The Bowl Dance of the Tay in Bac Kan
The Tay in Bac Kan have a rich traditional culture including genres of poetry, songs, fairy tales, folk jokes, traditional festivals, dances and music. The most popular folk melodies are luon phong slu, luon coi, quan lang singing and lullaby. In addition, the Tay also has a system of folk dances that have been passed down through many generations, expressing diverse beliefs and aspirations of people in their working lives. Among the folk songs and dances of the Tay, the bowl dance is one of the most widely popular and most frequently used dances.
The Tay’s bowl dance in Bac Kan has quite unique features: The bowl dance performance costume includes a long dress, a short dress (or pants), belt, and a square scarf wrapped around the head. The woman’s costume is indigo, made of cotton fabric. The costumes are simply cut and sewn, but not embroidered patterns. The main instruments of the bowl dance are a bowl and a pair of chopsticks. The bowl dance is performed in a sitting or standing position, with two people facing each other and holding a bowl in both hands. The bowl is placed between the palms of the hands, the wrists will rotate one time in front of the abdomen, raised above the head, then slowly lowered back to the original position and vice versa, changing hands. The bowl dance is performed in a standing position, with two hands holding the bowl, clamping the chopsticks, tapping rhythmically from the front of the abdomen, crossing the ribs to the back and swinging back to the original position to change sides. Or one hand is raised high, the other hand is lowered to the ribs.
This is a unique dance that Bac Kan Province as well as all generations of the Tay preserved by word of mouth and direct teaching, but now the dance movements are still unified, with few variations. Many dance movements have the meaning of imitating the traditional silk reeling movements of people from thousands of years ago, physical and spiritual activities or the new rice celebration of the Tay.
Through the ups and downs of history, the bowl dance of the Tay in Bac Kan has been preserved and developed in the spiritual life of the Tay from generation to generation. Currently, in Bac Kan Province, many art performance groups and clubs have been established to connect people who are passionate about the bowl dance and organize activities to show tourists about local cultural, political, social events, markets and festivals.
In the process of developing tourism, the Tay of Bac Kan has introduced their ethnic bowl dance to visitors, significantly contributing to enrich the cultural appearance of Bac Kan Province in particular and the Northeast region in general./.
By Ngo Duc Mich Translated by Phuong Tra