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Dances With Lions With Chinese New Year just past, I'm reminded of the lion dances that occurred in Chinatowns all around the world. The colorful lions with their menacing looks entranced the crowd. The onlookers switched from being frightened to awed. Adding to the spectacle, the sounds of the drum, cymbals and gongs and you had a loud yet pleasing show. Though outlawed in many places, some lion dances still employ the liberal lighting of firecrackers. Smoke and explosions are a coup de grace for the Lion Dance. As popular as this dance is, very few understand it's meaning or purpose. Lion dancing has a long history in Chinese culture. Although, no one is quite sure exactly how the dance got started. In Dr. Hu's book, Lion Dance Explained, (B823: $54.95, see page 33) he offers several possible origin stories. They range from an evil beast being chased away be villagers by a make shift lion costume to a dying emperor revived by servants doing the mystical dance. Since so many origins of the lion dance exist, I prefer to relate a story with a mythical flavor. Once in the lands of the Chinese Gods, the Lion King, who in Chinese mythology was a carefree character and practical joker, decided to play a joke on the Jade Emperor, who is the equivalent of Zeus from Greek mythology. He thought it would be fun to feign an injury and when the Jade Emperor would try to help him, he would scare him. Unfortunately the Jade Emperor didn't share the Lion King's sense of humor and killed the Lion King by chopping off his head. Some time later, Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, felt sorry for the Lion King and tied his head to a long colorful ribbon and brought him back to life. The Lion King was so grateful, he promised to never play jokes again and would spend his times helping others. Kwan Yin was so impressed by his sincerity, she gave him a horn to fight with and a reflective nose to scare off demons. Today, the lion dance is used at various celebrations to bring good luck and chase away evil spirits. LION DANCE AND KUNG FU Today lion dances, are performed by various groups. Some are cultural groups while others are community centers. The majority, however, is still the Kung Fu schools. During the Ching dynasty, the motto was "Overthrow the Ching, Restore the Ming." The Ching Dynasty had taken over and many of the kung fu schools who wanted to rebel against the Ching used the lion dance to secretly pass messages and to practice their martial arts. Most traditional southern Kung Fu masters will say that a school
is not complete unless they have a lion dance. When a school would
open in Southern China, they were judged by their lion dance. The
lion dance Conversely, lion dancing helps develop the skills necessary for good kung fu. It builds stances, stepping, stamina, quick thinking, and power generation; just to name a few. Also as part of most lion dance performances, the Wing Lam Lion Dance Team will also do kung fu demonstrations. This gives the participants the chance to publicly demonstrate the skills they have worked so hard to acquire. WHAT'S IN A LION DANCE The lion dance has three main components. They are the Lion, the instruments and the pattern or show. Since each of these topics could warrant an individual article, we will only touch the surface. The traditional lion consists of a head which is usually made of bamboo and paper mache. It does not resemble any known lion on earth. It has a mystical look with a furry mustache, ears and eye lids, a horn like a unicorn on the top of its head, and a mirror on it's nose. Historically, lions did not exist in China. It could be that travelers from Persia saw lions and described them to the creators of today's lion heads. Modern lion heads have aluminum and PVC pieces. This makes them lighter and more durable for the acrobatics in the modern patterns. The color of the lions vary like the color of the rainbow. Technically, each color combination has significance and meaning. Traditional kung fu schools still adhere to these meanings but for the most part, lion dance companies go with whatever looks good. The traditional lion color scheme follows the characters from the famous Chinese novel, Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel (B808: $39.95, see page 33) Liu Pei was a ruler and learned official. He is represented by yellow or gold face lions with white beards to show his wisdom and stature. Guan Gung was a general and brave leader. He is represented by red face lions. His beard can be white or black. Finally, there is Chang Fei who was the young upstart. His face is predominantly black and looks more fierce then the other lions. His beard is black and usually short to show his young and pugnacious nature. Guan Gung lions are the most generic and can be used by anyone. The Liu Pei lions should be reserved for Kung Fu schools with long traditions. If this lion has an excessively long beard, it denotes a Sifu that has the respect of the general Kung Fu community. Finally, Sifus trying to establish themselves will use Chang Fei lions. This matches their place in the martial hierarchy. In addition to the head, is the body of the lion which is usually referred to as the tail. Traditional tails are ten feet long and rainbow in color, regardless of the lion head color. Modern tails are mono or bi color and compliment or match the color of the head. Traditional tails are made of silk. Most modern tails are still made out of silk but some have been made out of nylon for durability or mylar for a reflective shine. Many of the tails these days are going to the shorter length of 7 to 8 feet. The first lion to use the shorter length tail was in Singapore in the late '60s. During a competition, a lion team was defeated. The Sifu was so disgusted that he cut the tail of his lion. Since tails were expensive, he thought he would use the shorter tail for practice. He found that the shorter tail allowed for more acrobatic stunts and a more realistic looking lion. He made a short tail and won the competition that next year. Since then most competition lions use the shorter tail length. For celebrations, both lengths are used. The longer is considered more traditional but the shorter one is more aesthetically pleasing. The instruments of the band are the Drum, Gong and Cymbal. There are no other instruments in a traditional lion dance. Even modern lion dance groups have not added more instruments. The drum is the leader of the band and has a long history in Chinese culture. The drum was first recorded in Chinese history when a famous general had a dream about leading his troupes into battle. He was faced with coordinating a large force. He decided to stretch the skin of a tiger over a barrel and use the bone from it's leg to beat on it. When the troupes heard the drum beat, they would charge. The Chinese are credited with creating the gong. While many cultures independently created drums, no other culture ever used a gong. While the drum was sufficient to be heard before a charge, in the heat of a battle, the low sound of the drum was difficult to hear. The gong, with its high pitch would be used to signify a retreat. This pattern is represented in the bows a lion does. The drum is loud on the bow forward and the gong takes over on the retreat. The cymbal play a complimentary role and fills out the ensemble. The symbol has a high sound to follow the gong but is quicker in sound much like the drum. Another important element to the lion dance is the pattern or show. This is the sequence of moves that constitute the lion dance. In traditional times, there were pieces to the pattern that must be done. Like the compulsories of a figure skating routine there are stunts or actions that make up a complete show. The most basic elements are an opening (Hoi Jong), a eating of greens (Choy Chang) and a closing. The opening gives respect to all the necessary entities. In the most basic sense, it is the audience and is signified by three bows. It is also required to bow to all important figures and statues of gods or religious icons. This is a sign of respect and can easily offend people if not done. Also in the opening is some identifying move of the lion dance tradition. The Wing Lam Lion Dance team does a pattern called the triangle pattern and has a distinctive beginning drum beat. These two things identify our southern Hung Gar tradition. The opening can also include a short kung fu form but this is not necessary. The eating of the greens is the symbolic gesture that brings luck and prosperity to the occasion. It consists of eating a head of lettuce or other similar "green" and then throwing the shredded green back out. The Chinese name is choy chang because choy is the Chinese word for vegetable but also sounds like prosperity as in Gung Hay Fat Choi which is the famous phrase echoed around Chinese New Year. Though many Americans translate this as happy new year, a more literal translation is strong breath, great wealth or as a certain pointy eared alien would say, live long and prosper. Thus the throwing of the shredded choy symbolizes the spreading of wealth and prosperity. Around the choy chang, is the creative portion of the show. Credit is given for strong, powerful movements, synchronization when there is more then one lion, acrobatic skills and death defying heights. The more skill used and obstacles conquered the better the luck brought by the show. The obstacles can range from everyday items like benches and tables stacked together to the elaborate metal piles that go up to 15 ft high in the modern competitions. There are also traditional puzzles to be solved which require that acts are performed in a certain sequence. Unfortunately this is dying out to more acrobatic stunts. Another feature dying out in modern lion dance are the traditional drum patterns. Traditional lion dance drumming is like well written poetry. It has set rhythms and even meanings in the patterns. Many of the modern teams have lost these meanings and rhythms and can be like slang to the proper language of traditional drumming. The added acrobatics gets it's root from the Northern Lion Dance which has it's root in the Beijing opera. The Northern Lion looks more like a dog with a square face and shaggy body. It's movements are more playful. Adding the Northern movements with the southern lion is very popular since the advent of the shorter tail. They call this type of dance, Southern Lion in the Northern Form.
The goal of this article was to give a little perspective to one of the most seen yet least understood performances around the world. Hopefully, an interest has been sparked to learn more about this great tradition and maybe even participate. The most important thing is to enjoy the dance. Partake in the luck that it brings and the history it carries. If you are part of a kung fu tradition, you should look into participating with your lion dance team. Not only will you improve your kung fu but you will have a lot of fun and be part of an age long legacy. At the very least, you will be able to tell the person standing next to you that they are watching a lion dance and not a dragon. |