After Chinese dance entered the civilized society from the primitive times, its development accelerated and got matured quickly. TheYayue(elegant music) system established in the early Western Zhou Dynasty (11thcentury -771BC) was a milestone marking maturity of the Chinese dance culture.

The rite and music system of the Zhou Dynasty (11thcentury - 256BC) was founded on the heritage of the preceding systems of the Xia (21st- 17thcentury BC) and Shang (17th- 11thcentury BC) Dynasties. As a ruling measure -- an instrument of education, the status and function of music and dance art were given unprecedented attention. This part of music and dance is the so-calledYayue(elegant music) orYawu(elegant dance), which would remain the chief part of Chinese music and dance culture. Although it experienced ups and downs in the following feudal society spanning thousands of years, it always represented the orthodox trend of music and dance.

The chief content of the dance forYayuewas the Six Major Dances, or the Six-Dynasty Dances, which represented six dynasties. The first dance was said to be theYunmen(also calledYunmen Dajuan, XianchiorChengyun) and it originated from the legendary ancient Emperor Huangdi. The following parts were theDazhang(orDaxian) from the Emperor Yao, theDashao(orDazhao) from the Emperor Shun, and theDaxia(orXiayue) from Emperor Yu of the Xia Dynasty, and theDahuo(also called Sanglin) from Emperor Tang of the Shang Dynasty. The last dance wasDawuon a realistic Subject, which reflected the achievements of Emperor Wu who overthrew Emperor Zhou of the Shang Dynasty and set up the Zhou Dynasty.

These dances disappeared long ago and it's impossible to find their details nowadays. However, from various legends about these dances, we can still guess some basic elements of them.