Dai Peacock Dance

The Dai peacock dance is a traditional folk dance found among the Dai of Dehong's Ruili and Luxi as well as Xishuangbanna, Gengding and beyond. In 2006 it was entered on the first national ICH list (item Ⅲ-27), declared by the city of Ruili in Yunnan.

Dancers in peacock-patterned skirts and crowns use supple hand shapes, trembling shoulders and light steps to imitate the peacock drinking, fanning its tail and taking flight, to the beat of elephant-leg drums and mang gongs, vivid and graceful.

To the Dai the peacock is a symbol of fortune and beauty, and the peacock dance carries their reverence for nature and their aesthetic sense, standing as the representative of Dai dance and inseparable from great festivals such as the Water Splashing Festival.