Yes, our Pak Mei school does lion dance here in Sydney. August Moon Festival we will be dancing on the 8th of September in Chinatown.
But, we are far from the best in Sydney. I think the Choi Li Fut, Chinese Masonic Society and of course Yau Kung Mun are amongst the best I’ve seen.
Yau Kung Mun is know worldwide for their Lion Dancing skill, and their performances in Sydney are very professional.
I don’t know that “competitors” is a precise term with lion dancing. Sure, there are Lion Dancing competitions, and a bit or rivalry, but for the most part, it is a cultural thing, a community involvement, and a tradition.
Yau Kung Mun is also well-known for their lion dancing over here in the USA. I have seen them along with the Bak Hok in San Francisco both were very good. They are some of the few that practice on the high posts, typical lion dancing here in the US is more old style traditional.
I have also heard that the people in Malaysia are really good at the high stuff, some of the best in world so I have heard.
As Yum Cha said lion dancing is more of a cultural thing done at Chinese New Year and other special events.
Here in sydney YKM and i think CYL(chinese youth league) are pretty good as ykm did teach them in the early days.hehehe as well as the others you mentioned.
Hey, whats the dates of your mo si this august moon? Ill jet down to chinatown to say hi!
Ours is the 21st and 22nd, the 22nd will be chinatown with the mui fa jong at the end, in dixon street, anyone that would love to come and see YKM lion dance its on the 22nd in the after noon, look for us going around getting the lucky money (ly see).
8 September, and we’re taking a bunch of first-timers out. It should be “interesting” <grin>. My only thought is that this may be the first time in 15 years when I don’t come home with footprints all over my shirt.
Chinese youth league is probably what I was thinking when I said Masonic Society, or do both have teams? Didn’t Sifu Cheung Leung sponsor them in the olden days, or something like that?
What time of day on the 22nd do you think you’ll be doing the mui fa jong? Who does the dancing? Is Hilton still around?
In NYC there are free classes given by (ugh) Norman Chin at the Chinatown YMCA Saturday mornings.
(You have to suffer though his sales pitch to join his paying class, its like the pitches they give on those “free” vacations! Hehehe…)
His associate Melvin Chin is a truly talented performer (in spite of his size) and the guy can really move!
Sifu Tat Mau Wong has always produced good lion dance teams, the kids there are the best. Sifu Jimmy Wong in texas produces a strong team too. I think YKM, Bak Hok, lung ying, etc are without question strong teams. I learn at Tai Yim Kung Fu school, we don’t compete in competitions, but lion dance varies literally from school to school, so I can only hope that we represent ourselves well and well for Hung Fut. I will say that i think I play a fair drum and my lion head is not horrible although i still have much to fix and learn. We also have pretty strong tails. Outside of a few Jow Ga schools and ourselves, I’m not really aware of any Lion dance teams in the Washington D.C., MD, VA area.
Sifu Tat Mau Wong has always produced good lion dance teams, the kids there are the best. Sifu Jimmy Wong in texas produces a strong team too. I think YKM, Bak Hok, lung ying, etc are without question strong teams. I learn at Tai Yim Kung Fu school, we don’t compete in competitions, but lion dance varies literally from school to school, so I can only hope that we represent ourselves well and well for Hung Fut. I will say that i think I play a fair drum and my lion head is not horrible although i still have much to fix and learn. We also have pretty strong tails. Outside of a few Jow Ga schools and ourselves, I’m not really aware of any Lion dance teams in the Washington D.C., MD, VA area.
We were the first to perform with the beijing opera!!
Seriously, our team is pretty green, but they are still pretty good. We’ve only been doing it for a few years, and I am not ready to put them in competitions yet. Hopefully soon though.
We do traditional & Contemp. We’ve opened for some MA tourneys, a few other shows, and the Beijing Opera, and some Chinese New Year parties & celebrations! They’re still working on the benches though…