Qinan Traditional Folk Ritual Dance Culture Research

Ritual dance is one of the oldest and the most typical social cultural phenomena in the developmental process of human culture. Produced and developed under the influence of geographical conditions and regional culture, ritual dance conveys human ancestors’exploration into and admiration toward life and nature. It is an interpretation of primitive human life and custom. With the passage of time and social development, traditional ritual dance becomes one of the important components of artistic dance performance with its unique style, features and artistic values.Qinan ritual dance, originated from the Yellow River in ancient times, is a popular folk dance still enjoyed by the majority of the local people. "Lahua Dance" (wintersweet-shaped dance) and "Yangpigu Dance" (dance with drum made of sheepskin) in Qinan area are two examples of the unique traditional local ritual dance. They manifest the aesthetic tastes, spiritual beliefs and value orientation of Qinan people.With the folk custom activities in Tianshui areas as the background and the traditional ritual dance in Qinan areas as the research object, this paper investigates the historical origin and cultural background of traditional ritual dance in Gansu province and provides a detailed description of the origination and evolution of traditional ritual dance in Tianshui areas. In particular, this paper looks into the cultural background and existing ritual dance of Qinan areas and collects materials which are related to its dance culture and its performance style. Based on these investigations, the study further analyzes and summarizes its dance rhyme, and discusses the protection of traditional ritual dance in this area. With literature review and field investigation, this paper makes a sketch of the background and performance procedure of "Lahua Dance" and "Yangpigu Dance", researches into their forms, characteristics and movements in the perspective of dance ecology, and collects and analyzes the costumes, props and music of ritual dance. Taking traditional ritual dance in Qinan areas as example, the study points out some problems and crisis in the development and protection of traditional folk art in modern society. To solve these problems the study suggests combining traditional culture with aesthetic pursuit of modern dance. It explores the possibility of the application of traditional ritual dance in dance teaching and compilation of textbooks so as to protect cultural inheritance and promote the development of traditional ritual dance and local folk dance.