Quick Answer
Pumi (普米族, Pǔmǐzú) Guozhuang (锅庄, guōzhuāng) is one name for Cuocuo (搓蹉, cuōcuō), a social dance documented in Lanping County, Yunnan. Dancers can form circles or semicircles. The documented accompaniment includes a four-string bibo (比柏, bǐbǎi) and percussion made with sheepskin.[1][2]
- Place: The national entry documents the dance in Pumi villages in Lanping Bai and Pumi Autonomous County.[1]
- Music: A shift in the tune can signal the next movement.[2]
- Participation: In the open social form, people can enter after the dancing has begun.[1]
Listen for the change in melody and watch how the dancers respond. Those two cues help identify what is happening within a single performance.[1][2]
The musicians change the tune before the dancers change their movement. That detail, recorded in Yunnan’s heritage inventory, helps explain how a group can stay together while moving through several patterns. It also points to the close relationship among the tune, the steps and the people joining the circle.[2]
What Guozhuang Means in Lanping
The Yunnan provincial inventory gives Pumi Guozhuang as another name for Cuocuo. It locates the tradition in Pumi villages around places including Tongdian, Hexi, Lajing, Jinding and Shideng. The national entry uses Cuocuo in its title. A label giving that name and Lanping identifies the repertoire more precisely than a programme that simply says “circle dance.”[1][2]
In a wider account of Pumi dance, researchers at Minzu University describe evening gatherings in courtyards or open spaces with a fire at the centre. The account associates that arrangement with the hearth evoked by the term Guozhuang. Yunnan’s entry also describes a circle around a fire, with people holding hands, singing and dancing. For language, ceremonies and other regional traditions, see the guide to Pumi culture for more context.[2][3]
How Music Guides the Dancers
The four-string instrument plays the tune and a rhythm can be struck on sheepskin. Yunnan’s inventory also describes accompaniment using chopsticks, a wooden bowl or bamboo pieces. In the bowl-and-chopsticks sequence, the sound is part of the dance’s identity, so an observer may recognise a change in the accompaniment alongside a change in the dancers’ movement.[1][2]
The national description notes that during changes between dance tunes one singer may lead and others answer. The exchange gives the singers a part during the transition, before the next tune and movement are underway.[1]
How People Join and Change Formation
The national inventory distinguishes an open form and a closed form. In the open social form, people can join once it is underway. Some begin dancing at different times and others may walk and sing before dancing. The description names single circles, double circles and semicircles, and records movement in either direction.[1]
The inventory records twelve surviving step sets in the open form. Provincial examples include a bowl-and-chopsticks dance and a movement whose name refers to shoes touching. A video may show one passage in one formation. Its title or caption can help you tell whether the movement is a named sequence or part of an arranged performance.[1][2]
How Cuocuo Is Taught and Presented
The Yunnan inventory describes teaching in families and by experienced performers. A 2024 account from Nujiang profiles prefectural bearer He Jiugui, who began learning Pumi dancing and songs from older relatives at six. That example shows how learning the dance can begin alongside learning songs and customs.[2][4]
China added Cuocuo to the national heritage inventory in 2008. The entry records staged adaptations from the 1980s onward. A staged selection can present some of the movement and music within a set performance, while a social gathering may allow people to join at different moments. A recording that names the group and occasion gives the viewer that context.[1]
The guide to Tibetan guozhuang dance explains other uses of the shared name. Tu Anzhao dance offers a separate example of circular group movement. Check the performers and local name when comparing the three.
FAQs About Pumi Guozhuang Dance
Does Cuocuo Always Need a Fire?
A central fire is documented in accounts of some outdoor gatherings. The national inventory also describes adaptable formations and open social dancing, and organized stage versions have their own setting.[1][2][3]
Is Pumi Guozhuang a Single Set of Steps?
The national inventory records twelve surviving step sets for the open form and several formations. A stage version or a video may show only a selected part of that repertoire.[1][2]
資料來源
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. National inventory entry for Pumi Cuocuo
[2] Yunnan Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center. Yunnan inventory entry for Pumi Cuocuo dance
[3] Minzu University of China. Pumi customs and dance settings
[4] Nujiang Prefecture Media Center via Xinhuanet. Cuocuo and bearer He Jiugui