"How are your pendants made? I want to give them to the Taiping Drum players as a New Year's gift." At the beginning of 2024, Huang Shiying, a master's student at the Beijing Dance Academy, sent a keychain with the image of the Taiping Drum in the strange village of Beijing West and Chinese and English training materials to the strange After the village, I received news from the inheritor of the Taiping Drum in the strange village. Although the practice has ended, Huang Shiying has always maintained contact with the inheritors of Taiping Drum in Wei Village.
In June 2023, Huang Shiying and five master's students from the Beijing Dance Academy formed a "Lingxiu Xiangyin" practice team and went to the strange village in the southwest of Wangzuo Town, Fengtai District, Beijing to investigate the national intangible cultural heritage "Jingxi Strange Village" Taiping drum. Perhaps the six girls in the practice team did not expect that this rural practice would allow them to form a "year-old friendship" with intangible cultural heritage dance.
Xie Wei, captain of the practice team and a master's student in dance at the Beijing Dance Academy, introduced that the Taiping Drum in the Weird Village of Beijing is a traditional folk dance in Beijing. This dance has small movements and fast rhythm. The dancer holds the drum in the left hand and the mallet in the right hand. Dancing while shouting rhythms in a team composed of many people can liven up the atmosphere very well. It is simple and easy to learn, and the venue is not restricted. It is loved by local residents.
Recalling the scene when he first arrived at the strange village, Xie Wei still remembers it deeply. In a small farmyard, 70-year-old Lu Cuiqin, the third-generation inheritor of the Taiping Drum from Weird Village in Western Beijing, was wearing a pink costume and dancing in a team of many people while shouting the rhythm. The action routine she is doing is "Through the Flower Fence", where the actors and actresses go back and forth, making a figure-8 shape. The actors beat the drums and danced to the beat of the drums, which was very lively.
During the summer vacation, members of the practice team went to the strange village once every two weeks. The weather was extremely hot at that time, and the temperature often reached 38°C. The members of the practice team press the fingertips of their left hand against the drum head and beat the drum with their right hand. Their waist and eyes must follow the Taiping drum movement; when "calling the drum", they must hit the center of the drum and use their forearms to move their wrists; when "wiping the drum", they must move their left The feet must take a step to the side first... Under the scorching sun, Lu Cuiqin was full of energy and patiently guided the team members. After a set of movements, everyone was covered in sweat. After returning to school, members of the practice team will also practice in the dance studio on campus.
Practice team member Huang Shiying is familiar with the dance routines of the Taiping Drum in the Weird Village of Jingxi. There are 12 routines in total, including "calling the drum", "walking through the flower fence", "fighting cock", "three people busy at both ends", etc. These routines have different movements. The story behind it is also colorful. The routine "Threading Flower Fences" presents the craftsmanship of making flower fences in rural areas in the past, the "Cockfighting" routine imitates the scene of roosters flapping their wings and fighting each other in the village, and the "Pull Drawer" routine is related to the past actions of cooking and blowing bellows... …
Huang Shiying remembers, “Before each teaching session, teacher Lu Cuiqin would tell us the story of ‘Yanyan’. After listening to it several times, we finally realized that the original dialect ‘Yanyan’ is onomatopoeia and means the past. , she used storytelling to vividly present the past rural life in front of us, and the movements of the Taiping Drum in the Strange Village were born from this."
“Every time we learn a dance routine, we are like ‘unlocking’ an interesting farming story.” Huang Shiying said.
During the three-month field investigation, the members of the practice team developed a deep relationship with the Taiping Drums of the strange village, and basically mastered the movements, routines and style characteristics of the Taiping Drums of the strange village. I thought that this research would end successfully, and the members of the practice team were also preparing to write what they learned into the research report and submit it as a class assignment.
But a communication between the practice team members and Lu Cuiqin at the end of August 2023 broke their original ideas. Lv Cuiqin and Wang Juan, the fourth generation inheritor of Wei Cun Tai Ping Drum, told the practice team members that Wei Cun Tai Ping Drum is currently facing a serious inheritance crisis. On the one hand, although government staff provided financial and venue support and shot a promotional video for them, The dissemination effect is limited. On the other hand, the lack of professional dance training materials is not conducive to other people's learning.
After learning this, Xie Wei began to reflect. Is he and his team members doing this survey to hand in homework, or do they hope to truly serve the dissemination of rural intangible cultural heritage dance? After discussing with other members of the practice team, Xie Wei decided to adjust the original plan. In addition to writing a research report, he also added two tasks: shooting a dance promotional video and producing dance teaching materials.
Faced with the problem of single communication method and lack of professional teaching materials, the members of the practice team collected a large amount of historical information and shot a dance promotional video "Inspiring Sounds, Playing Peace", which used the video of the history and dance routines of the Taiping Drum in the strange village. Recorded in the form, and actively contacted the public account platform to popularize knowledge and promote intangible cultural heritage. Based on Lu Cuiqin's oral and personal teachings, the members of the practice team also provided text and video dance training materials for the Taiping Drum of Weird Village, which elaborated on the meaning of movements, drum beat rhythm, technical essentials, etc., providing guidance for those who want to learn this dance. A reference material.
When the members of the practice team handed over the results to the inheritors, Lu Cuiqin and Wang Juan were very happy. Xie Wei believes that everything is worth it. “We are aware of the responsibilities we should bear as students of Beijing Dance University.”
For the members of the practice team, the Strange Village Taiping Drum is a treasure from the strange village. This national intangible cultural heritage dance has a strong local flavor and is full of the love and persistence of the intangible cultural heritage inheritors. This inheritance story is the common memory of the practice team and the strange village Taiping Drum.
At a summary and sharing meeting of college students’ social practice activities at the end of 2023, Huang Shiying shared the story of the practice team and the strange village with college students from different universities. Huang Shiying believes that intangible cultural inheritance is not a cold task, but a warm interaction. Inheritance is not only about inheriting the movements of dance, but also about inheriting its spirit and the emotional accumulation and cultural memory of ancestors. As young students, they have the responsibility to shoulder the responsibility of inheriting intangible cultural heritage, and they should also explore innovative ways to help develop rural culture.
Nowadays, Xie Wei has gone to Austria to study dance. When he recalls this experience in a strange village, he still feels very strange. In the repeated learning and collision, intangible cultural heritage dance and rural culture glow with new brilliance. She also hopes that after returning to China, she can gather in a circle with the villagers of the strange village and the members of the practice team, beat the drums, hum a little song, and dance to the rhythm again.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Xu Danyang Intern Liu Dexi
Source: China Youth Daily
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