A Study on the Representative Features of Ryukyuan Dance(4) : On the Classical Woman's Dance "NUFA BUSHI"

The present paper deals with the representative features of a Ryukyuan Dance, "NUFA.BUSHI", which is a kind of classical dance and one of the women's dances. So far, as the previous studies, the investigated results on three dances have been reported; "SHUDUN" (1976) among classical women's dances, and "KAGIYADEFU" (1975) and "TAKADERA-MANZAI" (1977) among the classical man's dances. (1). Methods 1. Photographing of all the performances of the dance on 8 mm film, 16 mm film and 36 mm film. The photograph was taken during the period between 1974 and 1982. 2. Drawing the dance figures and the whole dance movements in everyone or ten frames by using a profile projector. 3. Counting all the frames of the dance, then numbering the pausal frames of the motion, and calculating the time. 4. Making out a diagram of whole dance construction. 5. Drawing up constructional pictures of the classical dance of woman in Ryukyuan dance and attempting to structure it with photographs. 6. Drawing up a shape figure of main dance motion. (making a series of overlapping shape, particularly in order to recognize the development of the gestures and the motions easily.) (2). Results and Considerations 1. The dance had 20,570 sections in the 8 mm film and it took about 19 minutes and 2 seconds. "NUFA-BUSHI"usually takes from 18 minutes to 20 minutes. and it is the longest work among the classical dances of women. (2,509 pictures on the whole dance figures were drawn.) 2. The construction of the dance consists of three parts, as most of the classical dances of women commonly do. Those three parts are "NJIFA-UDUI", "NAKA-UDUI" and "IRIFA". Also, there are two types of the movements on the stage for the classical damce of woman. As far as the movements on the stage is concerned, "NUFA-BUSHI" belongs to the type 2 as the figure 2 shows. 3. The contents of the dance is the expression of a woman's feelings; those are loneliness she feels because she cannot see her lover, and the pain and desolate feeling she has because she wants to see her lover strongly. This is performed with the walking motion as the dancer rub on the floor. The dancer moves back and forth on the diagonal line from the left corner to the right front of the stage. He/she also moves back and forth on the straight line in the center of the stage. The accompaniment music is the characteristic melody with the rylic of Ryukyuan classical music. 4. In the first half of the. dance, the dancer holds a "hana-gasa" in the right hand, and in the latter half, he/she puts it on. Because it is performed with a "hana-gasa". it is called "Hana-gasa Dance". 5. The costume is called "uchikake"I a kind of "Kimono" dyed by Ryukyu Bingata of which the base color is bright red. 6. The dance has some characteristic motions and gestures. One of them is called "SHIRAKUMU·DI" which is to make waving motion with hands. The dancer walks at a quick pace while carrying the "hana-gasa" fixed in the right side. "GAMAKU-IRI" is the motion that the dancer slightly inclines the upper body and stretches his/her legs. The way of standing, "ON-NADACHI", is also the charachteristic motion. "HAIYA-MATA" expresses the feelings of grief. It is performed by inclining the upper part of the body with the dancer's back toward the audience. 7. Generally, the movements of the classical women'sdances mainly express feelings and features of nature. Particularly this dance is a long performance, slowly and elegantly expressing the feeling of love. The phrase of one motion is around 1 minute (60seconds). The slow motion can be pointed out as one of the distinctive features of this dance