The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties constituted a crucial period in the progress of ancient Chinese music and dance. The dances of Shengle and Pingcheng among the Northern Wei clearly highlight the grassland nomadic culture. In Luoyang, the Sinicization, led by Emperor Xiaowen, resulted in the blending of dance cultures of the Hu and the Han people. Since the Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Qi, and Northern Zhou Dynasties, the cultural dance factors that had intermingled in earlier periods accreted and were integrated; these were prominently reflected in the dances of Yecheng and Chang’an. During the Northern Dynasties, interactions between dance cultures of various ethnic groups resulted in the traditional Liyue civilization of China absorbing new forms and content and activating energetic elements in the Chinese troditional dance. This laid the foundation of Sui and Tang music and dance, representing the formation of a new art era.

Yuan Kong. Analysis of Dance Forms and Cultural Factors of the Northern Dynasties in China. Frontiers in Art Research (2021) Vol. 3, Issue 4: 5-15. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2021.030402.

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