Types of Lion dance.

[syn]

My Sifu was recently telling us about the different types of southern lion dance. Now he can sort of be hard to understand at times (not the best english which is really a bad sign), he was talking about how most groups don't do real lion anymore that it usually consists of duck or Buddha-Crane style. He explained how back then there was crane style which the lion head had more of a crane shape, sort of pointed, and then buddha style with a more round head, but then they fused the two to get a more moderate in between.

We also recently started training in some odd lion style which the lion heads look almost like a cross in lion and dragon, and they scoop their heads from side to side. I think the name for them started with an L, and even a few people who were raised in Hong Kong had never heard of the style because it's so uncommon. I was wondering if you guys knew what style this was?

Also my sifu mentioned an even more uncommon style starting with a P like Paq something of the other, though I didn't retain it, he said he'd show us it some time.

Basically I was just wondering if you guys knew of all the different lion styles there are still currently existing today.

[Wong Ying Home]

I know of only . Hok San, Fat San and Key Lung or Chi Ling:confused: Plus of course Northern

[monkeyking168]

Two of the more popular Southern lions are the Fut San (Foshan-Buddha mountain) and Hok San (Heshan-Crane Mountain). There are other types of lions from other provinces, but because most of the Chinese that emigrated from China are from Guangdong (Kwangtung) province these are the lions that are most seen around the world.

The Fut San’s head is rounder in shape and has a curved mouth while the Hok san’s face is longer and its mouth is flat and shaped like a duck’s bill (hence its nick name the duck bill lion).

The selection of which type of Southern Lion a school chose was dependent upon the style of Kung Fu taught. As an example, practitioners of Hung Gar Kung Fu-would use the Fut Shan Lion, while practitioners of Choy Li Fut and White Crane would use the Hok Shan. It should be noted that this was a general association and not a rule etched in stone. In areas such as Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan the Hok-San Lion are more prevalent. While in Hong Kong, the United States, Canada and other countries the Fut San Lion was more prevalent.

Traditionally, the lion head’s frame is made of rattan, wicker and bamboo while the shell is layered with gauze like paper in paper-mache fashion followed by gauze and more gauze like paper. This step is repeated several more times, upon which the head is then painted with various colors and patterns that are symbolically auspicious. The head was then adorned with many ornaments and decorations. Moving parts allow for the movement of eyelids, ears and mouth, all to make the lion more animated and life like. The eyes are made of wood with a hole bored in the center and a piece glass/plastic covering it.

These heads were heavy, a full sized Lion head may weigh any where between 30-50 pounds depending on the amount of ornaments and decorations. The dancers were not fully covered (unlike the Northern Lion) while the body/tail was long and made of various colored cloths. This Lion was not only used for religious purposes but for martial arts training as well. The weight of the Lion head helped strengthen the back and upper body. The footwork closely followed a school’s Kung Fu style. While the stepping patterns (7 star, 5 star, and 3star) mirrored the constellations. In essence it is like aerobics training with weights.

Thru modern technology, aluminum, PVC, colored laser paper and other materials are now used. Along with the removal of many ornaments and the lessening of layers of paper, the Lion head has become extremely light. The newer Lions also sport a shorter tail (It is said, that a Sifu whose team had lost a lion competition ripped the tail in half out of frustration. After regaining his composure, he realized his mistake and repaired what was left of the tail. From this he realized that there were many advantages to the lion sporting a shorter tail. At the next lion competition, his lion team used these changes to come out on top.). These advent or changes was partly necessitated because of the growing popularity of Lion Dance competitions, particularly on high poles known as jongs. The players also wear pants that match the body/tail of the Lion. Another difference between the modern and traditional is that the modern Lions are friendlier looking while traditional Lions tended to be fiercer looking in part to scare away would be evil spirits and bad luck. These newer hybrid of Lions are known as Golden Lions and their movements are more like that of its Northern counter part the Beijing Lion. Thus people will often use the phrase Southern Lion, Northern Dance or doggy lions. The new lightweight Lion heads and shorter tails allow for more lifelike realism and afford the dancers to execute breathtaking acrobatic maneuvers.

cheers,
mk

[TenTigers]

nice job-well said .:)

[brothernumber9]

The "P" one is the Pei Yao. I've only seen a little bit of one on tape. It is unasthetic compared to the lion, but still very difficult from what I understand.

[sean_stonehart]

Most CLF I've been in & experienced use Futsan, not Hoksan. Especially since most CLF I've done is from Futsan.

Some of the schools that get all up for playing the jhongs may use Hoksan, but at least most I've seen & been around play Futsan.

[GeneChing]

Funny you should ask. We have an article on closed-mouth lion dancing in our next issue (Mar Apr 2007, on newsstands in two weeks or so). You'll have to check it out. I'd tell you to subscribe (http://www.martialartsmart.net/19341.html), but subscriptions are being sent out right now and I don't think you'll make it, so you'll just have to hit up your local newsstand.

There was an exposition of exotic lion heads in at the First Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Exposition in Taiwan, which we covered in our 2005 March/April issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=578). Taiwan's Wang Hung-Lung has an outrageous collection of lion heads, a little of which we showcased in that article. Actually, we only showed a tiny bit of that. We shot the entire thing so it's in our libraries. We showed a little more in this current closed-mouth lion article.

[Pork Chop]

Started messing around with the Okinawan Shisa dog a few weeks ago.
It's kind of a distant relative of the lion.
O MAN is that thing different....

First off, the head's made of solid wood. The player doesn't go in the head, instead holds bars on the top and bottom (palms facing grip)- clacking the wooden mouth closed becomes kind of a nuisance because it's so loud, and the standard motion is more of a spin than the dipping done in lion dancing. The tail is really thick and heavy, in the case of the one i used, it was made up of hundreds and thousands of individual shreds of plastic to act like fur. The pants are made of the same material, thus more heavy & constricting.

It was amazing to me how something could look somewhat similar but be soooo different.

[mantis108]

There are different dances:

Dragon Dance: this one involves hundred of people.

Lion Dance: the Fut Shan style lion heads are mostly for schools that are more "courageous" and younger Sifu (not afraid to brawl); while the Hok Shan style heads are more for peaceful club usually headed by older Sifu. Traditional lion dance is pretty much the thing of the past because the old protocol (ie dedication of the lion heads, coming out of the cave, paying homage to Heavan and Earth, entering the temple, crossing the bridge, picking the green, etc) is not taught in many of the Kung Fu kwoons anymore. It is more of a Cantonese tradition.

Unicorn dance: Kei Lun is the one that has the head "scoop" (figure 8) side to side.
It's more of a Hakka tradition.

Pei Yau dance: It is pretty rare these days. Hong Kong and Taiwan still have of these dances. Pai Yau is a very fierce animal.

Mantis108

[Pork Chop]

mantis108
i know a lot of people on the east coast that still practice those traditions :)
not quite dead yet, just not getting the coverage of the pole jumpers.

[Jingwu Man]

"Pork Chop mantis108
i know a lot of people on the east coast that still practice those traditions
not quite dead yet, just not getting the coverage of the pole jumpers."

Yeah. My school does the old routines still, but sometimes we have trouble getting big shows because people just want to see the competition lion. Oh well, at least we don't have to carry around huge posts everywhere to do a show.:D

My favorite routines are the seven stars, lion eats the crab, lion comes out of the cave, and the lion eats the snake.

[GeneChing]

See our March April 2007 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=693) for the article The Roar of the Silent Lion By Jacob Fitisemanu with Master Cheng Tsang Lu. It's about the rare closed-mouth style of lion dancing. There's also some pictures of Wang Hung-Lung's collection of closed-mouth lions. A closed-mouth lion head is one solid piece, unlike the typical Northern or Southern lions, which has a movable mandible.

We always like to get a lion dance article in the mag around Chinese New Years. :cool:

[Li Ma-Keh]

I love 'Lion eats the Snake' routine! We got to do it 'once' on Chinese New Year,(She'-Nien) year of the Snake! Usually we don't have enough room or time to do other routines except 'Lion eats Greens'. The 'Snake' is set-up with oranges for the eyes,butterfly-swords for the fangs,& a spear for the body. The lion eats the oranges,..spits them to the restaurant owner,..then eats the butterfly-knives,..gets out of the costume & performs short butterfly routine,...back in costume & eats the body,(spear),...then the rear-guy shoots it out the back-end! Whole routine takes like, 20mins.'! It's Great! I also saw a Hong-Kong parade with guys' in Big Carp costumes and Pheonix,(lao Fung),..it kinda' reminded me of the Jet-Li movie where they fight the big Centapede costume with the Lion,..lol'! Li Ma-Keh