舞狮英文介绍

Lion Dance

What is Lion Dance

Lion Dance is a traditional art form that incorporates physical

training commonly associated with martial arts and ascetic expressions.

It is a folk show performed by one or two persons wrapped around with lion

skin costume. Like the dragon lantern dance, lion dance is usually

performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional,

cultural and religious festivals. It may also be performed at important

occasions such as business opening events, special celebrations or

wedding ceremonies, or may be used to entertain special guests by the

Chinese communities.

The Chinese lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as dragon dance.

An easy way to tell the differences is that a lion is normally operated

by one or two dancers, while a dragon needs many people. Also, in a lion

dance, the performers' faces are only seen occasionally, since they are

inside the lion. In a dragon dance, the performers' faces can be easily

seen since the dragon is held on poles.

History of Lion Dance

There has been an old tradition in China of dancers wearing masks to

resemble animals or mythical beasts. However, lion is not native to China.

According to textual research, lions in China were originally introduced

from West Asia through the "Silk Road". In Buddhist culture, lion is the

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animal ridden by Bodhisattva Manjusri that was introduced to China along

with Buddhism, together with the real lion dance performed by the animal.

Since sending lions to China was no easy job accompanied by hardships,

very few lions finally arrived at the destination. Therefore, the real

lion dance was only limited to the imperial palace and wealthy families,

and common people never had the chance to watch it. Therefore, the folk

artists created idealized works of lions through imagination according

to records or legends, and highlighted the broad forehead, upturned nose

and open mouth with traditional divine and auspicious decorations,

presenting the mighty force and liveliness of lions. In the lion dance,

people perform the role of lions.

The earliest use of the word “shizi” meaning lion first appeared

in Han Dynasty. Detailed descriptions of Lion Dance appeared during the

Tang Dynasty and it was already recognized by writers and poets then as

a foreign dance. However, lion dance may have been recorded in China as

early as the third century AD where "lion act" was referred to by Meng

Kang in a commentary on

Hanshu. In the early periods it had association

with Buddhism: it was recorded in a Northern Wei text, Description of

Buddhist Temples in Luoyang, that a parade for a statue of Buddha of a

temple was led by a lion to drive away evil spirits.

There were different versions of the dance in the Tang Dynasty. In

the Tang court, the lion dance was called the Great Peace Music or the

Lion Dance of the Five Directions where five large lions of different

colors and expressing different moods were each led and manipulated on

rope by two persons, and accompanied by 140 singers. Another version of

the lion dance was described by the Tang poet Bai Juyi in his poem "Western

Liang Arts", where the dance was performed by two Hu dancers who wore a

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lion costume made of a wooden head, a silk tail and furry body, with eyes

gilded with gold and teeth plated with silver as well as ears that moved,

a form that resembles today's lion dance. During the Song Dynasty the lion

dance was commonly performed in festivals and it was known as the Northern

Lion during the Southern Song.

The Southern Lion is a later development in the south of China,

originating in the Guangdong province. There are a number of myths

associated with the origin of this dance: one story relates that the dance

originated as a celebration in a village where a mythical monster called

Nian was successfully driven away. Another has it that the Qianlong

Emperor dreamt of an auspicious animal while on a tour of Southern China,

and ordered that the image of the animal be recreated and used during

festivals.

Types of Lion Dances

1) Types by style

The gentle style shows the lion’s gentleness and loveliness by

grabbing the ball, playing with the ball, rolling about, licking its fur,

shaking its fur, scratching, rubbing its ears, caressing the lion cub,

etc.

The wild style focuses on lion’s aggressiveness and high skills such

as walking on the ball, scrambling for the ball, rolling the ball, diving

the ball, jumping and turning, climbing, walking on the seesaw, walking

on pointed stakes and other highly skill-demanding feats. The wild style

performance can be soul stirring as it displays the lion’s majesty and

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wildness.

2) Types by geography

During the more than 2,000 years of development, the lion dance has

developed into two major genres - the Northern Lion Dance and the Southern

Lion Dance.

The Northern Lion Dance mainly focuses on the performance of a martial

lion dance. The dance of a small lion is performed by one person, and the

dance of a big lion is played by two people, with one wielding the lion

head while standing, and the other wielding the lion body and tail while

stooping down. Guided by the lion dancers, the lion writhes, falls forward,

jumps and bows, as well as some other highly difficult movements, such

as walking on wooden or bamboo stakes, jumping over a table, and stepping

on a rolling ball.

Southern Lion Dance mainly focuses on the performance of the civilian

lion dance. The performance pays a lot of attention to movements like

scratching an itch, shaking the hair and licking the hair.

Up today, the lion dance has formed its local features and styles.

In Hebei, the lions are strong and vigorous, capable of climbing and

jumping from one big table to the next up to five.

In Guangdong, the lions can climb the high bamboo pole and pick the

present on the top of the pole.

In Anhui , the lions can perform with lighted candles on their body.

In Sichuan, the lions can walks on high tilts and platform.

Modern development of Lion Dance

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The dance has evolved considerably since the early days when it was

perform as a skill part of Chinese martial arts, and has grown into a more

artistic art that takes into accounts the lion's expression and the

natural movements, as well as the development of a more elaborate

acrobatic styles and skills during performances. This may be performed

as a cultural performance or during competitions. This evolution and

development has produced the modern form of lion dance.

Lion dance has spread across the world due to the worldwide presence

of the diaspora Chinese communities and immigrant settlers in many

countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific

Polynesia, and in particular, in South East Asia where there is a large

overseas Chinese presence.

The lion dance is seen as a representative part

of Chinese culture in many overseas Chinese communities. However, the

local banning of the lion dance once occurred in some countries.

In the 1960s and 1970s, during the era when the Hong Kong's Chinese

classic and martial arts movies are very popular, kung fu movies including

Jet Li's "Huang Feihong" has actually indirectly shows and indicates how

lion dance was practiced with the kung fu close co-relation and kung fu

during that time. Those days, the lion dance was mostly practiced and

perform as kung fu skills, with the challenge for the 'lion' built of

chairs and tables stack up together for the 'lions' to perform its stunts

and accomplish its challenge.

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