Ethnographic Research On The Female Square Dance

With the progress of the times,social development,the slogan of rural revitalization and the upsurge of national fitness,a new fashion of square dancing has also emerged in townships.According to their leisure time,women of different age groups spontaneously organize and coordinate,participate and practice freely,from housework to public squares,and become the core force of town square dance.From the perspective of new folklore,township square dance with no male participation and women as the main participants may be regarded as a new female folklore culture,which not only contains the gender and cultural value of folklore,but also contains the meaning of participation of female subjects.Under the influence of the shift from "event" to "situation" in women’s folklore research,in the study of township square dance,in-depth interviews and participatory observation in the fieldwork method should be used to collect data,and attention should be paid to the contextualization and practicality of local women’s participation in square dance.As a way of women’s cultural expression,the emergence of town square dance is closely related to the free daily life and practice of women’s groups,and its continuation and prosperity are supported by specific social culture and life situations.Therefore,women’s production and living conditions within the family and the realization process of economic and cultural activities outside the family,women’s true feelings,self-organization ability,and the process of selfconstruction are all worth exploring.Square dance entered the social and cultural context of Hedong Town,northern Henan,and the whole process of its development and popularity did not break away from local folk traditions.The event began with women entering the Lantern Festival,which has long been dominated by men.In the 1950s and 1960s,the gender configuration of the labor force changed,and women passively assumed the responsibility of performing the Lantern Festival,which provided an opportunity for them to move from the fringes to the public eye.The popular entertainment customs(dance halls)in the 1980s and 1990s not only enriched rural entertainment and continued the tradition of dancing,but also allowed villagers to accumulate dancing experience and cultivate women’s leisure awareness.The social and economic development and the rural cultural background prompted the "Lisuo people" to introduce square dance into Hedong Town.The person in charge of the square dance team used folk beliefs to mobilize women to participate in the performances,helping Yijie Village to solve the social problems of the village and enhance the cohesion of the village organization,and thus gain widespread social recognition.Village women’s square dancing has not only become an ordinary but important entertainment activity in the daily life of villagers,but also extended the space for women’s activities with diverse rural practices,exercised and improved women’s ability to organize,coordinate and negotiate,and helped women discover the subjectivity of the self,the establishment of individual values,and finally form a new folklore for women’s leisure,feed back the village society,and help rural revitalization.It is worth noting that the emergence of square dance in Hedong Town not only changed the scope and degree of women’s organizational participation in rural activities and even folk activities,but also changed the concept of leisure of different genders,inspired women to balance folk life and self-development,and activated women’s awareness of their own needs.