霸王鞭是民间常见的歌舞表演形式，表演时，一手的手指上扣着绣有各种图案的方巾，另一手执鞭，也有双手各执一鞭的。舞时，以鞭击打或碰臂、腿、肩、腰、背、脚心、膝、胯、肘、手掌等部位或地面。两人以上舞蹈时，常常互相对敲，随着跳动的步伐，发出悦耳的响声。表演中还可演唱各地民歌，形式生动活泼。因此，霸王鞭又称“连厢棍”、“花棍”、“金钱棍”。
     
    叶县的霸王鞭是民间高跷的发展，表演者手持鞭、盘、扇扮装不同角色，滑稽风趣，行步轻快，舞蹈跳跃，生动活泼，有自己的独特之处。在霸王鞭的打法上千变万化，节奏鲜明，盘中的茶杯盛满水，耍起来翻个底朝天，杯不掉、水不洒，这种舞与杂耍的结合，幽默、诙谐、引人入胜。尤其在农闲、节日时，这种健康轻松活泼的表演给人以欢乐的享受，同时增加了节日的气氛，深受人民群众的热爱。
   
    叶县霸王鞭所用的道具有“鞭”、“盘”、“茶杯”、“扇子”。“鞭”用竹竿及铜钱制成，竹竿长７０厘米，粗细如中国横笛，挖六个透根洞（四长两短）用二十个铜钱穿入洞中，相邻的两个洞左右错开，以便引起共鸣防止破裂；“盘”用质硬且有重量的木材做成，直径２３厘米，盘高０．５厘米，并有突出的盘边；“茶杯”就是普通的家用茶杯。“扇”用的就是一般的芭蕉扇或折扇。
   
    霸王鞭在叶县有一个明晰的发展历程：１９５８年以前，它还保留着原来的传统面目，隶属于故事戏，人员由老生、老旦、青衣、两个小旦、丑、和尚等七八人组成，一般戏曲化装，和尚穿黄马褂、鼻子上画白蝉，负责打鞭，一个小旦耍盘，所有人物均脚踩高跷。１９５８年后，随着形势的需要，去掉了高跷，走上了舞台，脱离了故事戏，发展成为一人耍盘，四五人打鞭的台上表演舞蹈，但形式仍很简单，没有组合程式，仅是跟着大起板的节奏各打各的。
    
     １９５９年，为了迎接地区和省民间音乐舞蹈调演，叶县文化馆派人到董寨村挖掘整理，组合了几个简单的打法，将其向前推进了一步。当年在全省汇演时，老艺人董赠申（已故）的绝活轰动了省城。当时他耍盘，盘中的杯子里盛满了清水，舞时任意翻转，杯不掉水不洒，令人叫绝。
  
    上个世纪８０年代，董寨村能玩或者说还在玩的艺人就只有董海彬了，董海彬在打法上相当出色，并有新的发展，特别是他的抖鞭（或叫摇鞭）确有独到之处，但托盘技巧较差。后来，县文化局以董海彬为老师，培养了一批年轻艺人，内容上重新构思，以“庆丰收”为主题，主要反映十一届三中全会以后农村实行联产承包责任制，物质生活得到提高，精神面貌焕然一新的欢乐场面，组合所有动作，表演上在继承的前提下有所创新，并融合了其他民间舞蹈的动作、步伐、画面，给人以清新爽朗的感觉。

 Rattle Stick Dance 
    

      
     Folk dance Rattle Stick Dance dates from Chu and Han Competition at the end of Qin Dynasty and nowadays it still exist in Qianwei Town. In ancient times, once Liu Bang and Xiang Yu made a promise: The one first getting into the capital will be the King. Xiang Yu was very invincible and was the winner all the way. Once he captured a city, he would stand on horse dancing and order soldiers to break branch as scourge and dance to celebrate victory. Common people followed him facing exciting things, thus this extemporaneous dance spread from military camps to folk. For Xiang Yu called himself as Xichu Conqueror, this dance named after him. 
         
    Rattle stick is a stage property handed by dancers, which is always a 1-meter bamboo pole with two holes at the ends and 2 or 3 copper cashes inside, sometimes painted the stick but no copper cash. The dance action is various and changeable. In our town, the dance is everyone holds two stick in each hand, singing and dancing, hitting and walking, changing formation, sometimes combining with folk songs and other stage property like fan, bamboo clappers, which is suitable for a group as well as a single person. Pitifully, there are less and less people dancing this dance.