Masked dance, also known as "Nuo dance", "big face dance" and "body double face dance", as the name implies, masked dance is a kind of dance that does not reveal its true face and needs to be danced with a special mask. Its origin is related to the primitive hunting and totem worship of the ancients. Masks worn during dancing are usually made of paper, wood or leather, which are images of people, animals and monsters.
Dance movements are generally exaggerated, with distinct rhythm and a long history. They are usually performed from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the sixteenth day of the first month. There are many relics in Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Anhui, Shanxi and Hebei provinces.
Fengshan dance:
Fengshan masquerade dance is a kind of masquerade popular in Fengshan County, North Yellow Sea Road. It starts on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, and then dances on the Dragon Boat Festival. This is an art form of folk drama with scripts. There are more than 30 kinds of masks in Fengshan mask dance, including figures, lions, apes and other animals, as well as walker dance, wrist dance and Dharma inspiration.
Monkey dance is a dance in which four people dress up as young monks in white robes, red robes and high hats. It satirizes the young monk who is dishonest and not good at chanting in the temple, but runs to the street to dance for fun. The wrist dancers are eight monks in black shirts. They danced with ferocious red masks, solo and group dances. Fa drum dance is an impromptu dance performed by eight monks in black and female artists. They retired with long drums and gongs.
Fengshan masked dance reflects the lives and hearts of ordinary people who suffered in a corrupt feudal society to some extent. Fengshan masked dance was designated as an important intangible cultural heritage by South Korea on 1967.