Chinese New Year & Lion Dancing

[LionDancer]

Its rapidly approaching the New Year.... any team training for special sets / moves? Would love to hear about them.....

______________________
www.GlobalLionDancer.com

[yu shan]

LD

Getting off to a sputtering start. Having trouble with commitment from local restaurants. They always seem thrilled that Lion Dance is offered here...but! I`ve always visited in person, business card (Chinese/English) even whipped out nice photos. This area (middle Tennessee) is WAY behind the rest of the country with this part of Chinese Culture. I teach at the Nashville Chinese School (GongFu) so I`m pretty tight with the community. We do alot of Lion Dance performances thru the year, so we have a good reputation. Back in Florida, restaurants and Asian grocery`s are sort of in a competition to see who can get the best team, and the most popular time slot. After moving to Tn. kind of frustrating why Asian businesses don`t open up to us.

Thank you in advance.

[sn0w8lade]

our team is working its ass off @ the min.

we've got 26 businesses to do in one afternoon!!!!!!!!!!


Gonna be a LONG day :rolleyes:

[LionDancer]

I'm sorry to hear that its been difficult in Tenn for LD... but you must keep the faith. Preserverence is key... depending on the generation, some asians are skeptical at first but eventually come around so dont despair! Lion Dancing is deeply ingrained in the asian culture and is most important during Chinese New Year. I'm sure as it gets closer, there will be opportunities.

_______________________
www.GlobalLionDancer.com

[brothernumber9]

Is all 26 done by one team? if so how long is each lion dance? Most of ours are a half hour each, some are even longer. Unless we split up into three teams I don't think we could do 26 in a day.

[Shaolinlueb]

our sister school is doing one. they do a lot with the local Vietnamese community which is big here and they have alion dance group thats part of the shcool. so it should be cool. I hope to see it this year.

[yu shan]

No worries here LionDancer. We will continue to be a positive influence with both our GongFu and Lion. The word is out about us, in due time.

The teams I have are young, but full of spirit. We have a few tricks up our sleeve, mainly coming across as an energetic troup.

One year at the Wah Lum Temple in Orlando, Master Chan Pui had over 100 shows in a single day. Granted these were divided up between two teams. Most had GongFu demo also. Day started at 8:00 AM went to midnight! The day was most exciting, especially hauling a s s to the next show.

[GeneChing]

We put a lion dance GM (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/kf200120.html) on our cover for CNY. That was fully intentional. Good Feng Shui and all. Here's a peek (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/info/horoscope/index.php) at what the Wood Monkey might bring...

[LionDancer]

Can you send me your email address? I wanted to ask you something.... thks

[AndyC]

Yep we're also going to be doing a fair few business' (23 i think). Thing is i only started learning lion dance about a month ago and i think i'll be expected to do a few of the business' we've got lined up. Anyone like to share some advice for lion dancing? Any links to lion dancing clips would be appreciated too (more interested in traditional, rather than the jumping on poles n stuff).

[LionDancer]

Have questions re adertising on forum.....

[LionDancer]

Anyone training to do a human pyramid? If so, how high?

______________________
www.GlobalLionDancer.com

[GeneChing]

You can contact me directly for any advertising on the forum or in our print magazine - gene@kungfumagazine.com - click here for advertising info (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/about/advertise.php).

Also, just for your information, I just heard we sold out of our Jan Feb 2004 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=436) issue. That's the first time I remember that we sold out of an issue before it came off the newsstands. Must be the lions. Thanks everyone!

[yu shan]

This pyramid is an incredible feat. The highest I`ve seen was three levels. Where does one get these props to do the pyramid?

[bodhitree]

The team I belong to is just getting started. Our teacher is trying to get us ready by chinese new year, but we may just be to young of a team.

[travelsbyknight]

Which school is the top lion dancing school of New York City's Chinatown? Come on... i know you all have egos.

[yu shan]

This could be a thread all it`s own. Not only NYC, but let`s here it from the UK, Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, Florida...

[LionDancer]

Never too young.... gotta keep the faith and continue training. Where are you up to in your training?

_________________________
www.GlobalLionDancer.com

[LionDancer]

Are you with a school in NYC?

_______________________
www.GlobalLionDancer.com

[LionDancer]

Gene... I take it from your lack of response to my emails and reports that it would appear I am not welcomed here and that it is ok for others to violate forum rules while I am held to different standards. If thats the case, I'll move on then and will participate in other forums.....

To all of the lion dancers on this forum.... keep the faith and train hard..... farewell....

[travelsbyknight]

I have visited a few schools in New York. This year I will be in Chinatown during the lion dancing so I wish to know which school's lion dancing to look out for.

So, WHICH NYC SCHOOL HAS THE BEST LION DANCE TEAM?

[Gold Horse Dragon]

Originally posted by LionDancer
Gene... I take it from your lack of response to my emails and reports that it would appear I am not welcomed here and that it is ok for others to violate forum rules while I am held to different standards. If thats the case, I'll move on then and will participate in other forums.....

To all of the lion dancers on this forum.... keep the faith and train hard..... farewell....

LD..look at the positive side...Gene has not said you are not welcome or cannot post here :)

GHD

[yu shan]

Hang around Chinatown and Canal Street, ask these locals.

Liondancer

Why not advertise your wonderful lions, you should stay with this forum, JMO.

[bodhitree]

Lion dancer

come back!

[Juna]

Its rapidly approaching the New Year.... any team training for special sets / moves? Would love to hear about them.....


]

Here you will find wonderful things.

http://ticket.ntdtv.com/

[laugarkuen]

No special moves for this year. Just keeping it traditional which always seems popular. We will have a busy time of it this year as well but not 26 in one day, wow.

This year we also have two new lions (a black one and a red one) and an extra drum , cymbles etc thanks to my sponsor Flowcrete (www.flowcrete.com). So as well as the usual restaurants and Chinese communities we will be doing dances for trade and industry shows and the British Feng Shui Society.

There are alot of clips of lion dance on youtube but most of them seem to be peeps jumping around on the plum blossom poles. I've not tried anything with them yet but they look fun.

[TenTigers]

with the advent of the Malaysian Lion Dance comps, Lion has become Lion Dance. Everyone is doing poles and tricks, using lighter heads, and nobody even is capable of doing traditional Lion. The Lion, like their Kung-Fu is for performance. Lion is more than simply a performance. It is a crucial part of fung-soi.It is a form of exorcism. Most don't even know how to do the real Lion anymore. I get calls from Resteraunts who after having these guys over, ask me for a real Lion. Not for their customers, but for Luck. Watch these Lion Dances, and tell me if you see any Kung-Fu within the steps, the movements,stance, waist,faht-ging,footwork.

[sean_stonehart]

with the advent of the Malaysian Lion Dance comps, Lion has become Lion Dance. Everyone is doing poles and tricks, using lighter heads, and nobody even is capable of doing traditional Lion. The Lion, like their Kung-Fu is for performance. Lion is more than simply a performance. It is a crucial part of fung-soi.It is a form of exorcism. Most don't even know how to do the real Lion anymore. I get calls from Resteraunts who after having these guys over, ask me for a real Lion. Not for their customers, but for Luck. Watch these Lion Dances, and tell me if you see any Kung-Fu within the steps, the movements,stance, waist,faht-ging,footwork.

Not all of us... ;)

[hungsingclf]

Lion dance is a very important part of the culture as well as that of the school... Knowing how to solve the "puzzle" or get the chiang is so important, as well as what color of lion that should be used, courtisies, ettiquete, ect. Some of the older generation really appreciate the old style... I fear in 20yrs, most of the old school knowledge will be gone...:(

[hungsingclf]

hi troy,

how are ya man? im so glad you're doing well! i'm sure it will be a huge success. give me a call and we can shoot the breeze. :D

[syn]

Our school actually practices Lion Dance all year round, since we're always getting the next generation up of lion dancers, I'm on the dragon team though right now, and currently we've been practicing every Saturday for a good two hours or so. We have the dragon team only preform at chinese new year, so it's sort of a specialty.

I can't wait for Chinese New Year!

[GeneChing]

...I'm just trying to remember what LionDancer was on about three years ago. As far as I can remember, he tried to spam lion dancing gear here, which caused some trouble because our primary sponsor, MartialArtsMart.com, sells lion dance gear (http://www.martialartsmart.net/lions.html). Oh well. Did he move on to other forums? I'm just curious.

Ok, actually I just wanted to covertly plug our Lion Dance gear... ;)

[hungsingclf]

shameless gene...... shameless:eek:

[hasayfu]

with the advent of the Malaysian Lion Dance comps, Lion has become Lion Dance. Everyone is doing poles and tricks, using lighter heads, and nobody even is capable of doing traditional Lion. The Lion, like their Kung-Fu is for performance. Lion is more than simply a performance. It is a crucial part of fung-soi.It is a form of exorcism. Most don't even know how to do the real Lion anymore. I get calls from Resteraunts who after having these guys over, ask me for a real Lion. Not for their customers, but for Luck. Watch these Lion Dances, and tell me if you see any Kung-Fu within the steps, the movements,stance, waist,faht-ging,footwork.

TT, While I know what you are saying but I hate the generalization.

It's arguable that modern competition lion dance was single handedly fostered by Master Siow from Malaysia. He is definitely a strong influence on the movement. I've met him and he has a very deep understanding of traditional lion dance and teaches it to his teams. Also, Malaysia has one of the deepest ties to old world Chinese culture. So if you were a team that only did competition lion dance, you wouldn't last long.

Watch this clip of Master Siow teaching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYchnx31lS4

That's old school teaching method. Also, notice his stance and attention to structure.

And this clip of Kun Seng Keng (Master Siow's first team) doing sleeping lion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r4de3k2OUw

Lot's of very traditional movements and live expression. Also, if you follow the feng shui, you'll notice that they cover some very fine details that many teams miss. I'll give you that skippy side step of the hok san style but look at the horse and cat stances. Also the power to the head.

Again, I'm not beating on you because a lot of teams have taken the "Malaysian" style of dance on video and tried to copy it. But without the training, they only get the shell. I also know two of the Master Siow trained teams in the SF Bay Area (Gee Yung and Marin Lion Dance) and both teams are very much traditional teams that happen to be able to kick ass on poles.

Back on CNY prep. I've come out of my 5 year lion dance hiatus. I'm training two different children's teams this year specifically for CNY. First year out of the shoot so it will be interesting. I'll admit right now, we will just barely make all the traditional requirements. It's clearly a simplified dance. I love the dedication of the kids and hopefully I'm planting seeds for the future.

As a sidenote, I'm stressing the triad of lion dancing. Movement, Music and Culture. The kids really like my "cultural moments." because they get a greater appreciation of lion dance. They are also learning a modified tiger crane form (timed to the lion dance music) to build the kung fu foundation.

[GeneChing]

shameless gene...... shameless Ha! Someone's got to pay the rent around here. BTW, are you subscribed (http://www.martialartsmart.net/19341.html) or just another freakin' freeloader. ;)

Bwahahahaa! No one can defeat my shameless plug fu! At least, not on this forum. :p

[TenTigers]

HaSayFu wrote: "Again, I'm not beating on you because a lot of teams have taken the "Malaysian" style of dance on video and tried to copy it. But without the training, they only get the shell"
Yeah,I probably didn't make myself clear. That is exactly what I was TRYING to say.
I think many were influenced by the tricks, rather than the real underlying skill, and just go for the flash. There seems to be a trend in this way.
I am not lumping everyone together, and it's good to hear so many people still trying to maintain tradition.

[hungsingclf]

i don't like this gene guy... he knows things... it's like he's reading my mind...:p ...no but i buy every issue does that count? when you gonna have the buy one get one free sale?:eek:

[Eddie]

when you gonna have the buy one get one free sale?

Im still wondering how you get a free t shirt when you subscribe :cool: :rolleyes: