Stilt Dancers of Long Bow Village
odd: label: Local Number
content: HSFA 1988.5.2
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Gordon, Richard, 1953-
label: Collection Creator
content: Hinton, Carma
setName: label: See more items in
content: Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton films
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (27 minutes, color sound)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1979
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film shot in the village of Long Bow 400 miles southwest of Beijing, China. The film explores the tradition of stilt dancing done on New Year's Day and on other special occasions. Adult and child performers make up their faces, don costumes, and dance on stilts in cultural performances which portray folk heroes and villains. This performance tradition is contextualized historically with particular emphasis on its revival following the Cultural Revolution. The film provides examples of the aesthetics and athleticism involved in stilt dancing as well as showing how commentaries presented through this cultural form have become increasingly political and national in scope.