The waist drum dance is part of traditional Chinese folklore, and is commonly seen on various Chinese festive occasions. It originated in northwest China over 1,000 years ago, and it’s believed that waist drums were originally beat by immortals in heaven to dispel evil spirits.
The waist drum dance is basically playing drumsticks, formation changes, and leaping while beating the waist drum. Nowadays, it is usually performed to the accompaniment of rhythmic drumbeats and dynamic songs or music.
The Ansai waist drum dance is an extremely impressive spectacle that consists of vigorous dances and leaps accompanied by frenetic drumming. The dancers wear costumes and headdresses similar to those of ancient Chinese soldiers.
The dance manifests vigorous movements to the accompaniment of rhythmic drumbeats. At the climax of the dance, dancers beat drums while jumping in the air and yelling: “Hai hai.”.
The number of drummers ranges from a few to several thousand. When celebrating festivals or the bumper harvest, performers often stage a large-scale Ansai waist drum dance, which is usually performed by about 60 drummers. In some cases, several teams of drummers perform together in a 500- to 1,000-meter-long procession.
The “Ansai Style”
A special art——called Ansai Waist Drum Dance（安塞腰鼓 ）, is a unique, large-scale folk dance with a history of more than 2,000 years. Like a hurricane sweeping across the yellow earth, the dance displays the unsophisticated and wild character of peasant life on the Loess Plateau(黄土高原）, revealing its unique artistic charm.
