Yutu is a sacrifice dance with a specific style of the Tu ethnic group. Some experts hold that this cultural phenomenon is quite special and influenced by the tiger worshipping tradition of the ancient Qiang ethnic group.
Anhui Volume: Nuo (the God Driving Away the Plague) Dance (Child Dance withUmbrella)
Nuo Dance has a long history and is well known as a "living fossil of the dance". Coming from the ancient Chinese belief, it is a superstitious dance of driving away plague and devils in the traditional Nuo sacrifice ritual and widely spread all over China, especially the southern areas.
The dancers of Nuo Dance wear masks with different expressions, some of which are powerful and bold, some ferocious, some amiable and kind, some simple and naive, and some smiling and lovely. The dancing forms are rich and the movements diverse: some of which are agile and brave, some simple and powerful, and some nimble and bright. In these movements, there are a lot of elements of marital arts and opera postures, so it has specific flavors and characters.
Work-Based Dances
Anhui Volume: Thrush Neatening Its Nest
This dance is popular in the westernAnhui Provincearound Liu'an area and is a working-based folk dance in the hope of a good harvest and performed in the field during the season of pulling weeds for seedlings.
Thrushes live in seedling fields and produce the sound like "ge-dong". Farmers think they are luck birds, so there is a proverb as '"Farmers smile at the sight oi thrushes".
The dance is performed by two who act as thrushes dancing Yangge and telling some gong-and-drum arias. The dance is simple and healthy, and full of life flavor.
Hubei Volume: Gutai (Drum Platform) Dance
Popular in Sunqiao Town of Jingshan County inHubei Province, this dance is a working-based dance performed on the threshing ground or earth stage in the seasons of transplanting seedlings and pulling weeds.
The dance is performed by farmers knowing some marital arts with witty and funny styles and some imitation. For example, when performing "a serpent spit an arrow", one dancer would quickly thrust a drum club at the eyes of the other dancer, which stands for the action of "spitting an arrow"; when performing "a lazy cat washes its face", the dancers would imitate the movements of cat washing its face. It is very popular because its performance is vehement and easy to learn.
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