Hero-praising Dance in China 英雄赞美舞

The Hero-praising dance(英雄赞美舞yīngxióng zànměi wǔ) also can be called "Eagle Song", or "Parrot" or "Yangge". It's a kind of folk square dancing integrating(if someone integrates into a social group, or is integrated into it, they behave in such a way that they become part of the group or are accepted into it) dance, essential of southern style boxing, Chinese acting and opera. Its performance manner is vigorous and heroic, with strong atmosphere. It is popular around Guangdong, Fujian. Always performed by the male, the dance carries the meaning of “hero praising”.

Hero-praising dance purportedly has a history of over three hundred years. Its sources are mainly interpreted to be the variant derived from the martial custom of local people or the performance of Outlaws of the Marshes. Hero-praising dance is performed on festivals. The number of dancers is even in general, from 12 at least to 108 at most. Each performer holds a pair of colored wooden sticks, to the accompaniment of the musical rhythm of gongs, drums and shouts. They wave these two sticks to rap alternatively, and dance while walking. The performance has two parts. The first one is drum performance and hero-praising dance, and the other is varied distinctive tricks and masterpieces. The basic action of hero-praising dance is waving the sticks. While dancing, each and every one holds two pieces of round and short wooden stick, poses in horse stance, raises the legs horizontally and leap, strikes the sticks from upside down and from left to right following the rhythm of the drum by hands, shakes the head and body rhythmically. The rhythm for hero-praising dance contains three types: adagio, moderate and allegretto; sometimes the patterns are as many as twenty sets, such as "Washing the street", "Greetings at New Year", "Yearly arrangement", "Bearing a mallet", "Passing under", "Carrying a mallet and crossing legs" and so on. Hero-praising dance is featured with distinguished masculine heroic spirit. While dancing in full swing, shouts and trumpet sounds ring far and near, full of power and grandeur.