In the Tang Dynasty, song and dance prevailed, sword dance changed from wearing to a stage performance form, and sword dance became a category of court dance performances. Among them, the most popular in the Tang Dynasty was a kind of sword dance performance by Gongsun Da Niang. At this time, the sword dance has been detached from the martial arts in the form of dance performance on the performance stage, which can be said to be the elegance of walking on the edge.
The sword dance after the Song and Yuan dynasties disappeared on the court stage, which was completely different from the sword dance in the Tang Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emergence of hundreds of operas and the emergence of sword dances in opera laid the foundation for the development of sword dances, and props and sword dances played an important part in opera dances at that time.
Some people may be familiar with the double sword dance, and the "Overlord Farewell" compiled by Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang borrowed the Taiji sword in the martial arts to create the double sword dance, which became a mark of the times.
First, the meaning of sword dance expressed in traditional culture
The Tang Dynasty was a dynasty with relatively strong economic and military strength in ancient Chinese history, and the economic strength of the Tang Dynasty determined the rapid development of the sword dance. The sword dance was developed from the folk martial arts, and the dance style of this dance is very strong and heroic.
Sword dance is an important form of sports for folk physical fitness, and it is also one of the important entertainment activities of the people, and it is a typical dance type of healthy dance. The unique temperament of jianghu chivalry can only be expressed through the special prop of the sword. The sword worn with you is not only beautiful but also regarded by the public as a symbol of wisdom, connotation, and status.
In ancient times, it was very difficult to forge swords, and only people of power and status could wear swords with them. Poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu began to learn swords from their teens, and carried them with them when they traveled all over the world. Li Bai learned the Emei sword at the age of fifteen, and Du Fu began to carry the sword around the world at the age of twelve.
All these can be seen in the position of the sword in the hearts of the ancient literati and scholars. The predecessor of the sword was "swordplay", which had an important position in the minds of Taoists. The cultural heritage of Taoism in traditional Chinese culture is very deep. Taoism used swords in ancient times to do things. Pray for the peace of all things in the world and a good harvest for the bookmaker.
The sword weapon itself is spiritual. Taoist Taoists communicate with heaven and earth and gods through swords, and are magic tools used in practice. When Daoist priests are doing things, they chant mantras and dances around the sword, and this kind of Taoist sword dance also belongs to a kind of sword dance, which is a kind of witchcraft dance.
Nowadays, when we arrange sword dance programs, we can use sword dances to express the French style in Taoist culture. Classical Chinese sword dance is not only a technical performance of the horse, it also expresses the emotions of the characters.
2. Costumes, venues and repertoire of the Tang Dynasty sword dance
For the record of sword dance costumes, it can be seen from the excavated cultural relics that the woman wore a military costume and danced with a sword. This kind of clothing is gorgeous and unique, leading the trend of fashion at that time and has been loved by the majority of women. On the brick image of the sword dance portrait unearthed by Jintang, a handsome and heroic female maiko is depicted on it.
She was in a double bun and wore tight dance clothes, not a large Tang Dynasty tang dress, her belt was tied very tightly, wielding a double sword, and her shape was cool, which was a relatively uncommon dance image. Among the colorful music and dance of the Tang Dynasty, the most representative is "Yan Le".
"Yan Le" is a dance form choreographed in the Tang Dynasty court to entertain guests and sacrifice ancestors for large-scale and important events. As a lover of this kind of music and dance, Tang Xuanzong specially set up a music and dance institution for himself in the court - Pear Garden. The development of sword dance in the court has made the sword dance performance a fashion in the country, and has also greatly promoted the development of sword dance in the folk.
Although music and dance institutions such as Liyuan serve the rulers, they objectively bring together many high-level artists and train, create and perform. Sword dances are present in folk performances at many festivals in China.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, whenever the traditional festival Lantern Festival arrived, various cities would hold large and small celebrations. At this time, men, women and children poured into the streets, people sang and danced, and there were grand performances, according to historical records, the performance can be tens of miles long, tens of thousands of people.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the event was extremely grand, and each city had a music and dance program for the court, including a sword dance performance. At the same time, in some folk temple fair activities, there are performances of sword dances. In the environment of the Tang Dynasty, sword dance produced many famous dances, such as "Xihe Sword Weapon", "Sword Weapon Hun Tuo", "Neighborhood Song" and so on, and flourished.
The "Sword Weapon Hun Shu" here was interpreted by the famous Gongsun Lady of the Tang Dynasty. She can sing and dance, especially sword dance performances, and her performance skills are quite skilled. According to the record, she threw the sword into the air while dancing the sword, and the sword flashed white under the sunlight, and the sword sheath in her hand greeted it, and the sword entered the scabbard without fail.
Gongsun Daniang's sword dance level made Shi Dufu marvel after seeing it, and after a gap of fifty years, he saw her disciple's sword dance again, sighed with emotion, and wrote the famous "Guan Gongsun Da Niang Disciple Sword Dance Instrument Line".
Third, the sword dance expresses the subtle dance aesthetics between the poets of the Tang Dynasty and society
The Tang Dynasty was the land of poetry, a peak of literary development, there are many poems and poets who record and describe dance, and there is an objective basis for exploring the aesthetic value of Tang Dynasty dance by observing these dance poems. For the traditional literati and inkers, the sword is not only an important weapon for self-defense but also a symbol of a gentleman.
Many literati and scholars of the Tang Dynasty not only had high attainments in the field of literature, but also more were heroic people who fought righteous deeds. Li Bai is not only a Confucian who can chant "I sing the moon and wander, I dance in a chaotic way", but also a swordsman who "gets drunk to take off the sword, and travels to sleep in a high hall".
The form of Gongsun Daniang's dancing sword is described, and the sturdy figure and fierce posture make the viewer mesmerized. The poet uses thunder, rivers and seas and mountains and rivers to describe the dancers' dancing posture and posture, which is magnificent and shocking.
The most distinctive feature of the sword dance is the use of the dance instrument "sword", which expresses a spirit of striving through the combination of body movements and the heroism of the sword, so it is respected by the literati and scholars. In the film and television theme, whenever the host dances in the guest banquet, it is a fixed performance link.
The combination of Tang poetry and dance combines the spirituality of poetry and the enthusiasm of dance, and the aesthetic value of dance in Tang poetry is compared with the simple aesthetic value of dance, because with poetry relying on the former is more connotative, the aesthetic description of dance in Tang poetry has also had a great impact on social life and dance development, especially in entertainment and leisure, ideological concepts and the development of music and dance.
The poets of the Tang Dynasty were very casual and free, and the poems they created with dance were really another charm and beauty. Poetry is a symbol of the Tang Dynasty and also records the rise and fall of this dynasty. The combination of Tang poetry and dance records the wind god of dance and the aesthetic value of dance, and the development of dance in time is combined with the vertical development of poetry, which has a great influence on the development of dance.
In Cen Shan's biansai poem, the war scenes come alive and the military life comes to life, and the dance is described in detail in his "Junmei Dance Like a Lotus Flower Northern Song". The tang dynasty poets' description of dance also underwent an evolution from simply paying attention to dance to integrating the feelings of the viewer, the dance was moving, and the feelings of the viewer also changed with the changes in the dance.
In the process of watching the dance, the compensatory role of feelings began to play, and the feelings were stimulated, which strengthened the emotional role of the poetry dance. The economic base determines the superstructure, and dance and poetry as a typical superstructure are relatively affected by the economic base.
Especially after the Anshi Rebellion, the economy of the Tang Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline, and the mainstream trend of praising the prosperity and qingming in the literary world changed. The country was in turmoil, the politics were unstable, the path of literati learning and excellence was not guaranteed, and the poet sought psychological comfort in poetry.
From paying attention to dancers to paying attention to politics and people's livelihood, it is the poet's feelings of cherishing the country and caring for the people at the bottom, and it is also a proof of the prosperity and development of dance in the Tang Dynasty. Dance aesthetics in Tang poetry is a broad concept, its connotation is deeper, the extension is wider, the beauty of dance and the lyrical function of poetry are combined, which has a profound impact on the development of literature and dance.
In human society, dance is a sign of an era and a side reflection of the development of an era. The Tang Dynasty was a dynasty with a strong economic foundation and prosperous cultural development, with a wide variety of dances and song and dance artists reaching a certain scale.
The love of the literati and scholars for dance not only promotes the circulation of dance, but also makes many outstanding singers and dancers well known to the general public, and their life experiences have won the sympathy of the masses. The Tang Dynasty was an inclusive and free society in the ancient society of the mainland, politically enlightened, culturally prosperous, and actively accepted the ideas of the ethnic minorities in the northwest, and in terms of social ideology, it provided a free and relaxed social environment for the development of various cultures in the Tang Dynasty.
Due to the absorption and integration of ethnic minority cultures in Tang Dynasty society, in addition to being affected in social ideology and culture compared with previous generations, the aesthetic concepts of Tang Dynasty people have also undergone great changes. This unspoken beauty of the rhythm of the sword dance comes to sense the truest emotional activities in which the spirit and body participate at the same time.
Sword dance, as a prop dance form in dance, appeared and flourished, and is the formal embodiment and important carrier of Chinese classical dance absorbing the history and culture of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. Sword dance has a deep imprint of traditional Chinese culture all the time. The formation of this culture is not a short-term result, and a variety of dance disciplines have been developed throughout the day.
Chinese unique cultural heritage, forming a deep meaning that Chinese surpasses the aesthetics of other ethnic groups. We must dance the body with our hearts through the sword dance, perceive life, experience life, and express life. To shape the character image in the sword dance, to show the inner emotions in the character image, to reflect the humanistic feelings, the use of a special prop deduction method, to express the ancient Chinese understanding of life, nature, war, and carry forward the traditional Chinese culture.