The counterpart of Yayue (Elegant Music) was jiyue (Women Music). The two were like both wings of the Chinese dance art. The jiyue dance is a broad concept that included any ancient dance forms other than the Yayue dance. Such dances were mostly performed by professional dancers for entertainment. For instance, the wrestling dance and folk dance of the Qin and Han dynasties, the Nine Parts and Ten Parts dances, the Sitting and Standing Parts dances of the Sui and Tang dynasties, as well as the team dance of the Song Dynasty can all be put into the sphere of Jiyue.
Performed by professional musicians and dancers, Jiyue dances were all entertaining. jiyue
contributed greatly to the development of music and dance, representing the artistic level reached by ancient Chinese dancers. It actually formed the mainstream of Chinese dance in a long period. Nevertheless, it was always despised and looked down upon by the society. The performers (called "Jigong") of such dances were regarded as the lower class and even enslaved by the upper class.
Jiyue originated from the Nuyue (women Music) of the slave society. The women dancers were slaves who had become real professional musicians and dancers from their predecessors, the witches. It was said that Qi, first emperor of the Xia Dynasty, had enjoyed in his palace thousands of dancing sleeves. jie, last ruler of the Xia Dynasty, had 30,000 women dancers. By the end of the Shang Dynasty, the scale of music and dance was even bigger, with women musicians and dancers filling all palaces. It was just these professional women dancers who created the splendid dance art of the slave society and perfected the dance form. But these women were at the lowest social level just like all other slaves. Slave owners could sell them, send them as gifts, kill them, or bury them alive with their dead masters. From major tombs of slave owners excavated so far, refined music instrument, dance props and skeletons of dance slaves are often discovered.
The Han Dynasty brought great development to jiyue, which secured the Han Dynasty's position as a major peak in the Chinese dance history. Some new forms of performances appeared in this period, such as the famous wrestling dance, "xiang" and "daqu". Also debuted were important dance shows like "the Dance of Pangu (plate drum)", "the Dance of Kerchief", and "the Dance of Bayu". Some musicians and dancers of this time are still remembered today. All these symbolized the arrival of the prosperity of the Chinese music and dance culture.
The most famous dancer of this time was perhaps Zhao Feiyan. Originally a dancer in the family of Princess Yang'e, she was favored by Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, who made her an imperial concubine and later the empress. Legends say that the reason she won so much favor from the emperor was her Superb dancing skills. Historical records say she "was light as a swallow and could dance on another one's palm". This might be exaggerated but all historical records acknowledged that she had a light and enchanting dancing gift.
The climax of the Tang Dynasty was a golden period in the development of Chinese dance, and it was also the prime time of the jiyue dance. At that time, the jiyue performers with high singing and dancing skills could be found in all strata of society. The imperial court had the imperial performers, the army camp had the camp performers, the local governments had official performers, and private homes had family performers. It was the genre to keep the jiyue performers, who could range from just a few to a dozen, and even to thousands. The famous poet Bai Juyi led a quiet life at home when he was old. He also kept family performers who were called Xiao Man, Fan Su, Hong E, Zi Fang and others.
By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the blossom of the Jiyue dance also came to an end. Although it had some development in the Song Dynasty, such as the dances of "Women Dance Team" and "Children Dance Team" in the imperial court, its scale was never the same as in the Tang Dynasty There were still official, camp and family Jiyue performers, but their influence and scale were far below those in the Tang Dynasty.
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