Xiaogu stilts originated in Sanhe County, Hebei Province and Tongxian County, Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Guangxu period, a large number of Hui people in Hebei migrated to the northeast, and the old artist Tie Luzhang and others brought this art form to Shengjing. The Huihuiying area in Shenhe District is inhabited by Hui people, where this dance soon became a self-entertainment dance loved by Hui people. At that time, led by Tie Luzhang and others, a Yangko Festival was organized on June 20 every year during the Da 'erdai Festival of the Hui people, so the small drum stilts flourished in the 1920s and 1930s. Later, Jiang Fugui, Zhu Changyou, Dou Qingzhen and other old artists continued to host Shenyang before liberation, and later, Li Qinglin, Tie Yufa, Zhu Lianrui and other old artists continued to host Shenyang, which has a history of more than 130 years.
With the development and perfection of several generations of artists, the small drum stilts have been greatly enriched and improved on the original basis. It is not completely different from the "literary stilts" and "martial stilts" in Hebei, nor is it different from the stilts in Tianjin. It has been greatly updated in form and content according to the characteristics of stilts art and the appreciation habits of Hui people in Shenyang. It has gradually formed a complete and unique art of Kanto Yangko, no matter in the aspects of character costume, performance form, dance style and action characteristics.
There are 20 people in each performance team of the small drum stilts, and only two gongs and two drums (four people) are used to accompany the performance, and the remaining 16 people perform on the ground. That is to say, there is only rhythm and no melody.
Actors perform in long gowns, not short dresses; The woodcutter holds the pole, the fisherman holds the fishing rod, etc. This is the performance prop. The change of its formation is all directed by the big head (played by Wu Song), which is also not available in the ordinary yangko stilts performance.
There are two forms of its performance: one is marching performance (commonly known as "street trip"), and the movement formation changes are relatively simple, sometimes crossing, and sometimes taking the formation of "two dragons spitting".
The venue performance is the main form of performance, which takes about two hours each time, and the content of the performance is very rich. The forms mainly include:
The front stage is quite like the prologue in the drama. After the yangko team entered the venue, the big-headed stick sounded twice, all the players stood in two rows, and then switched venues according to the order of the characters, suddenly taking the round field and the single cangue pear.
The next pair refers to each pair of two people performing in turn, showing the interest of life according to the appearance of the characters.
The martial arts field is the most wonderful stage of the performance of the small drum stilts. Big-headed double-stick flying, the movements include sticking grass, pointing stick, dish time, five sticks and so on. Green and white snakes, butterflies, fishermen touching fish, silly pillars and butterflies from old seats gradually pushed the performance to a climax.
Finally, after singing performance and "taking photos", it turned into a big performance.
The important performance of the small drum stilts is called "Duizi". The form of performance is: put a big jar in the center of the venue, fill it with wine, light the wine, set up a layered platform with tables and chairs behind the jar, all the actors take off their legs, run around the jar, and then sit on the platform in the order of the characters, led by Yu Qiao, and everyone sings and sings Manchu court poems. Its lead singer and chorus are not accompanied, but only cantata.
The dance movements of the stilts on the drums are characterized by strong lower edge of the whole body, slight flexion of the lower limbs, steady walking, and eight-character cross-legged outward. The upper body leans back later, swinging slightly from side to side, and the hands dance without eyebrows, shoulders shaking and eyes staring. The whole movement is vigorous and powerful, not low and soft.
Drums are hot, fast and passionate, or smooth and soothing, and the whole performance is going on with the rhythm of gongs and drums. The drums are hot, fast and passionate, such as "one stroke", "five strokes" and "crossing the doorway", while the drums are relatively smooth and soothing, such as "Old Three Points", "Down Pair" and "Single Flail Pear".
After the founding of New China, a large number of professional literary and art workers went deep into the northeast countryside to learn local folk song and dance dramas, which were processed and adapted and put on the stage. Especially after learning the stilts in southern Liaoning, I removed the wooden stilts at my feet, played the role of dancing on the stage and created a new yangko program. This new program not only maintains the style and rhythm formed by stilts, but also shapes the image of new farmers, reflecting the new look of rural areas in Northeast China at that time, and is well received by the masses. Among them, yangko dance created by Liaodong Song and Dance Troupe in 1952 was later processed and adapted by the Song and Dance Troupe of Northeast People's Art Theatre to make it more perfect. In order to show that it is a program with northeast characteristics, it was named "Northeast yangko dance". It inherits the advantages of stilts in southern Liaoning and integrates with the creation of local professional dance work, becoming the beginning of sublimation from stilts in southern Liaoning to Northeast Yangko, from folk songs and dances to stage art, and also the origin of the word "Northeast Yangko".
The general characteristics of the style of Northeast Yangko are: it has unique style and dynamic characteristics, which reflects the character of the people in Northeast China and the aesthetic habits of the countryside in art. People living here are brave, rough, optimistic and active under the influence of mountains and rivers. Also influenced by the hard-working, simple and open-minded people from Hebei, Shandong and Henan, they formed a tough, straightforward and stubborn character. This has formed the aesthetic taste that people in rural areas in Northeast China like rich colors and rough lines, and this habit is also reflected in folk art. Strong sound, bright rhythm, rough movements, stilts and drum music meet this aesthetic requirement. When the suona blows and the drum rings, the vast Yuan Ye suddenly becomes lively. The lively and joyful rhythm and dance bring vitality to the cold fields. The colorful costumes and the performance on stilts give people warm spring and the strength of life from a distance.