The martial arts dance in Wuming County is attached to the ancient sacrificial ceremony, with little external influence, simple and primitive form, performers singing and dancing, lively tunes, clear rhythm and simple and rough dance movements.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the wizard who presided over the sacrifice wore a scarlet robe, a gossip hat, a belt, boots and law enforcement devices, namely teeth and altar wood. In the process of chanting, he improvised singing and dancing to ward off evil spirits and open the altar to ask God.
In the middle of the ceremony, the two boys wore red and black masks respectively, and performed double stick dance and double ribbon dance with two ring sticks, that is, exorcism sticks, to commemorate their ancestors. Then the boy and other wizards performed a four-person screen rice dance and a five-person ribbon dance to pray for a bumper harvest.
Finally, all wizards and boys hold musical instruments and implements, and the main wizards take the lead to form a formation according to the words "Fu", "Lu" and "Shou". The rhythm changes from slow to fast, the mood changes from brisk to jubilant, the dance steps change from steady to turning and jumping, the atmosphere is warm and the climax is repeated, which is called "stepping on the gang"
Some folk stories were also sung in the performance. At the end of the dance, the boy put on a mask and held a two-ring staff to exorcise ghosts. Finally, he lit a paper boat and threw it into the river to show that it was a blessing to drive away evil spirits and the whole village was auspicious and safe.
Teachers' dances in Hechi and Shanglin counties are characterized by outstanding figures, rich dance vocabulary and certain rhythm and norms.
During the performance, the master wore a long-sleeved robe and a wooden mask engraved with characters' faces. Accompanied by percussion, he first performed a solo or duet to show that God had come to earth, and then sat down to sing about his life experience and achievements and praise his strength and merits.
In the performance, each god has a different mask and songbook, and the dance movements and accompanying drums also have their own characteristics, vividly showing the personality characteristics of each god.
When performing that General Tang, Ge and Wednesday can exorcise ghosts, epidemics, disasters and difficulties for the people, their actions are heroic and imposing. The performance of the Three Realms is because the Three Realms can drive away the plague and cure diseases for the people and bless peace. His figure is chic and elegant, and he is quite literati.
Mo Yi's strength is boundless, and it is harmful to the people. Holding a sword during the performance, the movements are vigorous and heroic.
Ling Niang can bless the world with good weather and good harvests. Her dance rhythm is slow and light, and her dance movements are graceful, showing the image of a kind goddess.
When God and Queen are two goddesses who sent their children to the world, their duet is full of the breath of life, leaving a very deep impression on people.
God changed into a kind, honest, smiling wooden face, with humorous actions and funny dance steps such as shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. Mother Di wears a gentle and beautiful female mask, which is subtle and amiable. Under God's teasing, she became shy and evasive. God chased her exhausted and panting until she fell to the ground, which caused the audience to burst into laughter.
Teachers' dancing in Qinzhou County has less religious color and stronger artistic performance. The whole program is a collective scene of more than three people, with large scale and complicated scene scheduling. Apart from a few simple dances, most of the programs are multi-person dances with certain characters and simple plots, and there are many complete folk stories sung, which are rich in content and lively in form, and are in the transitional stage from dance to drama.
The whole performance of Shigong Dance includes three divisions, four generals, Five Thunder, Chitose, Killing Demons and other major programs. After each performance, they will sit down and sing the characters and stories in the program.
"Three divisions" is the performance of today's mentoring to commemorate the merits of ancestors. It's a relatively complete song and dance segment, with three people wearing paper and dancing while singing.
Four Generals is a scene in which four marshals, Zhao, Deng, Ma and Guan, lead thousands of troops to suppress evil spirits. Four people wear four kinds of wooden masks, red, green, black and white.
After their respective appearances in turn, they performed a collective song and dance of four people, and then four foot soldiers held triangular red flags, staggered with the four handsome men, changed their formations, sometimes twisted their tails, and sometimes wagged their tails until the four handsome men rode around the necks of the foot soldiers, and finally formed a dragon. The other man took colored balls and led the dragon to roll around at a brisk pace, which was magnificent and showed the infinite power of the four handsome men.
"Five Thunder" refers to five brothers who work as long-term workers in the landlord's house. Because the landlord didn't pay them, they went to the county government to complain, but the county official communicated with the landlord early and killed five brothers instead. The five brothers died unsatisfied, took the heads of cows, horses, pigs and chickens, complained to the jade emperor, who named them King Lei, returned to earth and killed the landlord to avenge themselves. This program wears a mask with four animal heads and has a certain popularity.
It is a traditional folk art loved by the Zhuang people and one of the most popular operas in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Zhuang Taiwanese opera is mainly spread in Hechi, Yishan, Laibin, Yongning, Guixian and other Zhuang inhabited areas. It is a Meishan sacrificial dance developed on the basis of Master Gong's "jumping to the gods". It has a long history, rich dance vocabulary and strong national characteristics, and is an important part of Zhuang folk dance.
Besides Taoism and Buddhism, there is also a primitive religion called "Meishan Religion" or "Ternary Religion" and "Teacher Education" in Guangxi Zhuang inhabited areas, which respects Tang Daoxiang, Ge and Zhou as their ancestors and is a polytheistic belief. It is a sect composed of local witchcraft, Taoism and ancient Nuo ceremonies.
According to the traditional custom of Zhuang people, Mr. Meishan should be invited to preside over a grand sacrificial ceremony to pray for rain during the drought, to reward the gods with a bumper harvest, to drive away ghosts and epidemics or to arrange funerals. The appellations of this ceremony vary from place to place, such as Pan Da, Zuozhai, Guping, Diaomang Temple, Diaosieve and Singer.
In the sacrificial ceremony of Zhuang's Shigong Opera, besides chanting, divination, inviting gods, exorcising ghosts and other witchcraft activities, they mainly dance with masks and sing legends of gods.
Although Shigong dance originated from ancient witch dance and attached to certain sacrificial ceremonies, it has been circulated among the people for a long time, interacting and absorbing with various forms of folk literature and art, and gradually strengthening the entertainment elements in the long development process, with certain popularity and entertainment.
After the founding of New China, under the guidance of the Party's ethnic policy and literary policy, a large number of teachers and amateur dancers freed them from the shackles of religion and superstition, and adapted and created Crossing Dance, Bee Dance, Ode to a New Wind and Chaoyang Dance with the vocabulary of teachers and dancers.