China News Service, Urumqi, February 28th (Gulimina Alihazi) The warm sun in the morning sprinkled on the earth in Daban District, Urumqi City. The Kazakh herdsman Jayens Khan, who put on an eagle dance costume, Sharapi, in the accompaniment of Dombula music, together with his son, used the language of dance to describe the story of hunting.

　　For the father and son who have a special emotion for falconry, the eagle dance is not a process of simulating animals, but an inheritance of the memory of traditional nomadic life.

Kazakh Eagle Dance Tells the Story of Falconry on the Grassland

Jayens Khan Sharapi (left) plays the role of eagle in the Eagle Dance Photo by Gulimina Alihazi

　　The Kazakh eagle dance, called "Burkutbi" in Kazakh, is an important part of Kazakh folk dances.

　　57-year-old Jayens Khan Sharapi has learned the eagle dance with his father since he was five years old. In their family, he is the fourth-generation inheritor of the eagle dance.

　　In 2010, Jaens Khan Sharapi was named the representative inheritor of the autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage project "Kazakh Animal Simulation Dance (Urkutbi)", inheriting and spreading the eagle dance, and making the Kazakh eagle dance Culture has been substantially protected and disseminated.

　　The movements of the eagle dance are composed of the movements of the eagle head, eagle tail, eagle wings and other parts. Only those who have enough understanding of the tradition of falconry can understand the connotation and meaning behind each movement of the eagle dance. significance.

　　Jaynes Khan Sharapi's dance clothes were sewn from seven pieces of black goat skin. The zipper in the middle of the clothes was opened, and there was a wooden stick inside to support the head, and a pulley was installed on the neck for easy rotation.

Observe carefully, the eagle head is equipped with a cowhide eye mask, and realistic lines can be seen on the eagle claws.

　　Putting on the dance clothes, Jaynes Khan Sharapi's upper body was wrapped in the dance clothes.

He jumped on the bench, spread his wings to both sides, and then adjusted the eagle's head left and right with the wooden stick in the dance costume, and a golden eagle with fluttering wings was vividly displayed in front of his eyes.

　　In addition to the dance costume of the eagle dance, the son of Jainsh Khan Sharapi was dressed in the costume of a traditional nomadic hunter, and an ancestral fox fur became the only prop in the dance.

　　The eagle dance has a special accompaniment music, which was composed by a Kazakh music producer many years ago.

Music, props, costumes, almost every item is unique.

　　"I heard from the old people in the village that when my father was young, he would dance the eagle dance to cheer everyone up when they held weddings on the ranch every summer when he was young." Jaynes Khan Sharapi said that by his generation, the Kazakh eagle dance has already It has become a folk art on the stage, and the Eagle Dance Manor in Aksu Township, where he lives, has become a tourist destination to show tourists the Kazakh Eagle Dance.

Dancing with the Eagles Deduces the Coexistence of Man and Nature

Jayens Khan Sharapi (left) and his son Gulmina Alihazi

　　Jaens Khan Sharapi summed up the eight basic movements of the Kazakh eagle dance, and each movement has a certain meaning.

The Kazakh eagle dance in his eyes is a dance culture derived from the tradition of falconry.

　　Jaens Khan Sharapi's family has a tradition of taming falcons. He observed the habits of hawks since he was a child, and wanted to give full play to what he saw and the memories left by his father in his actions.

　　In the traditional nomadic life of the Kazakhs, horses and eagles play an irreplaceable role in hunting.

　　When Jayens Khan Sharapi’s father was a child, when any falcon trainer’s family boiled eagles, the neighbors would come to this house, play dombra and sing songs, so that the process of “boiling eagles” would not be too long.

His father also observed that the chicks would slowly spread their wings to the sound of Dombula's music. Experience told them that this was the beginning of their integration into the shepherd's family life.

　　Jaens Khan Sharapi said: "The eagle is not a hunting tool, but a family member. Falconry is not just a survival skill, it is a part of nomadic culture. Considering that the eagle will be released back to nature in the future, the falconer family cherishes the relationship with the eagle. The time of living together forms the Eagle Dance under such emotions."

Teach more people to learn Kazakh eagle dance

　　When it comes to eagle dance movements, Jaynes Khan Sharapi always subconsciously stretches his arms and twists his neck back and forth, left and right. This is the skill he has accumulated for many years, and it is also a habit from the bottom of his heart.

　　Jaens Khan Sharapi said: "The eagle's head can turn in six directions, which is a feature that other birds do not have. I also saw that the eagle can fly vertically from a high place to a valley, and then rise straight up. It is the eagles playing in the sky, as long as the habits of the eagles are mentioned, the children find it incredible."

　　Today's young people have already bid farewell to the nomadic life. Whenever Jayens Khan Sharapi teaches his son to dance the eagle dance, he will break down the movements and tell the stories and culture behind them.

　　Jayens Khan Sharapi said: "I have brought more than 20 children, they like the eagle dance very much, I want to organize these children to pose as eagles together, dance together in the square, in a three-dimensional formation, Spread the story of falconry to more people."

　　While Jayens Khan Sharapi is proud of the Eagle Dance, he is also worried about the future of the Eagle Dance.

He hoped that the eagle dance would become one of the carriers to spread the culture of falconry, and it would blossom in the form of dance.

　　Jaens Khan Sharapi said: "The movements of the eagle dance can move and relax our spine. The Kazakh folk dance black horse can be danced by thousands of people and become a sport for strengthening the body. I believe that the eagle dance can also ."(over)