places (called "straight slave" in Miao language) is a sacrificial dance. In the past, it was only danced once every thirteen years during the national sacrifice activities, with primitive religious color. At first, the drum used in the "Wood Drum Dance" was a hollow trunk with a diameter of about one city foot and a length of five or six feet, and both ends were wrapped with cowhide. According to the ancient custom, when dancing, new drums should be used at the same time. After the sacrificial ceremony, the old drum will be sent to the steep cliff for decay and weathering, and the new drum will be kept on the roof beam, and it will be taken down next time it is "dirty" and used with the new drum of that year. As for the past "Wood Drum Dance" activities, Miao Cave in "Records of Yong Sui Zhili Guild Hall" has a more concrete and vivid record: "Miao people also have so-called dirty people dancing drums, which have been invited by the people in Hezhai for several years. Haizi was held in February, and every family killed Niu Yi.

Wu Miao was wearing an umbrella, a robe and a bell to summon the gods. Another one was beating a bamboo tube, and both sides of a tree in the air were covered with cowhide. Another one was wearing colorful clothes. The rest of the men were dressed in five-color clothes or red carpets with ponytails on their heads. Miao Fu also raised his hand and stamped his foot, shaking his body, waving his sleeves together and looking around, but he was not ill. Nowadays, with the change and progress of Miao social form, this kind of "eating dirty" ancestor worship activity which seriously affects production by slaughtering a large number of livestock is no longer held. Nowadays, the "wooden drum dance" is only spread and popularized among men, and the drummers are mostly male elders in the village, so the activity content, dance movements, drums and percussion methods are very different from before. Nowadays, it has become one of the forms of cultural entertainment in some Miao mountainous areas. It also mainly shows some contents closely related to the life and labor of the Miao people, such as "bullfighting", "slaughtering cattle" and "hunting". Its unique style is manifested in the dance with the upper body leaning forward, the waist hunching and the hips swinging, and the movements are smooth and smooth, and the footwork of galloping and jumping is accompanied by the percussion of majestic wooden drums.

Bronze drum dance

Bronze Drum Dance (called "slightly high" by Miao people) is a kind of dance accompanied by percussion instruments with hollow face and flat waist, which is called bronze drum. It is also the representative and long-standing dance culture of the southern minorities in China. According to archaeological discoveries, as early as the fourth century (the end of the Spring and Autumn Period), bronze drums appeared in music and dance scenes. Although the Miao people began to contact the bronze drum as a ritual vessel in the early stage of feudal society (later it was mainly used as a musical instrument), they made important contributions in inheriting and developing the ancient bronze drum culture in China. Up to now, Miao people still have relatively complete performance forms and dances.

Miao people in southeastern Guizhou still often dance bronze drums on traditional festivals and festive days. When playing a bronze drum, "hang it with a rope ear, one person hits it with a mallet, and the other person closes it with a wooden barrel, so that it can be heard far away" ("Guizhou Bazhai County Records Draft"). Nowadays, it is common to hang bronze drums in front of the court or in the dam. The drummer hits the waist with a mallet in one hand and beats the drum surface with a leather mallet in the other. Dancers form a circle, step on the crisp and powerful drums, go in and out, and dance. When he was in high spirits, he clapped his hands and shouted "Hi, Chi Chi" to entertain. Its movements mainly come from hunting life, agricultural production and labor, as well as the simulation of animal morphological movements, such as "riding a horse", "driving a duck", "fishing" and "catching shrimp". The Miao bronze drum dance is characterized by twisting the crotch and swinging the upper body.

Lusheng dance

Lusheng dance (called "Juegei" in Miao language) is a traditional folk dance, which is characterized by the flexible dance of lower limbs (including hips, knees and ankles) when men play Lusheng. Widely spread and popularized in all Miao areas. Among them, southeastern Guizhou, northwestern Guizhou and western Guangxi are the most active. There, people learned to play and dance lusheng from an early age. Lusheng performers and Lusheng teams with outstanding performance and dance skills are deeply respected and loved by the masses. In the past, whether a young boy can play or dance the lusheng has even become one of the important conditions for girls to choose a spouse.

;