¡· 2003 Shell God in the Fog¡GSaaluwa's Ritual Music and Dance Saaluwa, a tribe of South Zou, inhabit by the Lao-Nong River, two hundreds of population till now. Hearsay, Saaluwa had once dwelt in the East, a place named Hlahlunga where they neighbored peacefully and friendly with Kaburua, a legendary dwarf tribe. At their departure, Kaburua made a present of Holy Shell and the Ritual of Shell God to them. Saaluwa, after they settled down, accordingly hold a magnificent ritual every year to pray for their security, abundance and prosperity.There is a touching legend chanted in one of the ritual songs about rite plants. Six hunters and a dog chase their prey and miss the time unfortunately. They could only float in the air over the rite field when they come back. The ritual ends, they fly to the starry sky and change into the Big Dipper. Unable to be part of the ritual, they gaze the homeland from the distant sky with loneliness, solitude but there is nothing they can do. ?Shell God in the Fog? is a folk ballet integrating mythology, history, ritual music and dance and modern life with each other. ¡yThe Formosa Aboriginal Song ¡® Dance Troupe¡z experiences and learns the Ritual of Shell God practically. We, then, merge the ancient history into modern life and perform it on the stage in the form of drama. The audience would recognize the rare tribe through admiring our creature, and furthermore praise the estheticism and poetic atmosphere brewing in the Ritual of God Shell. |