Grabbing the Bench

Introduction

A traditional small-ground piece of huagudeng, with characters and a simple plot

Grabbing the Bench is a traditional dance of huagudeng, the flower-drum lantern dance, and belongs to its small-ground pieces. These are duets or trios for the male role, called the drum frame, and the female role, called the orchid, showing young men and women courting and teasing each other, and they form the core of huagudeng dance. Such pieces combine set patterns with room for improvisation and carry a simple plot and clear characters, and Grabbing the Bench and Grabbing the Handkerchief are named as examples. The Yingshang branch of huagudeng also lists Grabbing the Bench, Grabbing the Handkerchief and Spring Outing among its traditional pieces with characters and a story. Huagudeng goes back at least to the Song, and by the 1930s and 1940s it had spread to more than twenty counties and cities in Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu along the middle Huai. It entered the first national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006.