*Centipede Dance

29.*Centipede Dance

Nominating Unit: Chenghai District, City of Shantou.

Centipede Dance is mainly practiced in the former Ximen Township of Chenghai District, City of Shantou. In the years from the reign of Emperor Tongzhi to that of Emperor Guangxu, god worshipping parades and temple fairs were very popular. The locals were very enthusiastic in creating and competing shows. Chen Chengjin and Shi Wenyong, two fellows from Ximen Township, got inspirations from the special crawling gestures of centipedes, and created this large-scale animal dance which is suitable for performance in squares. It has a history of over 100 years now.

The centipede prop is very lifelike. Its head looks very much like a lion’s head, with a pair of long fangs sticking out of its mouth on the side, and green light glowing in its eyes. Its tail is like a pair of scissors. Its length is 22 meters. It is made up of 28 hard and soft cloth segments joined together, and can be easily bent or stretched. The enclosing cloth is vividly painted with red scales, making it colorful and Jovian.

During the performance, one person would lead the centipede with a colored ball, and 15 people hide under the belly of the centipede with legs bent, mimicking centipede’s winding, crawling, crossing, and folding with steps from martial art, such as the T step, bow step, and leg-crossed step. The formation varies with the shapes of “2”, “3”, “6”, “7”, “8”, “ripple”, “plum blossom spots”, etc. The performance brings life to the centipede. The dance is composed of 7 phases, namely “colored ball taking the lead”,“fast out of lair”, “head and body swing”, “tail swing up and down”, “winding and encircling”, “hovering and turning the belly”, and “smoke and fi re spew”, among which “hovering and turning the belly” requires the greatest skills. The head and tail need to come together with “circular steps”, then the head will need to come through the 7th and 8th segment of the body, while the tail 8th and 9th. At this time, the operators for the 7th, 8th, and 9th need to pull the poles out of the hollow bamboo segment immediately and make the middle 3 hard segments hover in the air. The head and tail will dance to the side right after they have completed the crossing, and stretch the centipede into a straight line, thus forming the bizarre scene of“hovering and belly turning”. The style of centipede dance is steady and powerful. Especially if the dance is performed in the evening, when all the 13 hard segments are lit up by candles from inside, making the whole body glow, with scissor-like tails swing high in the air and fireworks go off in the background, it is an awesome scene.(https://www.daowen.com)

Centipede Dance is accompanied by giant gongs and drums from Chaozhou. The most often used songs and melody types are “Chu Zha”, “Dragon Swinging Tail”,“Flying Phoenix bringing letters”, “White Character blowing the Drum”, etc. They create a harmonious and strong atmosphere for the performance, which is a great exemplification of Chaoshan style.

Centipede Dance forms its own style, and is a rare dancing form which bears great artistic value. In 2008 it was enlisted as the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage.

With rapid urbanization and changes in people’s cultural need, the transmission of Centipede Dance is faced with many difficulties, and urgent protective and helping measures are called for.