Lion Dancing

[GGL]

Over last weekend there was a big politicl gathering for Chinese New Year with the Asian consolate... my school was invited to open the festvities with a Dragon.. and another school was then going to do a lion dance.. it ended up that they lost one of their dancers... My instructor decided to volunteer me for the other half of the lion.. me not having practiced with a lion EVER.. he said just follow the guy in front of you... hmmm OK:)

We did it and the dance took bout 5 min to do.. but afterward I was soaking wet with sweat and my legs felt like I practiced for a couple of hours..

So now I siked about this and want to learn it.. I tried to do some research on the net about it.. but there isn't a whole lot of info out there (or i may just be looking in the wrong places)

Can any of y'all give me any resources to look at.. like where to get the costumes.. differences between northern and southern lion dancing.. etc.

I'm sure anything will be helpful

Thanks
Greg

[jon]

Hey Greg
I cant help you in your search but i would like the same information as well.
I did my first lion dance in Sydney the other night and i had approximately 3 hours of practice before being tasked with the head:eek: :( :confused:
Just jump around in stance to the drumb he says, here watch me he says, BAH!


Still i ended up doing well enough to keep my sifu happy and the crowd happy and had an absolute blast whilst doing it. Plus i found out girls like lions:)

It would have been REALLY nice if my sifu had mentioned a few SMALL details to me BEFORE we started.
Like...
It goes for 10 minutes not 2 and i will be expected to parade around a popular Sydney night spot with a roof thats so low i have to sit in parralel horse to not hit the head on the roof and that there are stairs EVERYWHERE.
That and the whole heavy lion, low stance, sweating like a german sausage part.
Having said all that ive got several more to do over the next comming days including tommorow night and even looking forward to it:D

[ji way lung]

there's plenty of information on the net about lion dancing. take a look at this website, it's got very good resources. and you can join the lion dance mailing list (which i'm on) as well: http://www.geocities.com/lionscave1/

and check this site out if you think you're good at lion dancing, it'll shatter all your hopes and dreams, haha! these guys are AMAZING: http://www.genting.com.my/en/videoclips/2001/liondance2001/index.htm


happy lion dancing, it's very easy with alot of practice! ;) though maybe not half as good as the genting participants!!

[GGL]

Thanks for the good info..:D

[fiercest tiger]

Did you see my schools lion dance in chinatown at all last weekend? we also did the dragon on sunday, i was all over the news with the lord mayor and in most news papers holding the head of the dragon etc.

ykm is the only school here that does the mui fa jong flowery poles with the lion. it was off the hook, chinatown has never been so packed to watch a lion dance.

Hows your new style going? didnt hung gar do the lion dance?:(

[jon]

Hi F.T
Sounds like your lion dance went off with a bang in more ways than one;) Im afraid i missed your schools as i spent the morning in Bagua and the afternoon practicing lion for our school.
Are you guys doing any more, if so ill come down? We have one tommorow in Parramatta and another on Monday in Newcastle.

Bagua has been great ive been training solidly everyday with Ho sifu. Its different to what i expected and is much more easily addapted to other arts than i thought. Its actualy an excerlent coupling with my Hung and i would have to say that doing an internal and external art at once is very eye opening. My Hung is starting to round out and be more fluent which is a help.
Next i wanna get a few Xing Yi lessons just for a little spice:)

My Hung sifu is not into lion dance and im actualy not sure if he even knows it himself, he has never spoken of it. This is at odds with many Hung schools as its kinda part of Hungs culture but never the less i respect his judgement. I think the main issue would be finding the time to train it. He has enough hassles getting everyone to train stance outside of class so we dont have to take up hours every lesson doing that. I cant imagine trying to get us all doing lion when we only have a few hours together a week. Not to mention the costs in getting all the stuff in the first place.

Anyway i hope your school and yourself are doing well and enjoying Chinese new years.
All the best
Jon

[GOLDEN ARMOR]

Are any of u sydney peeps going to be at the parade in chinatown tomorrow doing lion dance. My CLF school is doing lion dancing there with 2 lions & kung fu demos at the end of the day on dixon st. I was at glebe temple on monday night with my school, there was kung fu demos & lion dance, it was done on the benches too. The gwoon has been real busy with lion dance, theres a photo of my sihing doing lion dance on the plum blossom poles on our website in the gallery. (cool) :cool: