Xinjiang Volume; Shaman Dance of the Xibo Ethnic Group

Xibo ethnic group once believed in Shamanism, whose abbot is called "Shaman", who spreads his religion of nature worship and polytheism in the form of his Lamaist God Dance which gradually develops into this Shaman Dance. Generally performed by a single dancer, it is integrated with singing with distinctive characters as simple, vivid, forceful, and vigorous. Influenced by Beilun, another folk dance of the Xibo ethnic group, it's characterized by those movements as shaking shoulders, stepping, hopping, etc.

  Hubei Volume: Hand-Waving Dance of the Tujia Ethnic Group

Hand-Waving Dance, also called Shebari in the Tujia' s language, is a belief dance for a ritual of sacrificing ancestors and popular in the congregated residences of the Tujia ethnic group in Hunan and Hubei Provinces and Chongqing City as well.

When dancing, all the dancers form a circle on the ground with the Tima (wizard) leading at the front, and dance with their arms swinging freely and legs following all kinds of floor patterns to the music of drums and gongs. As the dancers constantly keep waving their arms in all directions, the dance is called "Waving Hand Dance". The dance has got two kinds according to it's scales: while the large one is usually joined by several thousands of people at the ritual sacrificing "the Great King of Eight Tribes" who is the ancestor of the Tujia ethnic group as a whole, the small one participated by much less people in memory of "Penggong Juezhu" who is the ancestor of some families. Indeed, this dance displays the history and life of the Tujia ethnic group and could be regarded as a splendid historical epic.

Page:

1

2

3