On October 18th, we all met Kwan at Global Village to learn about lion dancing. Growing up I had seen it in parades in Chinatown and even at my church when celebrating Chinese New Year, so it was nice to learn some history behind it from Kwan.
Lion dancing started in China around 300AD when they took the masks that the Persians made based on what they thought lions looked like, because lions hadn’t existed at that point yet, and adapted it to their interpretation of a lion which is what we see today. Kwan showed us all sorts of lions from different countries, and it was crazy to see how different each one looked, especially comparing it to what a lion actually is today.
Kwan then ended up discussing how there are two kinds of Chinese lions, Northern and Southern. The Northern lions tend to have longer hair. The Southern lions tend to have shorter hairs. Kwan went very in-depth on the Southern lions. There are two kinds of them, traditional and contemporary, with the contemporary lions having more fluff around the eyes. The lions didn’t really have a set color palette. Some lions were bright red and yellow while others were black and red. It just depended on what they wanted to represent.
After showing us all the different kinds of lions, we watched some videos of lion dancing. She showed us a clip from a time he went to a high school and taught some students the lion dance. Then he showed us a clip of two boys performing a lion dance on stage while another boy was playing the drum. This video had a lot of tricks and stunts in it, such as standing on top of each other, jumping on and off the stage, and throwing the lion in the air, and switching spots. There was also interaction with the audience members which was fun to watch.
The last video he showed us was of a group of girls that recorded a dance in the Global Village building. The girls didn’t have as many stunts, they instead had some girls doing cartwheels, flips, and the splits since some of them were gymnasts. Unlike the performance with the boys, there were “cheerleaders” who held pom poms and did a little dancing while leading the lion around the stage. Also, rather than having someone playing the drum, there was background music which consisted of a mix of Chinese New Year songs.
After watching the videos, we got to do some hands-on learning. The people at Global Village were kind enough to let us use the lion and drums that were on display. Kwan showed us the very simple version of lion dancing that is typically seen at festivals and parades. The movement consisted of straightening and bending our arms upward and turning the lion head side to side every once and a while.
Everyone got the opportunity to try the lion dance whether they were the person in front holding the head and doing the movements that Kwan had shown, or if they were the person following behind that was bent over with the lion draped over them forming the body. Some people also got to cheerlead and guide the lion around the room, while Kwan played the drums.
Overall, it was interesting to see the performances because I had never really seen any stunts or tricks done with the lion, I have only ever seen the very simple lion dance that Kwan had taught us that is typically seen during parades. It was a really cool experience to be on the other side and actually be performing the lion dance rather than just watching it.