The lion dance is a traditional dance form in Chinese culture. The dragon represents wisdom, power, and wealth. Like the lion dance, it is most often seen in festive celebrations. It is believed that performing the lion dance scares away evil spirits and all the bad luck associated with them, and brings in good luck and wealth instead.
Lion dance
The lion dance is an excellent folk art in China, also known as “Taiping Music” in ancient times. The lion dance is divided into north and south, and the southern lion is also called the awakening lion.
The lion is made of colored cloth strips. Each lion is usually performed by two people, one dances the head and the other dances the tail.
Under the music of gongs and drums, performers dress up as dogs or other auspicious animals (such as Pixiu and lions) and make various movements in order to be festive and auspicious. During the performance, the lion dancers use various moves to express the Southern-style martial arts, which is very masculine.
The lion dance is considered to be an auspicious object to exorcise evil spirits and avoid evil. Every festival or major event must have a lion dance to add to the fun.
Lion dance activities are also widely spread in overseas Chinese communities. Where there are Chinese people, there must be lion dances. This has become an important ceremony to promote the prestige of the nation and establish the soul of China. The value and impact are far-reaching.
History and Folklore
Around the Song and Jin Dynasties, the lion dance, which showed martial arts, moved south with the immigrants, resulting in the distinction of southern lions and northern lions.
Northern-style lion dance
The shape of the northern-style lion resembles a real lion, with a simple lion head and golden hair all over its body. The trousers and shoes of the lion dancers (usually two dancers) will be covered with hair, and they look like a vivid lion before they dance. A lion with a red knot on its head is a male lion, and a lion with a green knot is a female. Northern lions generally appear in pairs; males and females; they are led by a master dressed as a samurai. Sometimes a pair of northern lions will be paired with a pair of little northern lions. The Northern Lions show is closer to juggling. In terms of soundtrack, Beijing cymbals, Beijing gongs, and Beijing drums are the main ones.
Southern-style lion dance
The southern-style lion dance is more powerful in shape, and pays attention to the horse’s stance when dancing. The southern lion mainly relies on the dancer’s movements to show the mighty lion shape, and usually, only two people dance one head. The lion’s head is based on the surface spectrum of the opera, with bright colors and exquisite manufacture; the eyelid and mouth can be moved. Strictly speaking, the lion head of the Southern Lion is not very similar to that of a lion, and some people even think that the Southern Lion is closer to the Nian beast.
In order to increase the entertainment, Caiqing sometimes uses various methods of picking green. and is accompanied by various stunts, such as upper shoulders (the lion dancer stands on the lion tail is on the shoulders), stacking Arhats, going up the pole (climbing on the bamboo pole), or crossing the plum blossom tree (passing through the different heights of the long wooden tree) and so on.
The Southern Lion Dance is accompanied by big gongs, big drums, and big cymbals. The dance of the lion should match the rhythm of the music. In the Southern Lion Dance, there is sometimes a person who pretends to be a “Buddha with a big head” and leads it with a sunflower fan in hand. The lion dance is usually preceded by an “eye dotting” ceremony. The ceremony was performed by the officiating guests, who painted cinnabar on the lion’s eyes and the heaven, symbolizing the gift of spiritual energy and life.
