Hunan The Ganghwa Regions Yao A Long Encouraged The Fieldwork And Research

Dance is a mode of social behavior by taking human body as a medium; meanwhile, it is an activity of social art in which feelings are expressed in dynamic forms. Through rhythmic body movement, dance plays a role in transmitting culture, enhancing communication and expressing image. Dance is closely related with culture. Therefore, to understand a group's dance, we should put it in a broad social and cultural context rather than just taking it as a representative symbol. In doing so the symbolic meaning behind the dance can be further interpreted.This paper centers on the study of "long-drum dance", a folk-dance popular among Yao Nationality in Jianghua District of Hunan Province. The study was carried out in terms of field investigation, which, put the "Yao long-drum dance"in a historical and cultural context in order to present a profound analysis on a series of questions concerning the dance itself: its origin, its form characteristics, its cultural connotation,its heritage ,and its development.The whole paper is divided into five parts. The introduction states the motive of the study, the research achievements in the related fields and the method of the study. Based on the analysis of the "long-drum dance" in the memory, the opening chapter gives an overview of the cultural background of the long-drum dance and presents a clear map of its development. Chapter two makes a thorough description of the forms of the "long-drum dance"in Jianghua District by means of field investigation, and further analyzes the significance of the dance forms according to the research method of dance ecology. Chapter three discusses the change of forms and functions of the "long-drum dance" in the course of modernization, and further reflects on the inheritance and development of the dance from several perspectives: the non-material cultural heritage protection, the establishment of cultural brand and the creation of dance piece. The final chapter is about the reflection on the status quo of the "long-drum dance", and finally draws the conclusion that (only by enhancing the awareness of national culture could we keep the development of "long-drum dance" going on.)the strengthening of the national cultural awareness will be helpful to the cultural heritage and development of the "long-drum dance".Overall, this paper intends to put the long-drum dance, which is on the verge of extinction, in the broad social and cultural context to make an elaboration of its current situation. Under the guide of a series of research theories such as cultural anthropology, dance ecology and folklore study, this paper on the one hand focuses on the detailed description and the contextualized interpretation of the dance languages, while emphasizes the social significance of folk dance and inspires us the creative thinking its function on the other hand. It aims to find out the reason why the dancing configuration and the function of the current "long-drum dance" have been changed, which provides the development of the national dance with some suggestions for reference.