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Dragon dance () is a form of traditional dance and performance in Chinese culture. Like the lion dance it is most often seen in festive celebrations. The dance is performed by a team of dancers who manipulate a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the dragon. The dance team mimics the supposed movements of this river spirit in a sinuous, undulating manner. The dragon dance is often performed during Chinese New Year. Chinese dragons are a symbol of China, and they are believed to bring good luck to people, therefore the longer the dragon in the dance, the more luck it will bring to the community.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Dragon Dance )〕 The dragons are believed to possess qualities that include great power, dignity, fertility, wisdom and auspiciousness. The appearance of a dragon is both frightening and bold but it has a benevolent disposition, and so eventually became an emblem to represent imperial authority. The movements in a performance traditionally symbolize historical roles of dragons demonstrating power and dignity. ==History== During the Han Dynasty, different forms of the dragon dance were mentioned. Rain dance performed at times of drought may involve the use of figures of dragon as Chinese dragon was associated with rain in ancient China, for example the dragon Yinglong was considered a rain deity, and the Shenlong had the power to determine how much wind and rain to bring. According to the Han Dynasty text ''Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'' by Dong Zhongshu, as part of a ritual to appeal for rain, clay figures of the dragons were made and children or adults may then perform a dance. The number of dragons, their length and colour, as well as the performers may vary according to the time of year.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=《求雨》 )〕 Other dances involving dragons may be found in a popular form of entertainment during the Han Dynasty, the ''baixi'' (百戲) variety shows, where performers called "mime people" (象人) dressed up as various creatures such as beasts, fish and dragons. In his ''Lyric Essay on Western Capital'' (西京賦) Zhang Heng recorded various performances such as performers who dressed as a green dragon playing a flute, and a fish-dragon act where fish transformed into a dragon. These ancient dances however do not resemble modern Dragon Dance in their descriptions, and performances depicted in Han Dynasty stone relief engravings suggest that the props used were cumbersome, unlike modern Dragon Dance where light-weight dragons are manipulated by performers. The dragon acts of the Han Dynasty were also mentioned in the Tang and Song Dynasty. Figures similar to the dragon lantern (龍燈) used during Lantern Festival were described in the Song Dynasty work ''Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital'', where figures of dragon mounted for display were constructed out of grass and cloth and inside which numerous candle lights may be placed. Such dragon lanterns may be carried and paraded by performers in the street during the Lantern festival at night time, and this may have evolved into the modern form of the dragon dance which is often performed during day time. A wide variety of dragon dances have developed in various regions in China, for example a form of dragon dance from Tongliang County (铜梁龙舞), which originated as snake totem worship, was said to have begun during the Ming Dynasty and became popular in the Qing Dynasty. In the modern era, the government of People's Republic of China adapted and promoted various traditional folk dances, which contributed to the popularity of the current form of the dragon dance now found widely in China as well as Chinese communities around the world. Aside from the popular form of dragon dance, other regional dragon dances include one from Zhanjiang, Guangdong province whereby the body of the dragon is formed entirely of a human chain of dozens to hundreds of performers, and in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province, the body of the dragon is formed using wooden stools.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= A brief history of Zhanjiang Dragon’s Dance )〕 The number of different dragon dances has been put at over 700. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dragon dance」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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