How to train your lion: A peek behind the scenes for a lion dancer performing 30+ years
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Lion dancing is a must for almost every Chinese festival in New Zealand. WEI SHAO meets an experienced folklore dancer in Christchurch and learns how to train your lion.
George Chan, head coach of Qiao Yi Hong De Lion Dance Team, has been a lion dancer in Christchurch for over 30 years.
For Chan, there isn’t a word in English that really comes close to the delightful sense of disorder and boisterousness that lion dance performance brings to a Chinese festival.
“Lion dance scares the evils away and brings renao in Chinese festivals.” (Renao is a Chinese word meaning noisy, flourishing, lively and animated).
The dance is believed to “give a bit of life” to the host who invites the dancers. It’s why lion dancers are usually invited to perform at business openings, with the hope it will “bring blessings to owners”.
With the spread of Chinese people and culture all over the world since the 1990s, the traditional dance has been present at almost every happy occasion where overseas Chinese people gather, Chan says.
Chan migrated from Tawau in Malaysia in the early 1990s and started the team in 1995 while studying at the University of Canterbury (UC). With other Malaysian students studying at UC, they planned to perform the lion dance during the Malaysia Day Celebration.
In 1996, the team obtained its first lion dance costume and officially formed a club called Qiao Yi Lion Dance Team.
The lion dancers in Chan’s team began training at a very young age. The team now has about 15 members, aged from 10 to 18.
“Most of them were born in New Zealand. Performing lion dance is a good way to pass on our tradition and culture to the next generation,” Chan says.
“Without the next generation, you might only find lion dances in documents or in museums.”
Rubens Prisco has trained to be a lion dancer “almost every weekend” for the past eight years.
“I love these cultural events. I feel connected to the Chinese side of my family,” he says.
His family has performed the traditional dance in New Zealand for three generations, going back to 1945 in Dunedin.
“My grandpa, George Loo, is Chinese. He handmade a dragon head with my grandma who is a very creative Kiwi, and performed dragon dance with other Chinese people in 1945.”
Stamina and teamwork are the two key skills needed, the 18-year-old says.
“Ideally you practise it every day.
“You need to always hold your body straight and move your legs, mimicking the lion while holding the head or tail, in accordance with drums, cymbals, and gongs.”
No kung fu skills are required to become a lion dancer, but it can be “very competitive and professional” once you’re really into it, Chan says.
“My master [back in Malaysia] told me we need to pass on the core [of our culture], and be creative. So if you are interested, just come around over the weekend and give it a go.”
Chan’s team will perform at the Bishopdale Community Centre on Saturday to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Also called the Moon Cake Festival, it is the second most important festival in the Chinese calendar after Lunar New Year.