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Dai Peacock Dance

Three bends of the body, and the tail fans open

Introduction

The Dai dance that imitates the peacock, known for its three-bend posture

The Dai peacock dance is the folk dance in which the Dai of Dehong, Xishuangbanna and other parts of Yunnan imitate the peacock. Traditionally a male solo or duet, it is marked by hand shapes, leaps and turns and the trembling three-bend posture, and is performed at the Water-Splashing, Opening-Door and Closing-Door festivals; the Dai elephant-foot drum dance and the white elephant and sambar deer dance belong to this record. The peacock dance's origin survives only in the legend of the leader Zhao Malijieshu learning to dance from peacocks, while the Baiyi zhuan of 1396 already records song and dance at Dai banquets and long skin drums beaten by hand. From the 1950s Dao Meilan and others brought the peacock dance to the stage, and Yang Liping's solo Spirit of the Peacock (1986) was especially influential.

Timeline

Early Ming to present
1396 · OriginIn 1396 Qian Guxun and Li Sicong were sent to Luchuan; Qian's Baiyi zhuan describes Dai banquet music, in which for the Burmese music 'everyone claps and sings and dances', and the Cheli (Xishuangbanna) music uses bronze cymbals, bronze drums, clappers and 'large and small long skin drums beaten by hand', the earliest reliable record of Dai music and dance and of elephant-foot-type long drums.1957 · EvolutionIn 1957 the fifteen-year-old Dai dancer Dao Meilan toured Burma with the Yunnan Song and Dance Troupe, playing the seventh princess in a dance piece based on a Dai legend, as Dai dance entered the professional stage and state tours.1986 · ImpactIn 1986 the Bai dancer Yang Liping created and performed the solo Spirit of the Peacock, and the peacock dance became a nationally known emblem of ethnic dance.2006 · ImpactIn 2006 the Dai peacock dance of Ruili entered the first national list (III-27), followed by the Dai elephant-foot drum dance (III-61) in 2008 and the Dai white elephant and sambar deer dance (III-141) in 2021.
  1. 1396OriginIn 1396 Qian Guxun and Li Sicong were sent to Luchuan; Qian's Baiyi zhuan describes Dai banquet music, in which for the Burmese music 'everyone claps and sings and dances', and the Cheli (Xishuangbanna) music uses bronze cymbals, bronze drums, clappers and 'large and small long skin drums beaten by hand', the earliest reliable record of Dai music and dance and of elephant-foot-type long drums.
  2. 1957EvolutionIn 1957 the fifteen-year-old Dai dancer Dao Meilan toured Burma with the Yunnan Song and Dance Troupe, playing the seventh princess in a dance piece based on a Dai legend, as Dai dance entered the professional stage and state tours.
  3. 1986ImpactIn 1986 the Bai dancer Yang Liping created and performed the solo Spirit of the Peacock, and the peacock dance became a nationally known emblem of ethnic dance.
  4. 2006ImpactIn 2006 the Dai peacock dance of Ruili entered the first national list (III-27), followed by the Dai elephant-foot drum dance (III-61) in 2008 and the Dai white elephant and sambar deer dance (III-141) in 2021.

Heritage Listings

  1. 2006National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage1st batch · III-27 Dai peacock dance · no. 130 · nominated by Ruili · Yunnan
  2. 2008National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage2nd batch · III-61 Dai elephant-foot drum dance · no. 658 · nominated by Luxi · now Mangshi · and Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture · Yunnan
  3. 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · III-141 Dai white elephant and sambar deer dance · no. 1413 · nominated by Yunnan Province