Helou Dance Performance in Yunan
The Helou dance in Yunan County, Yunfu City, Guangdong Province, is a product of the evolution of primitive shamanic culture combined with Nuo culture. If traced back to its origins, it has a history of several thousand years. Besides Yunan, similar dance forms to Helou dance can also be found in other areas of Guangdong such as Luoding, Qingyuan, Yangjiang, Huazhou, and Leizhou, with names like "Tiao Helou" (Jumping Helou), "Chang Helou" (Singing Helou), and "Kao Bing Wu" (Examining Soldiers Dance).
According to Hu Pu'an's "Nationwide Folklore of China": "In the sixth month, each village builds small sheds, inviting shamans to sing and dance on them, called Tiao Helou, used to pray for a good harvest (Guangning County Chronicles). Note: All areas under Zhaoqing Prefecture have the custom of Tiao Helou." Before Yunfu became a city, Yunan was under the jurisdiction of Zhaoqing Prefecture, indicating that Yunan's Helou dance was recorded in history early on.
Different Styles in Different Regions
I haven't seen the original ecological Helou dance, but I've seen their performance at the "First Pan-Pearl River Delta (Shanwei) Folk Art Performance Competition." Later, when the Guangdong Provincial Writers Association organized a survey of ancient villages, I saw it again on the ground of Guanger Dawu (a unique building built during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty) in Shibaishiqioutou Village, Liantan Town, Yunan. It was also a demonstrative performance. The dancers were mostly rural youth, both male and female (in the past, men dressed as women), holding fire sticks and horns, with rice bundles tied around their waists, wearing straw hats, black clothes and pants with white edges, and hemp shoes. They smiled cheerfully, with movements mainly consisting of stamping feet, shaking hands, and swaying bodies. The dance steps were light and quick, with horn sounds echoing, presenting a scene of celebrating a good harvest. The lyrics also said: "Climbing the tower to dance Helou, celebrating a good harvest with favorable weather, shaking shoulders and singing happily in peaceful times, all holding grain bells to praise the golden autumn."
In Luoding County, which was previously also under the jurisdiction of Zhaoqing Prefecture, their "Tiao Helou" has a different style. It starts with a ritual to worship the gods, presided over by a female shaman, with a male shaman beating a small gong on the side to coordinate the rhythm. Afterwards, there's a mountain song competition, with male shamans playing the role of song masters. They first bow to the statue of Liu Sanjie, then sing antiphonally with the audience on the shed. All songs are in the tune of Yunan Liantan mountain songs. As it has developed to the present, Tiao Helou has also been integrated with local rituals of worshipping gods and Taoist ceremonies, with a stronger shamanic flavor. Some scholars believe that it is a remnant of Zhuang ethnic customs, while Yunan preserves ancient Yao customs.
The Helou dance in northern Huazhou mainly focuses on praying for a good harvest. Every year on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, the "Hele Festival," after a round of banquets, a small high-legged building that can accommodate 2 to 4 people for antiphonal singing and dancing is set up in the grain hall. An Eight Immortals table is placed on the building, and a portrait of Liu Sanxian (i.e., Liu Sanjie) is hung in the center of the building hall for the performance. In the past, portraits of the Rice Flower Fairy or the Rice Lady were hung in the center of the building hall. Later, it was said that Liu Sanjie came here to teach songs when there was a pest disaster. Liu Sanjie taught them to refine the "Hundred Herbs Pill," which eliminated the pests and brought a bumper harvest. Since then, the portrait of Liu Sanxian has been hung in the building hall. The content of the songs is mostly praising Liu Sanxian for eliminating pests and disasters, expressing people's wishes for a good harvest, and the love between husband and wife. The tunes include Talu Song, Tiaolou Song, Yueling Song, and Guessing Song, which are full of life atmosphere and closely related to agricultural affairs.
In Yangjiang, Tiao Helou is mostly performed in June and July. Generally, an Eight Immortals table is placed on the stage. The performers on the stage are called "Lou Niang" (Building Ladies), mostly men dressed as women; the performers below the stage are called "Su Lao" (Lodging Old Men), mostly male roles. They respond to each other, commonly known as "Bo Gezi" (Refuting Songs), with witty and humorous content, also called "Big Talk Songs." As soon as the Lou Niang gets on stage, they sing: "It's been a long time since we've told big talks, tonight we'll sing a big talk song, the blind come to watch the lively scene, the deaf hear and laugh." They sing and dance at the same time. The Su Lao below the stage only sing in response, without dancing. The lyrics are improvised on the spot: "Wearing a straw raincoat to drink, wearing a long robe to drive cattle; mice dragging cats run all over the house, clams biting snakes swim in the field holes."
The Nuo dance in Leizhou is locally called "Da Nuo" (Big Nuo), also known as "Kao Bing" (Examining Soldiers). It is said to have been introduced from the north during the Song Dynasty, mainly for exorcising evil spirits and suppressing disasters.
"New Bottle" for "Old Wine"
From the Helou dance in Yunan and the Tiao Helou, Helou songs, and Kao Bing dances spread in the Lingnan area, the characteristics of the Nuo culture in the Baiyue shamanic cultural circle are clearly visible. It is different from the Nuo in the Northwest and the shamanic practices in Ba and Chu regions, only retaining some elements of ancient shamanic dances and Nuo dances. For example, in the Tiao Helou of Luoding, the first half is basically still a shamanic dance, while the antiphonal singing of Liantan mountain songs in the second half clearly bears the color of modern society. The Helou songs (Nan songs) in Qingyuan even sing about new era content such as family planning, spiritual civilization, and harmonious society, with the imprints of primitive shamanic dances and Nuo dances no longer so obvious.
In the autumn of 2007, I participated in the "National Nuo Culture Art Exhibition" held in Yongjing County, Gansu Province, watching the Nuo rituals of welcoming gods, rewarding gods, and sending off gods from Jiangxi, Anhui, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and other places. I also watched "Raising the Big Flag," "Sending Gods to the Altar," "Single Ghost Pulling Intestines," "Meeting Hands Dance," and other performances on the playgrounds of some local schools. Perhaps because everyone wanted to maintain the "original flavor" as much as possible, basically no new elements could be seen, making it monotonous and dull, with weak viewability. This made me think that today, when inheriting these intangible cultural heritages, we can't simply treat them as "living fossils," but should find ways to make them "come alive." Otherwise, once these "fossils" are unearthed, they will be weathered and buried, which would go against our purpose of rescue. Moreover, from today's perspective, the beliefs of ancient shamanism and ancient Nuo are already quite distant from our reality, and their original sacrificial and belief functions have faded. They have become more of a display of primitive song and dance drama. For ordinary audiences, it's just for understanding and appreciation. Although as the protection of intangible cultural heritage, Nuo sacrifices and Nuo dances should maintain their original appearance, as cultural tourism performances, they no longer have the original specific cultural space and cultural atmosphere, so there's no need to adhere to the original flavor.
Therefore, we can adapt them according to the requirements of modern society, making them "reborn" but not "transformed," meaning the traditional foundation remains unchanged, using a "new bottle" to hold "old wine," or in trendy terms, "repackaging." The most important thing in this process is to select some of the most crucial "elements" (inherent in traditional Chinese culture) and reorganize and package them using modern concepts, modern technology, and forms that are easily accepted by modern people. Our Sun Wukong and Nezha are no less impressive than the popular Superman and Transformers worldwide; our stories of Zhong Kui, Jiang Taigong, Bixia Yuanjun, and Nanshan Shengmu can also be created into stories as exciting as Harry Potter and Tintin, the mechanism of which awaits our research and development.
(The author is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Research Center of Sun Yat-sen University)
Source: Chinanews.com - China Culture News, December 15, 2011, 16:10 [Editor in charge: Si Wei]
