Kylin Dance decorates flourishing age

Guangzhou’s Nansha district has published an intangible cultural heritage video series on the Xuexi app. An episode in the series named Huangge Kylin Dance presents a truly splendid performance of that heritage.

A shot in the video Huangge Kylin Dance [Photo/gznsnews.com.cn]

It adopts Computer Graphics special effects technology to process live images. The shot cuts also match up well with the dance rhythm to produce stirring scenes.

Kylin Dance is one of Guangdong province’s intangible cultural heritages dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Kylin is a kind of mythical creature in Chinese folk tales, and the ancient people often perform the dance during festivals to pray for a good harvest.

The propitious animal has a bizarre but fantastic image; it is an aggregate of dragon’s head, lion’s body, deer’s horn and ox’s tail.

Huangge Kylin Dance derives from the old tradition of totem worship. It is passed on from generation to generation among the Huangge people in Guangzhou’s Nansha district.

In the local area, not only men but also women and children love to perform the Kylin Dance.

The first female Kylin Dance team was organized in 2014. They took part in an invitational tournament held in Guangdong province in 2018 together with the children’s team, and won the silver medal.

Zhang Zikang, a Kylin Dance coach, even tries to alter the old artistry into a kind of modern stage art through creative adaptation.

Kylin symbolizes the simple beautiful feelings of the local people, and the dance performance conveys their best wishes to the future.