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Guozhuang Dance
Guozhuang Dance, also called "Guozhuo" "Gezhuang" "Zhuo", means "singing and dancing in a circle" in the Tibetan language. It is one of the three major Tibetan folk dances, together with "Xianzi" and "Reba". They are popular in the inhabited areas of Tibetans, like Qamdo and Nagchu in Tibet, Aba and Garze in Sichuan, Diqing in Yunnan, Qinghai and Gansu.
Guozhuang Dance of Jiarong Tibetan
Guozhuang Dance Introduction & Schools
Guozhuang Dance is a kind of group dance which involves repeated musical dialogues in antiphonal style between male and female dancers, without any accompaniment of musical instruments. Commonly, Tibetan people dance Guozhuang when in marriage celebration, new houses completion, guest entertaining, custom and culture performances, etc. As the Tibetan life and work change gradually, some new dance content are added, such as barley gathering, wool twisting, cattle feeding, wine making, the praising of heroes and so on.
Due to the vast territory of Tibetan inhabited areas, Guozhuang Dance can be divided into different schools and the major schools are Qamdo Guozhuang, Diqing Guozhuang, Yushu Zhuowu, Yushu Yiwu and Bailong Zhuowu.
Guozhuang Dance of Jiarong Tibetan
How to Dance Guozhuang
Guozhuang Dance emphasizes mainly the dancing postures and emotion expressing. Although Guozhuang Dance has various shools and categories, the nature and dancing way have the same part. If you can master one type, you can dance others after a short training.
The dancing steps of Guozhuang are agile and vigorous. On the plaza or courtyard, male dancer and female dancer get together, hand in hand, dance clockwise in a circle. Male dancers have the loose and wide trousers which look like the feathered legs of eagles. Their steps are imitative of creatures' steps, especially eagle, such as eagle's spreading its wings, hopping and soaring. Women expose their right arms during dancing, with the right sleeve waggling behind. Moving around a circle, they sway their joined hands frontward and backward, keeping the beats of their steps.
When dancing, the dancers are singing the folk songs. Usually, male dancers take the lead to sing and then female dancers sing later on. The sound of singing is loud, clear and sonorous. The popular lyrics for one song is translated into English like this, "Oh, snow-capped mountains, make way for us. We fly with wings spread. Oh, rivers, make way for us. We stride with broad steps." From these lyrics, we can read that Tibetan have brave and bold character.
Guozhuang Dance of Jiarong Tibetan
Guozhuang Dance Categories
1. Old Guozhuang & New Guozhuang
According to the classification of time, Guozhuang Dance consisted of Old Guozhuang and New Guozhuang. Old Guozhuang has the sacrificial nature. Most of religious people and the elderly like it. Its lyrics and dance are in the old style. When dancing this Old Guozhuang, the lyrics are specified and can not be modified, and the dance are slow, steady, pristine and grave. However, New Guozhuang has the agile lyrics and dancing posture. The dancing steps are divided into "Guozhuo (walking)" and "Kuzhuo (revolving)". When dancing Guozhuo, people walk towards left and seven steps as a group, slow to quick. The dance steps are simple and easy to learn. When dancing Kuzhuo, people need to change dancing postures. There are two and half steps dance, six steps dance, eight steps dance, monkey dance and so on.
2. Big Guozhuang, Middle Guozhuang & Small Guozhuang
According to the classification of the size, Guozhuang Dance consists of Big Guozhuang, Middle Guozhuang and Small Guozhuang. They have different scales and functions. Big Guozhuang is danced when the local hosts the large religion sacrifice ceremonies. Middle Guozhuang is danced when the folk festivals comes. Small Guozhuang is danced when relatives and friends get together.
Guozhuang Dance3. Temple Guozhuang, Herdsman's Guozhuang, Farmer's Guozhuang
According to the classification of the dancer, Guozhuang Dance can divided into Temple Guozhuang, Herdsman's Guozhuang and Farmer's Guozhuang.
When events are hosted to greet and send-off the Living Buddha, Temple Guozhuang is organized in temples or monasteries for the religious purposes. It is a solemn dance through which religion believers dance for expressing admiration to the Living Buddha and meanwhile for their expected bliss in their afterlife.
Herdman's Guozhuang is also a big activity organized usually by the herdman on the big grassland. When dancing Herdman's Guozhuang, the dancers jump and step forward, and at the same time they wave their hands in front of their chests, then turn left or right. Their hands and feet move in the same direction. Meanwhile, they sing the sonorous songs.
Farmer's Guozhuang consists of two parts: singing, and quick singing & dancing. The tempo of dancing steps can be subdivided into three types: slow, medium and quick. At the beginning of Farmer's Guozhuang, men and women stand in two separate circles, and sing and revolve, while swaying and stamping their feet. Then they conclude their singing by shouting "Ya!". Next, they quicken their dancing steps and change dancing postures. And finally, they stop at an allegro music which is often a condensed version of the slow music.
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