Chinese Lion Dance

[EarthDragon]

Goof point DJ, Paul, with as much repsect as you recive aroind here from your knowledge and years in the arts, it is proper to have the proper cutlture and knoweldge of such a sacred thing.

[brothernumber9]

teach them without the lion first.

Some excercises I use: (without the lion)
have the tail lifr the head a set number of times (3,5,10,12, whatever0. Just jump straight up in the air and back down. The tail would lift at the height of the jump to push the head player to full arm extension (of the tail player), then just back down to the head player's feet on the gournd. Simply just an assisted jump, up and down. There are differrent ways to lift the head player, most involve grabbing the sash or sides (sash, clothing, anything the tail can grab). Grips from the side and also the back (if wearing a sash). Explore different ways that both the head and tail feel most comfortable with.

In addition the tail should help control the head player's landing to soften it a bit so they don't take too much brunt on thier feet, or the head player upon landing can bounce back up for a smaller, unassisted jump/bounce to help dissapate the energy.

Once comfortable with that, then move right to horse stance stack without the lion. If well enough with a regular up and down jump, the horse stance stack should not be too difficult. When efficient enough there, have them do it with the lion. Hope this helps.

[Paul T England]

thanks for the advice guys. I have been doing lion dancing for a while but find it difficult to get
the kids jumping etc...they are like sacks of potatos

[brothernumber9]

I have never seen an array of 9 vegetables, so I can only guess. I can only think of two references I could try to draw from if I came upon that kind of cheng unexpectedly.
The first one, but that may not make too much sense, is that cantonese nine is gao, and the green is ching/chang/cheng. There is a layered dessert called jiu cheng gao, a nine layered cake, but I think that is mandarin. One way to eat it is to peel away one layer at a time.
The other is that in farming, an old practice is to section the farming area into 9 parts. The area in the middle is used to pay respect to heaven, ancestors, etc, sometimes referred to as heaven's acre.

Either way, I would start from the first green on the left ****hest from the center, then do the one on the right ****hest from center, and alternate, til you get to the middle green.

[brothernumber9]

if you have a couple saw horses, we use them to help them with their "ups" and also makes it kinda fun for them. We have them jump any way thay can onto the first saw horse, and then get to a second saw horse a space away anyway they can (step, jump) then jump on the ground (a floor mat first). Then, get them to jump both feet at the same time onto the first one, then also from the first one to the second one, then onto the ground.

[David Jamieson]

have you considered rewards?

put the reward up at the top of where you want them to jump.

[Syn7]

was there money in the envelopes? where were the envelopes and the fruit in relation to the lettuce? you say the lettuce was hanging???

[GeneChing]

That would be extremely unlucky.

[Syn7]

i love getting red envelopes before shows!!! sifu is generous!!!


is there nothing else they stick in envelopes.??? ever???

[lance]

Hi all,

I have a question on lion dance. Last year during Chinese new year a shop hung 7 lettuces in front of their shop. I have never seen it before. Does anybody know the meaning and the way it needs to be played? Thanks !

Regards, Lau

The store owner is probably trying to test you out as a lion dancer , and yes , it is a puzzle , if you do it the wrong way that ' s bad luck , and a great way of offending the store owner . Every kung fu club or school goes through this test , so that ' s why you really need to learn it good from your sifu .
I ' ve done lion dancing myself too , the tricky part is what you ' re dealing with now getting the greens .

I would do 3 bows first to the doorway , and if one red envelope is there then , I would approach it and step back 3 times , and on the 4 th time eat the greens .
This is the reason why , the first time you approach it , your sniffing it to see if
it ' s safe to eat or not , you step back , the second time you approach it your seeing how it ' s attach , and you step back , the third time you really making sure if you can get it or not and step back , then the fourth time you get the li see and eat it . The 7 lettuce are probably just decorations to lure the lion . This is the way I learned it in Hawaii . Learning how to play the head and tail is easy with practice , but learning the puzzle you got to get together with your sifu .

Usually chinese temples will usually hang more than 1 lisee , depending on which clubs they selected to bless their temples , so the sifu of the kung fu club really needs to talk with the person in charge of the establishment themselves .

[Howard]

After all the usual eat no eat, celebrate and eat no eat routines ( of which is good to stylize the eating, e.g pu bu, kneel, step back, split etc) then for arrangements -
If in no order then give it an order (7 = 7 stars shape, 9 = 9 palaces etc)
If in order then migrate to a new order (7 star to a 5 element as example)
If multi items (different fruits and greens ) then arrange with emphasis on least available or by size in necessary shape.

Secondary approaches are required if the stores are community/ Mun members which requires knowledge of old codes, further cases for arranging by characters also possible....

Just some usual practices passed by my teachers.

[TenTigers]

anyone know how to properly eat a pomelo? (I know you need to open it up like a flower)If it has oranges and choi along with it, what order to go?

[GeneChing]

YEAR OF THE DRAGON 2012: She Takes Her Fan and Throws it in the Lion's Den

[brothernumber9]

Great article Gene. It invoked some memories for me of when I first started. People really don't knows how hard it is until they do it, and because of that, I think it helps those of us who have done it to some degree, to look at other things in life that appear simple but are truly arduous and appreciate them.

I still do lion dance for my Sifu and the school. This will be my 21st CNY. Because of participating in lion dance I've gotten to see and experience things I never would have otherwise. I assume that experience is shared by most that do it.
There are so many cultural influences tied to lion dance and the lion itself that it becomes increasingly head scratching. (hopefully not to the point like how yours bled). But I still love learning more.

If other folks on the forum have the opportunity to learn and perform lion dance, I hope they give it a taste. It's something I'll always have pride for, and holds threads to times, stories, truths, legends, and cultures long before us.

[GeneChing]

That's awesome, brothernumber9. Old enough to drink now!

Lion Dance is so unique to CMA. It is one of our most colorful treasures.

I'll have part two up next week.