DongBaDance

ZhaoChunjuan

【Abstract】DongBa Dance is a kind of ancient dance that created by Naxi people living in the Southwest of China and recorded by their own hieroglyph.During the development， it adopted parts of Tibetan， Indian and Egyptian cultures.So， as the mixture of cultures， DongBa Dance is marching into the world and causing a great attention.The ancient DongBa Dance will get a new life in the world.

【Key Words】DongBa Dance；mixture；cultures；religion

I.Introduction of ancient dance

Dance is regarded as the mother of art.Its primitive recording style is always ancient and its expression is always pictures or hieroglyphs.In the world， there isnt any primitive recording about ancient dances that could be reserved.When the whole world feels so pity for the ancient Egyptian dance score which had been covered by desert and the Maya hieroglyph which had been swamped by forest， DongBa Dance-a kind of alive ancient dance and DongBa Dance Score， a kind of alive ancient dance score discovered in Lijiang of Yunnan.

II.Introduction of DongBa Dance

a.Appearance of DongBa Dance

According to the Dongba Dance Score， we can find Naxi people began to create and believe in a new religion- DongBa religion that bases on Naxi ancient belief and adopted Ben religion comes from Tibetan areas from Yuan Dynasty （“DongBa” means “wizard” in Naxi language.But it quite differs from the wizard in wizardry.[1]“DongBa” is a man who deeply believes in DongBa religion and respected by Naxi people because of his profknowledge on the DongBa religion）.Just as mentioned in Religion and Art wrote by a Russian writer： Ancient dance is an important part of ancient religion.The similarity between them is the reflection of living.[2]When human defeated， religion appeared because human wanted to get blessing； when human conquered the nature， art appeared because they wanted to celebrate their triumph.Almost at the same time， DongBa Dance appeared and began to serve for DongBa religion.The ancestors of Naxi began to record this dance with their own hieroglyph—DongBa words from Yuan Dynasty.

b.Theme of DongBa Dance

DongBa Dance indicates a certain theme which can be divided into three parts [1]： the first part reflects the living of Naxi ancestors.During a long period of hunting， fighting with the nature and contacting with other ethnics， Naxi ancestors created many dances to show their living.And the beats （lion， eagle， ox， goat…） became the main characteristic in this part which always played in weddings and funerals； the second part indicates a kind of belief and admiration to natural things （the sun， moon， stars， mountains， water， fire， earth， trees， stones…）；thirdly， indicates their belief to DongBa Religion and their respect to DingBaShiLuo （the originator of DongBa Religion）， and to the five spirits who in charge of the five directions.In one word， the life of Naxi ancestor， the nature things and the spirits in DongBa Religion consist of the theme of DongBa Dance.

III.Mixture of Cultures

Naxi is an open ethnic who glades to accept new things and new spirits come from outside.Accordingly， their dance – DongBa Dance is influenced by some other cultures.Thus， we can see the mixture of multi-cultures from DongBa Dance.[3]

a.Influence from Tibetan culture to DongBa Dance

By contacting with Tibetans and doing business with them， DongBa Religion was influenced by Tibetan primitive religion – Ben religion.Of course， DongBa Dance also accepted something from Tibetan dance.

GeDongLa is a great spirit in Tibetan Lamaism.[3]Tibetan chooses a luck day each year to be GeDong Festival and play GeDongLa Dance to show their respect to the spirit.This dance is a group dancing with most actors masked as some heroes or spirits and the other unmasked actors who called as “GeLi （means skeleton， they are regarded as evil ghosts.）”.The theme of GeDongLa Dance is a kind of special poem for “GeDong” who conquered the “GeLi” and blessed all Tibetan.When Tibetan dances， they all obeyed a fixed rule and danced with a rhythm which charged by drums or bells.So， we can find out four similarities between DongBa Dance and GeDongLa Dance： firstly， these two kinds of ethnic dance have many similar actions when they are played， such as “sharpen sword”， “stab evil spirits” and “bow to heroes or spirits”； secondly， even though DongBas do not use masks to show their roles when they dance， most spirits in DongBa Dance

are same as the spirits in GeDongLa Dance.For instance， the skeletons—“GeLi” in GeDongLa Dance is the same kind of spirits “GeKong” [4]in DongBa Dance；fourthly， there are no any song accompany with either DongBa Dance or GeDongLa Dance.All the rhythms of the two dances depend on the raps of drum or bell.From these above similarities， we see clearly the close relationship between these two dances.

b.Influence from Indian culture to DongBa Dance

The originator of DongBa Religion—DingBaShiLuo is regarded not a real Tibetan.Most believers of DongBa Religion think he came from India.That is to say Indian culture affected DongBa Religion.Lets prove this assumption from the following aspects： （a） there is a special dance called “Send-soul Dance” [1]in DongBa Dance.The dance is often played to redeem lost souls.When DongBas begin to dance， they will send the soul forward from southwest to northwest firstly； then send it to the place where Naxi ancestors born； finally， the soul was sent to a place called “Jiu Ao Pile”.[5]If we omit the difference in distance， the direction of the place is accordant with the direction of India； （b） we can also find out the relationship between India dance and DongBa Dance from the comparison.Firstly， “LiJuFeiTuo Dance” is a famous India Dance which indicates the spirit of sky （“Yin Yuoluo”） in Indian religion and sings praise of his merits and achievements.This Indian spirit is also respected and admired in DongBa Religion.Naxi people always dance to express the process of “Yin Yuoluo” defeating the evil things [4]； secondly， “LiJuFeiTuo Dance” has no song to accompany， the rhythm of it depend on two skin drums， too.It seems most like DongBa Dance； thirdly， using several colors to dress up different kinds of actors is the characteristic of “LiJuFeiTuo Dance”.Heroes are dressed up in green （this is the color Dongba uses to dress up heroes [4]）， king actresses are always dressed in yellowish color （the goddess of DongBa Religion-“Lamu” is yellowish）； fourthly， all the features in the Indian dance should be acted by men， it is same with DongBa Dance.

b.Influence from Egyptian culture to DongBa Dance

The influence of Egyptian culture to DongBa Dance should be powerful evidence.During the culture transportation， Indian culture absorbed many cultures， especially the Egyptian culture.If we say Indian culture was partly influenced by Egyptian culture， does it mean DongBa culture was also affected by Egyptian culture？ [3]Comparing DongBa Dance with the typical culture of Egypt， we can see something： a dance called “White-conch Lion Dance” [1]from DongBa Dance indicates a kind saddle lion of a spirit.It always helped its master to save and reduce the suffering of Naxi people， so it is also respected by Naxi.According to the research， the image of the lion mainly appeared early in Egypt.Naxi ancestor accepted the image of the lion when it was spreaded to the east， to China.Now， lets analyze the image from its pronunciation.Lion is pronounced “Si” and the White-conch Lion is pronounced “SiKe” in Naxi language.In Egypt， the typical pyramid—Man-looked lion is called “Sphinx” which means “vivid stature”.The similar pronunciation about lion shows the relationship between these two cultures； the “White-conch Lion” is acted as an animal which has lion head and man body or eagle body.Its mist similar to the “Sphinx”.Its impossible to appear the surprising similarity in different areas if there is no any relationship between them.

IIII.DongBa Dance----an international dance

Above all， we can draw a conclusion that the DongBa Dance ought to be a good instance of the mixture of multi cultures.It is not only a reflection of Naxi and Tibetan cultures， but also an extension of Indian and Egyptian cultures.A famous Britain dance Doctor called A.R.Gues had ever compared DongBa Dance with LaBan Dance which had been accepted as an international dance in the world.[6]As a kind of multi-culture dance， it also deserves to be called as an “International Dance” which belongs to all human beings in the world.So， the research on DongBa Dance is an international research topic.It should be placed in the world and in the “cross of civilization” to be further researched.

References：

[1]東巴舞譜[M].中國社會科學院世界宗教研究所.1993.

[2]（蘇）德.莫.烏格里諾維奇.藝術與宗教[M].蘇聯(lián)政治書籍出版社，1982.

[3]丁漢儒，溫華，康景福，孫康.藏傳佛教源流及社會影響[M].民族出版社，1991.

[4]戈阿干.東巴神系與東巴舞譜[M].云南人民出版社，1992.

[5]東巴舞蹈來歷（下）[M].東巴文藝研究室.

[6]云南民俗和宗教調(diào)查[M].云南省民族出版社，1995.

作者介紹：趙春娟（1978），女，講師，研究方向：英語教學理論和實踐以及云南省少數(shù)民族文化。