本研究主旨在考證傳說中的「六代舞」。經過史料的考證辨析可知，一般書籍中所論之「六代舞即黃帝、堯、舜、禹、湯、武等六個時代的樂舞」，其實是不正確的。《周禮》中之「六舞」，並非特指黃帝、堯、舜、禹、湯、武等六個時代的樂舞。而「六代」之說，是漢人關於王道與禪讓的政治理想，由東漢末葉的經學家鄭玄所凝聚，藉著注解《周禮》及《禮記》，才產生出「六代舞」的說法。此說開始於東漢末、曹魏初（鄭玄），而盛行於唐（孔穎達與賈公彥），延續至宋（陳暘），直到今日，復被不同的研究者在缺乏考證的情形下所誤導。但其實，這已不是周代人對於舞蹈的理想思惟或周代舞蹈制度的實況，而是漢、唐、宋人的禪讓王道理想。

This research investigates the facts in relation to the alleged "Dance of the Six Dynasties." Having applied the historical research methodology to the examination of the related source materials, this research found: 1) firstly, there was no "Dance of the Six Dynasties." What genuinely existed in history as a fact was "Six Dances," which referred to six major dance pieces generally performed in ancient China. 2) The idea of "Six Dynasties" was formulated to emphasize the concept of Wang-Tao and Shan-Rang, which was the political ideology of Han Dynasty.