A noisy and passionate gong and drum sounded, and more than a dozen teenagers dressed in colorful turbans and dressed in black appeared one after another. They waved bamboo whips with accompaniment, sometimes like tigers jumping over, sweeping their legs single-handedly; sometimes like white cranes shining their wings, strong and agile; sometimes like jackdaws, brave and witty...
Then, with the sound of gongs and drums and the melodious rhyme, the girls dressed in colored shirts, holding colorful silk and bamboo boards, danced with the bamboo boards, and they moved their steps and their postures were soft...
In mengcun xinxian town Wang Hat Circle Village Square, the performance of this hat school drop team is not only full of strong youth vitality and masculinity, but also shows a strong local atmosphere and local characteristics.
The actor's martial arts performance is sonorous and powerful, and the rhythm is bright, like flowing water. The actress's literary field is melodious and melodious, like the babbling of a stream. The whole performance alternates between the cultural and martial arts scenes, with tacit understanding, and it is natural.
Whiplash
The oldest square dance
The folk art of hat pie has been passed down for more than 280 years in Wang Hat Circle Village, Xinxian Town, Mengcun Village. It is said that the Hat Sect appeared in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and was created by the folk artist Wang Sanle.
"Listen to the old people, Shizu Wang Sanle knows martial arts, and he was a martial arts scandal in the troupe. He can play and sing, is good at acting, and can be said to be both talented and artistic. Wang Hongtao, a 64-year-old representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage hat sect, said.
Around 1738, the Hat Sect was already active among the Villagers of Meng, and at first there was only the accompaniment of the martial arts. In 1808, the second generation of heirs Wang Guanxiang added to the literary field to accompany the music. Since then, the hat pie has been divided into martial arts and literary performances.
"Unlike the fans used by Yang Ge, the hat pie only uses four whips and eight plates as props when performing." Wang Hongtao said, "In the past, when the farmers were idle, the men and women in the village would gather together and run away. This is our oldest square dance. ”
When performing, the basic movements of male actors are mainly derived from the single knife style in martial arts, such as the virtual step whip. "The 'virtual step' is the route of the triangle, and the old artist calls it 'triangle riveting', that is, the pace is steady, just like riveting on the ground." Wang Hongtao said. The actress's movement drawing board, head winding board, pedal board, etc. are also derived from traditional martial arts, and the entire dance movement achieves a perfect combination of softness and rigidity.
There are about 30 actors in the hat field. Actresses are generally 20 to 24 people, and male actors are generally 4 to 6 people. People commonly call actresses "pull flowers", male actors are "whiplash", and male actors are also called "ugly". Actress costumes are generally bright red and green, and some male actors are yellow, some are black, and they are dressed very strongly.
The off-site band consisted of 8 to 9 people, and is now basically accompanied by people who like music in the village. In wang hat circle village, regardless of men, women and children, the accompaniment music of the hat pie "cross plum", "sea love song", "small opening door", "ten trees", "ten pairs of red embroidered shoes", "ximei", etc. are sung with their mouths open and catchy. Young people and children are also full of ears, and in addition to being happy during the New Year's Festival, running and falling has become people's expectations for a better life.
Pull flowers
It is known as "Wu Luozi"
Wang Hongtao studied art with his father Wang Shuge at the age of 11. At that time, every day after school, he and his father learned the basic movements of male actors, the basic movements of female actors, and the singing repertoire of Luozi performances. At the age of 14, Wang Hongtao participated in the Cangzhou Literary and Art Show with the team and won the "Special Award for Falling Son".
Wang Shuge is the sixth generation of the hat school of drops, because of the running up and down to move like clouds and flowing water, very ethereal, especially good at playing female characters, so it has the stage name of "Little White Snake". During the liberation of Cangzhou, Wang Shuge performed in the Huimin detachment and taught the Hat Sect.
"During the Liberation War, my father was only a teenager. He ran well and was 'stolen' by the drop team from out of town. Over there, their father taught them more than half a month before they were sent back. Wang Hongtao said. Although he is now 94 years old, as long as someone finds a home, Wang Shuge still teaches people to drop their children.
The Hat Pie Drop, commonly known as the "Wu Luozi", adds martial arts movements to the dance movements, so it is very physically draining. For hundreds of years, the people who ran away were men, and the literary actors were also men dressed as women. It wasn't since 1958 that actresses joined in.
The martial arts accompaniment instruments of the Hat Sect are gongs, drums, small cymbals, etc., and the accompanying instruments of the wenchang are banhu, erhu, bamboo flute, sheng and so on. Out of his love for this art, Wang Hongtao not only fully mastered the technical movements of martial arts and literary actors, but also mastered the accompanying instruments such as flutes, erhu, gongs, and drums.
In the past, every year in October, the villagers organized to run together. When there are activities such as joining the army, festivities, and conferences, they will be invited to perform. "When I was young, the drop performance was popular, and it can be said that it was a perennial run. At its longest, we ran for three years in a row. Wang Hongtao said.
Literary performances
Wang Hongtao is teaching children
Precious folk dances
In 1998, Wang Hongtao began to go to the surrounding counties and cities to inherit the hat Pai Luozi, footprints throughout Mengcun, Yanshan, Cangxian, Huanghua and other dozens of villages and towns, performing and teaching the skills of the drop, has been taught more than 600 apprentices.
Since 2012, he has re-established the Hat Pie Drop Performance Team in his village, so that the skills handed down from his ancestors will continue to take root in the village.
Wang Hongtao said: "I now run a well drilling team, and when I have time, I play musical instruments, write and write at home, and study and study the drops. ”
Due to the systematic mastery of the performance skills of the wenwu field and various accompanying instruments, in the decades of his artistic career, he has improved the prop movements such as the fast eight whips, the slow eight whips and the two six plates, and improved the hand-eye body steps performed by the women, making the twisting waist out of the crotch three bends, and the posture is more beautiful.
Liu Baoxing, director of the Mengcun Cultural Center, said: "Over the years, the Hat Sect has continued to develop and formed its own unique style, becoming one of the most distinctive Luozi Sects in Cangzhou, which has spread in all directions. Hat Pie Luozi has a profound cultural heritage, not only has a high ornamental and aesthetic, but also has a specific regional connotation and concept, is a unique wealth in the treasure house of mainland folk dance culture, but also an important part of the Chinese cultural heritage. ”
Nowadays, every winter leisure season, Wang Hongtao and Liu Jichang and Li Fusheng, who are also the seventh generation inheritors of the Hat Sect, will absorb a group of primary school students from Wang Hat Circle Village and neighboring villages. They taught the children the basic skills of the hat school drop, and actively carried out the inheritance of the hat school drop and the non-legacy into the campus activities, so that this ancient folk dance art could be inherited and carried forward.
(Photo report by Niu Jiancun, Cui Rujing, Wei Zhiguang)