With makeup, stilts, and drumbeats, Yin Xuntang, dressed in a bright red costume, appeared in the wind and snow. On the tenth day of the first month, the stilt team of Shantou Village, Pingyin County, Jinan City, reappeared in the "rivers and lakes" after many years, from sixty-year-old men to six-year-old children, they can be found in the team. Yin Xuntang, 57 years old this year, is not only the leader of the stilt team, but also the inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage stilt project.
After a 10-year hiatus, he performed on stage again.
Although it was past the beginning of spring, a sudden cold snap caused the temperature to plummet and the snow to drift. In the afternoon, in the Rose Lake Wetland Park in Pingyin County, a folk play performance was about to kick off, and Yin Xuntang and the team members were already ready to play. "Your show was moved forward and changed to the second one. Hearing what the staff at the scene said, Yin Xuntang, who was still sitting in the house to rest a second, immediately rushed out with the team members.
The sky was overcast with scattered light snow. The cold weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the stilt team in the stilt team. I saw them stepping on stilts and lined up, waiting for the order to play. As the gongs and drums sounded off the field, Yin Xuntang took the brunt and led dozens of players behind him to step on the drums. Everyone walked in unison, sonorous and powerful, attracting the audience to take out their mobile phones to take pictures. "It's been 10 years, and the stilts in our Shantou Village have stopped for 10 years, and today we are finally back out of the 'rivers and lakes'. Yin Xuntang sighed.
Stepping on stilts and stacking Arhats is the finale of the performance. I saw everyone standing in a row, and several people in the middle of the team lifted up 3 ** and 3 children, and then slowly moved forward in unison. Even though the falling snowflakes had soaked the ground, everyone's pace was still steady. Seeing this scene, the audience burst into applause.
The oldest of today's performers is in his 60s, and the youngest is only 6 years old. Yin Xuntang told the New Yellow River reporter that when he first signed up, more than 80 people signed up at once, and they rehearsed for six or seven days for this performance, and everyone's enthusiasm was very high.
The highest step over 24 meters "abduction".
In Shantou Village, there is a long tradition of stepping on stilts, from children aged three or four to elderly people in their 70s. In 1991, the village organized the establishment of a stilt team, and it was at that time that Yin Xuntang began to formally learn to step on stilts. "I started walking on stilts when I was seventeen or eighteen years old, but I didn't start training in earnest. He recalls that he was in his 20s when the stilt team was formed, and after more than a week of formal study, he basically mastered the art of stepping on stilts.
Perhaps because of the relationship that he has been exposed to since childhood, in Yin Xuntang's opinion, the difficulty of stepping on stilts is not too great, as long as you practice regularly, you can learn it. That being said, the first time he stepped on the stilts, he was still a little scared in his heart, worried that he would not be able to stand on his feet and fall. "The stilts under my feet are also called 'crutches', and I practiced stepping on 50 cm 'crutches' for the first time, and then gradually increased in height, and the highest step was 24 meters of 'crutches'. He said that at first, he didn't obey his legs and walked against the wall, but later after learning to master the center of gravity, he was able to walk independently. In fact, stepping on stilts is a dangerous "job", and one team member once broke six or seven ribs.
The "running board" is a form of stilt performance that is extremely dangerous. More than 10 personnel stepped on stilts and passed a 12-meter-long strip about 1 from the groundPlanks 5 meters high. The performers need to move back and forth on a wooden board with a width of only 35 cm to achieve the performance effect. "There are 3-meter-long slopes at the front and back ends of the plank, which is convenient for going up and down, and each person must take 3 steps up and down, so that everyone can step on the plank smoothly and in a neat formation. Yin Xuntang told the New Yellow River reporter that they had performed once in Jinan Garden Expo Park, and they stepped on 1The 1-meter-high "abductor", plus the height of the plank, is nearly 3 meters above the ground, and the whole process can be said to be thrilling.
The stilt performers step on the "crutches", and the performance is sometimes light singing and dancing, sometimes hot and enthusiastic, sometimes improvising and wild, and is also known as "Oriental ballet on wooden sticks".
Three generations of a family will walk on stilts.
There was a 10-year hiatus in stilt farming, but this did not affect the inheritance of stilt skills. The Spring Festival of 2014 was the last appearance of the mountain stilt team after its establishment, and since then, a pair of "crutches" have been idle, and the scene of the performance has been sealed in everyone's mobile phones. "When you hear the drumbeat, you have to turn around immediately. For this performance, which has been waiting for 10 years, Liu Xirong, secretary of the Party branch of Shantou Village, conducts rehearsals on the spot every day, from changing formations to playing beats, and rehearses every detail repeatedly.
The youngest member of our stilt team is only 3 years old. Speaking of which, Yin Xuntang is quite proud, the older generation of his family will step on stilts, and he also learned to step on stilts from his father. Now, three generations of their family will walk on stilts, and although they don't perform on stage many times a year, everyone has a kind of enthusiasm and is very active as long as it is needed, whether it is an adult or a child, they can go on stage with their legs tied. Some time ago, the village customized a new batch of "abductors", and the old "abductors" were left in the village history museum to inspire later young people.
In Yin Xuntang's words, stilts on the mountain are not afraid of no inheritance. As he said, in the stilt walking procession, more young people appeared, and their movements were more flexible, showing the love and respect of the younger generation for traditional culture, and also proving the vitality of the traditional art of stilt walking.
Stilts are our roots, our souls, our pride. Yin Xuntang's face was filled with a proud smile.