Indigenous dance
Worship of the peacock, an auspicious symbol, is said to be the origin of the peacock dance among Dai people, according to peacock dancer Yue. Watching and intimating the elegant movements of peacocks in the forest is the way the Dai dancers create the art.
The indigenous peacock dance can be performed in solos or groups. There are set moves such as looking out from the forest, walking in the woods, drinking and playing on the riverbank and playing chasing games in the woods. Some dancers emphasize imitating the birds' movements, some focus on what the bird may be thinking, and others create dances based on legends.
The Dai peacock dance is traditionally performed only by men, since only the male peacock possesses the gorgeous tail fan.
It was presented at almost every major festival, including the Water Splashing Festival and some Buddhist activities. Many traditions have been lost as the Dai move to cities, adopt modern lives and lose touch with tradition.
The dance that once every Dai person could perform is no longer popular. A few peacock masters such Yue offer low-cost dance lessons, the indigenous dance just doesn't appeal to young people who want to get out of rural areas as soon as they can and make a better life for themselves in cities.
The same is true for many other traditional ethnic music and dance forms in Yunnan province, according to 30-year-old Li Huaifu, deputy director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center attached to the Kunming Vocational Academy of Art, established in 2001 to preserve and promote traditional arts in Yunnan.
Li is also passing down hai cai qiang (海菜腔), an indigenous song created by ancestors of the Yi ethnic group as they picked aquatic plants in lakes. According to him, traditional music was on the verge of extinction in his hometown before he and his sisters joined a national CCTV singing gala competition in 2004.
"Hai cai qiang was once a popular regional singing style with a history of around 700 years in my hometown, but only a few old artists could sign a few stanzas before 2004," says Li.
The impact of modern civilization and the low pay for traditional singers are the two major reasons for decline in an area where many people used to be able to sing and dance.
"Visitors to ethnic towns in Yunnan always find young people wearing T-shirts, while they dance, and speaking Mandarin," says Li. "They may be more familiar with karaoke than singing in antiphonal style. It's inevitable in the modern world."
Before 2004, Li and his sisters were earning only 20 yuan (US$3.27) a month through traditional dancing at the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Center.
"You cannot convince young people that you should carry on the tradition simply because it is precious but with no promising-future attached," says Li.
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