Bo dance

Home Culture 2019-04-04

Bo dance

Horqinbo dance, a primitive religious dance, is a form of Mongolian Bo (Shaman) "Xingbo" (Dancing God) and sacrifice. It is characterized by the combination of inspiration, singing and dancing, and has the characteristics of self-entertainment, competitiveness and play, which contains teaching in appreciation and entertainment.


"Shaman" originates from the Chinese translation of Tungusian, meaning "a person who dances with excitement". History books generally refer to "Hu Wu", Mongolian people refer to male Shaman as "Bo" and female Shaman as "Odugan". Horqinbo dance is mainly used for offering sacrifices for blessings and exorcising evil spirits and curing diseases. Sacrifices for blessings are usually held in outdoor venues, including sacrifices to heaven and earth, ancestors, fire, thunder, mulberry trees, Aobao and rain, while exorcism and treatment are carried out at night at the home of patients.


When Bo dances, his skirt floats like a bird's wings and a horse's feet. In addition, the flickering of bronze mirrors and the sound of loud impact, the sound of drumming and shaking, make people dazzled and feel majestic. Horqin Bo Dance is mainly performed by Bo himself. When "Bang Bo" (two gods) participate in it, there are two-person dance and four-person dance. Their travel process and performance sequence are preparation, altar setting, dressing, table setting, elf box and sword. The first section invites God to worship and dance. The dancer's mood is sacred and pious, mainly singing, accompanied by simple footwork and "eight worship" movements. The second part of Shenlai Dance, the dancer's emotional fanaticism and confusion, with fierce rotation and jumping movements as the main, to dialogue, began to exorcise the evil and cure the disease, divination auspicious. Some Bo also danced Elf Dance according to the gods he came from. "Spirit Dance" is named for its imitation of totem gods, such as "Bird God Dance" and "Tiger God Dance". Most of them are singing and dancing, with rich movements and vivid images. The third part is for the entertainment of God dance, performing "Drum Dance" and "Elf Dance" with drumming skills throughout the dance. "Drum Dancing" moves lightly, skillfully and skillfully, drum point rich and changeable. "Elf Dance" adds gameplay to attract audiences and achieve the purpose of entertaining both people and gods. The fourth dance is basically the same as the first one.

"Laiqing" is a branch of Horqinbo, which is the product of the fierce struggle between Lamaism and Shamanism, so some people call it "Lamaibo". Lai Qing sat on a stool, beating radicals and chanting classics for treatment. Lai Qing's teacher-successor relationship and apprenticeship ceremony are the same as Bo's. But its costumes, instruments, dance movements, performance forms and music accompaniment are different from Bo. Dance is divided into cymbal dance, knife dance and bare-handed dance with different props, without drums or rotations.

Many Bo dances in Horqin are basically the same, but with different styles. Its artistic style of singing and dancing and drumming has been used for reference and developed by the new Mongolian dance art.