The dancing of Phoenix Lantern mainly expresses "Three Loves", that is, the love for peace, the love for peony, and the love for the sun. During the dancing process, the artist and the prop of the phoenix seem to integrate into one: when perching on the branch, the phoenix is very graceful and elegant; when seeing the peony, its movements of "smelling the peony" and "judging the peony" are intoxicated and delicate; and when looking up at the sun, it is flying wildly with joy with passionate and unrestrained movements.

The dance is performed with a beautifully made lantern decorated with phoenix images as props as well as simple and melodious music which as a whole give a uniquely local flavour.

  Anhui Volume: Huagudeng (Flower Drum Lantern)

Flower Drum Lantern, popular in more than 20 cities and counties of Huainan, Fengtai, Huaiyuan, Yingshang, etc. along the Huai River through Anhui Province, is a comprehensive folk art form which includes dancing, singing, gong and drum beating, martial art and acrobatics performed on festival and seasonal occasions.

Dancing is the major element of Huagudeng which consists of "Dachang", is "Xiaochang" and "Pangu" while "Dachang" is is a group dance; Xiaochang a narrative dance of two or three dancers and its central part and Pangu shows a good combination of dancing, martial arts and technical skills with a taste of plastic arts.

Whenever the Spring Festival arrives, the dancing teams of each village and rural area compete with each other in rushing off to dance in the temples and at the fairs, and sometimes there are one or several dozens of teams dancing there, which draws a colorful painting with a strong taste of rustic folklore.

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