Dance songs are folk songs singing while dancing, characterized by strong rhythms, and mainly sung on the occasions of festivals, celebrations, or gatherings such as "shehuo" (merry-making activities), "yang'ge (a popular rural folk dance) tune", and "huahui'ge" in north China; "lantern song", "tea-picking song" and "flower-drum tune"in south China. According to their dancing forms, dance songs fall into the following categories such as "dalianxiang", "huagun", "lianhualuo", "stilt", "dragon boat", "flower boat", "songqilin", "chundiao", "shibuxian", "taipinggu" etc. They also include some songs related with folklores, local operas and folktales etc.
Most of the minorities in China are good at singing and dancing, their singing and dancing have strong local flavors and charms, such as "meshrep" (collected song-dances) and "lapar" (a small-scale dance) of Uygur ethnic group, "salaye" (playing dragon lantern tune) of Qiang ethnic group, "tiao guo zhuang" and "xianzi dance" of Tibetan ethnic group, "alili" and "worere" of Naxi ethnic group, "duoye" of Dong ethnic group, "lurigele" of Daur ethnic group, "nukegaile" of Ewenk ethnic group, and "Ivrigeren" of Oroqen ethnic group.
(ChinaCulture.org August 2, 2005)
