About Lion Dancing

Lion dance is a traditional Asian art form that originated in China and dates back 5000 years. Performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume to tell a story and bring good luck and fortune to the audience. Each lion is controlled by two people; one orchestrates the head movements, and one follows the other’s footwork in the tail. The drum–the “heartbeat of the lion”–guides the lions and leads the cymbals and gong to add excitement and flair. Most popular during Lunar New Year celebrations, lion dancing is also performed at weddings, business openings, school festivals, and community events.

A typical lion dance performance tells a story of one or two lions overcoming an obstacle before obtaining a meaningful object (e.g. lettuce, scrolls). Some of the obstacles include poisonous animals like snakes and spiders, or treacherous landforms like caves and rivers. These are constructed from a variety of props. The obstacle may also be an adversarial Buddha character, played by another performer. The culmination of most lion dance performances is called cai qing (采青), or “plucking the greens.” Cai qing is a homonym for “spreading good fortune” (财青). As such, when the lion plucks the lettuce and tosses it at the audience, it is a symbolic act of spreading fortune.

Origin of Lion Dancing

The origins of the lion dance are still disputed, but there are a colorful array of origin stories from the folklore. Here’s one of our favorites:

A long time ago, there was a peaceful village near the mountains of Southern China. Every year, a monster with a single eye and horn would descend from the mountains and terrorize the village, eating all their crops. It made a “Nian” sound, giving it the name Nian Shou (年獸), meaning “yearly beast” in Chinese.

The villagers did not know how to fight back and started to lose hope. But one day, a traveling shaman passing by provided a glimmer of hope. He informed them that the monster was scared of loud noises, fire, and the color red. Armed with this new knowledge, the villagers fashioned an animal-like costume from bamboo sticks and a piece of cloth to be manipulated by two people, and accompanied it with firecrackers and loud banging on pots.

The next year, when the monster Nian appeared, the villagers came prepared: two people in the costume rushed to the scene, followed by the rest of the villagers who all beat on their pots and pans using whatever metal utensils they could find. To add to the commotion, they set off firecrackers. With this, the villagers were able to successfully scare off the beast. In commemoration of this victory, this performance, now called the Lion Dance, is performed every New Year.

Lion Dance Beats and Set Moves

In a performance, the lion follows the drum for specific moves that help move along the story.

Stacks

Lion dance performances contain flashy acrobatic tricks called stacks. In all types of stacks, the performer in the head is lifted by the performer in the tail, usually to have the head stand on the tail’s legs and the head sit on the tail’s head. These are the most acrobatic moves that lion dancers perform.

Costuming

Lion costumes are intricately designed, and high-quality ones are artisan-made. Lions are considered sacred and must be treated with respect.

Want to know more?

Lion dance has an incredibly long history and is spread all around Asia in a variety of styles. This account is very limited – there exists a vast amount of knowledge surrounding lion dance to be learned.

When we lack knowledge in some area, we largely turn to our alumni, our connections in other lion dance teams, and the Internet (especially YouTube). We also recommend the book Chinese Lion Dance Explained by William C. Hu, which is quite comprehensive.

If you have specific questions for us, feel free to reach out via email to board@pennlions.net!