As for the specific performance of this music and dance, the "Bamboo Book Annals" volume says: "Emperor Shun had a family of Yu. In the first year of his reign, before the emperor ascended the throne, he lived in Hebei. He composed the music of "Da Shao"." "Historical Records·Xia Benji" records: "Shun De Ming Dynasty, so Kui had fun, the ancestors came, the group gave way to each other, the birds and beasts danced, the flute and Shao were 90%, the phoenix came to the ceremony, and the beasts danced." What is described here is " The music and dance of "Xiao Shao" has a very impressive lineup. The "hundred beasts" should be the totem images that each tribe worships. They may dress up in person, or they may hold up the figures of the mythical beasts and sing and dance.
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"Xiao Shao" has many names. It is rare in the history of Chinese dance to call a music and dance by so many names. There are many explanations for the reason. One theory is that the ancients used the word "九", which sometimes has the same meaning as the word "大", so "Nine Shao" and "Da Shao" are music and dances with the same name. Another theory is that the word "nine" represents the number of paragraphs in the performance. The "90%" of "Xiao Shao" said in "Shang Shu·Yi Ji" means exactly this.
The word "Xiao" in "Xiao Shao" may be the name of a dance pole, so some dance historians believe that "Da Shao" may be because the dancers need to hold this pole when dancing. People then renamed the dance "箾shao". In the history of ancient dance, this kind of situation where dance props were named after them often appeared. Another name of "Da Shao" is "Shao Yu". This is probably because Shun was once the leader of the Youyu clan, and the tribe's imprint is on the name of the music and dance. Of course, it may also imply that this music and dance is related to some kind of dance passed down by the "Youyu clan".
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