Yi Minority New Year

I changed my mind: I finished blogging and went to Yang Liping's Tibetan Riddle. I think that caps my week of attending dance events.

I need to start off with the Yi Minority New Year celebrations. I have been dancing with the Yi student group on Saturday nights. Their dances are not too hard to learn, but it takes some getting used to using the same foot twice. They have circular dances and also line dances. I am not very good at picking up line dances so I refrained from attempting them. Judging from the movements of their dances, the Yi people are extroverts and outgoing. The arm movements and kicking motions used take up quite a bit of room.

I went to their morning events which involved traditional wrestling. My Yi friend won a match and gave me his prize. Woohoo! Then I was almost roped in for the bride snatching event. I just told them I don't think I'm going to join in, I'm claiming Han status. The girls went to one side of the field and the guys went to the other side. There is no official start to this event. The guys just run across the field and haul one of the girls to the other side, while the other girls try to pelt him with flour and the other guys can also try and steal her from him. It was hilarious to watch. I imagine if one of them tried to steal me, they'd figure out I am not as light as the most of the skinny girls there. After this event was over, came the bride carrying race. This was fun to watch as the guys had to carry the girl they stole and run a race. Again, there were lots of laughs.

In the afternoon, there would be a new year concert. My friend asked me to be there at 2:00pm and I found out why. The doors were not open and he was sneaking me in via the side door. I managed to get a good seat in the center portion of the auditorium, just in front of the soundboard. I like these seats always because you rarely get disturbed. The doors opened at 2:30pm and it is like land rush. Swarms of people pour into the auditorium.

The concert begins at around 3:00pm. As usual like any event in China, there were speeches. Some of the things said in the speeches were very interesting but I will not mention them here. They have some dances and lots of singing. Unfortunately for me, my ears are very sensitive and in my haste I left my ear plugs at home. Everything was blaringly loud, so loud that my ears hurt. They invited a celebrity to perform on stage. I don't know what his name is but he was on a talent show and his pianist is black. The most interesting thing which happened was he gave a long speech about his parents being the last of the genuine Yi and that the younger generation is losing their Yi identity. He wanted to rally the younger ones to appreciate and preserve their culture. He then proceeded to sing a song to encourage that, but very surprisingly (and unfittingly) the song was in English - "Just the Two of Us". This was rather baffling, as I expected him to sing a Yi song and let the whole crowd join in, which would have been a better way of separating the outsiders from them ;).

I leave after the concert to have dinner on my own. From other sources, I found out that dinner was a closed event and only Yi people could attend it. I return in the evening to the field where they are hosting the dance. We did not have a happy medium as the music was too soft and it was hard to hear in the open air. I managed to dance as much as wanted, as there were lots of people and it was hard to follow the leaders who were in the innermost circle. There were up to four circles at times. I managed to dance more accurately with the smaller circles outside the main circle. There was also a group of people who were dancing their own selections and singing as they did. They were much more interesting and more traditional. My friend was of course, already drunk when I saw him at the dance. What's a festival without alcohol? :) I had a great time and went back home at around 10pm.