先唐剑舞源流考论

Research on the History of Sword Dance before the Tang Dynasty

剑舞是一种以剑为道具的舞蹈,其起源颇早,最初应为楚地祀神的舞蹈,为神巫通灵所凭。其后变为军中之舞,兼具格斗动作的演练与娱乐性的表演。一直至汉代,军中仍流行此类剑舞。而随着社会上"百戏"的兴起,剑舞动作的实战性大大减弱,而表演性则获得提高,出现了杂技类的剑舞。唐代时,随着胡乐在中华的流行,融合了武术与杂技,以技巧性为特征的剑舞得到空前发展,并与乐曲相配,形成了配乐表演的套路。随着剑舞形式的进一步丰富,其内容也开始由单人舞向多人舞,由展示剑术向敷演故事演化,形成了类似于后代舞台剧的表演形式。

The sword dance was a dance with sword as the props. It appeared very early. It used to be a dance performed in the ceremony of worshiping Gods in the country of Chu.Later it was turned into a dance of the army, with both the movements of combat and recreational performance. The sword dance was quite popular in the army of Han Dynasty. Following the rise of the different operas, the practicality of using sword dance movements in combat was weakened and the performing practice was improved. There even appeared an acrobatic sword dance. In Tang Dynasty, in the wake of the popularity of Hu music in China, a sword dance characterized by the skill of wushu and acrobatics developed quickly. And matched with the music, it formed a routine of music performance. With the further rich forms of sword dance, its content changed from solo dance to group dance and evolved from fencing show to acting out stories. Thus a style of sword dance, which was similar to the later stage performance, gradually came into being.