Remember my friend Andy Ta, the lion dance addict? Well, he and Morris Lam (another lion dance friend) recently came back from an epic trip to Asia where they experienced all things lion dance related. They even brought back some beautiful equipment!

Morris and Andy

Their trip started in Vietnam, where Jow Ga lion dance is very popular. Recently, some Vietnamese-made lion heads have been starting to look more and more like the ones found in China. Before, some styles had moveable horns and other interesting features. Andy and Morris visited Quang Do, a popular lion and dragon maker in Vietnam.

Unfinished Vietnamese lion heads

They didn’t purchase any Vietnamese lions, but brought back a bunch of miscellaneous equipment like flags, banners, scrolls, uniforms, etc.

Their next destination was Singapore, where Jow Ga lion dance is also very popular along with many other styles of kung fu. Supposedly, the story is that many Chinese kung fu masters of various styles fled to different countries during the Cultural Revolution, forming many international branches. Because Andy is a Jow Ga student, he was able to visit the Zhong Wai Zhou Jia Quan Association. Only Jow Ga members are allowed inside!

Zhong Wai Zhou Jia Quan Association

Members only!

Even though Andy is from the USA Jow Ga branch, he was very welcome in Singapore’s branch. Talk about a strongly-knit kung fu family!

Morris and Andy with important people of the Zhong Wai Zhou Jia Quan Association

Next, they went to visit Qing Wei Cultural Troupe, a lion dance team led by Leon Ng. If I’m not mistaken, he also makes lions and dragons as a side hobby. During the visit, they were preparing for a future competition.

Leon Ng

Their last destination in Singapore was Kong Chow Wui Koon, a large Chinese cultural center where they teach many different Chinese performing arts. Andy and Morris were fortunate to visit their lion dance museum thanks to Fatty Cheong (his real name is Chan Tuck Cheong), the chief instructor for lion dance and dragon dance at Kong Chow Wui Koon.

Some ornate styles of lions in Kong Chow Wui Koon

Andy and Fatty Cheong (Chan Tuck Cheong)

Interestingly enough, I remember seeing a video about Fatty Cheong on Youtube. It wasn’t about lion dance though – he makes some of the best Cha Siu in Singapore!

Their last destination was Hong Kong, where most of the excitement took place! First, I want to tell a little story about lion head craftsmen in Hong Kong. Back in the 1900’s, Hong Kong had some famous lion dance equipment companies such as Lo An Kee and Bak Wan, but they slowly withered away. It was hard to make a living by being a lion craftsman, and took many years and lots of patience to master the art. Although Lo An Kee and Bak Wan, along with many others, are not in business anymore, a few lion craftsmen have become popular in this generation. Andy and Morris were lucky to have a chance to visit some of these fine lion craftsmen in Hong Kong.

One of them is Yu Ho, who has been gaining much popularity these past few years because of his originality and creativity on traditional southern lion heads. Unfortunately, Andy didn’t purchase a lion head from Yu Ho this time because his team bought one recently. But, they did have some good conversation and Andy also picked up a discontinued style of Dai Tau Fut mask.

Discontinued style of Dai Tau Fut masks

Andy with Yu Ho

Because Morris is from the USA Yau Kung Moon branch, they were able to attend a banquet hosted by the Hong Kong’s Yau Kung Moon Association. There were lots of lion dance and kung fu performances. They even got to take a picture with the chairman of Yau Kung Moon Association, Ha Tak Kin.

Ha Tak Kin with Andy

Morris with Ha Tak Kin

The next popular lion craftsmen are Hui Ka Hong and his teenage nephew, King Demon Lion. The company name is Hong See Lau (雄獅樓). Andy was able to bring back a set of three lions from them, one for each of the three famous generals from the Three Kingdoms. These are some epic traditional lion heads with a modern twist.

雄獅樓

Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, and Guan Yu

Immortals members Tommy, Elisa, and Andy with Hui Ka Hong and King Demon Lion

The next and last lion craftsman they visited was Hon Cheung Ho, also known as Hong Kong’s No Shadow Hands (香港無影手) for his drumming skills. He made a red and gold Jow Ga style lion for the Immortals.

Below is a picture showing five lion heads made by modern day Hong Kong lion craftsmen. It is definitely a rare sight to see this variety of Hong Kong lion heads all in one picture. On the left is a lion made by Yu Ho. The three lions in the middle are the three generals from the Three Kingdoms made by Hui Ka Hong. On the right is the red and gold Jow Ga lion made by Hon Cheung Ho.

From left to right: Fut San lion made by Yu Ho, Three Kingdoms’ generals made by Hui Ka Hong, and Jow Ga lion made by Hon Cheung Ho.

Before ending their time in Hong Kong, Andy and Morris watched a lion dance competition sponsored by adidas. According to Andy, this was one of the most eye-opening lion dance experiences he’s ever had. I take that back. This WHOLE trip was one of the most eye-opening lion dance experiences he’s ever had. Hopefully, I will be able to join them on their second epic trip to Asia!

Lion dance competition sponsored by adidas

P.S. Regarding Project T7, I actually forgot to post an update after I last worked on it. Here’s a picture of what I finished last break. I couldn’t get much done because a lot of other stuff happened, but at least some people will now understand why it’s called Project T7!

Project T7 Sharingan

Project T7 in its current state

After Andy told me about his trip to Asia (especially his experiences in Hong Kong), I had a new spark of inspiration for the art of lion making. I can’t wait to work on it again.

Until next time.

Most of you who are reading this probably already know about Lion Dance Me’s appearance on America’s Got Talent these past few months. In case you missed it, here is the audition video:

Video courtesy of AmericasGotTalent.

And here is the quarterfinal video:

Video courtesy of AmericanBestTalent.

First off, I have to give major props to Lion Dance Me for promoting Chinese lion dance at a national level, and also for the hard work and training that they went through. I know I will never achieve their level in lion dance stunts, so it is quite humbling to watch them perform such hard routines on national television. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it past the quarterfinals. Good job for getting that far though!

In addition to the many things that went well, I saw a few things that might not have went so well. I also saw a few neutral things that can be debated about. Overall, their achievements can be discussed endlessly. Hopefully, this blog post will spark some meaningful discussions!

What went right:

1. Difficulty of stunts – In their quarterfinal performance, the stunts were definitely hard enough to show that the team has talent. In addition to the difficulty of the stunts, doing them on top of poles that are several feet off the ground confirms the talent of the group.
2. Continuing after a mistake – One of the worst things you can do while performing is to give up after a mistake. In the audition video, one lion slipped on the poles and fell off. The whole performance wasn’t shown but they did continue until the end of the performance.
3. Synchronized ending – In their quarterfinal performance, all lions ended with a synchronized pop. In my opinion, a synchronized ending is a strong ending.

Neutral thoughts/opinions:

1. Use of electronic music – In their quarterfinal performance, no lion dance music was used. Instead, a mix of Avicii’s Levels and some Asian drumming beat was used throughout the performance. Although I’m a huge fan of electronic music, I’m not sure it added anything special to the routine. I suspect that this was done because the judges told them to step it up and do something different.
2. Emotions and expression – I realize that Lion Dance Me labels themselves as an “acrobatic act”, but I feel that they almost completely forgot about an important aspect of Chinese lion dancing – lion expressions. Lion dancing with emotions and expressions usually adds a new dimension to the performance. This might have benefited them.

What went wrong:

1. Too many lions – Way too many lions were used during the quarterfinal performance. In Asian celebratory occasions, large numbers of lions perform at the same time to signify happiness. But when performing to showcase talent, I think two or three lions are enough. This way, the audience can focus on individual movements, hence understanding their true difficulty. With too many lions, all of them start to look similar after a period of time. At one point, it just looked like seven lions jumping up and down, back and forth on the poles.
2. Choreography – With seven lions comes the need for good choreography. In my opinion, synchronized movements works best with multiple lions to impress an audience. Most of the stunts that they did seemed to be random and isolated. This is another reason why at one point, it looked like all seven lions were just jumping up and down, back and forth on the poles.

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

I actually liked Howard Stern’s suggestion at the end of their quarterfinal performance. Imagine if there were two lions, one with the lion costume and one without, doing a completely identical and synchronized routine. This would show the true difficulty of the stunts. Most people don’t realize how hard lion dance stunts are because the lion costume hides everything that must occur to successfully perform a stunt. If one lion was masked and the other wasn’t, the audience and the judges would get to see how truly difficult lion dancing is.

What are your thoughts on Lion Dance Me’s performance on America’s Got Talent? Leave some comments below!

When people think of lion dancing, the last thing that comes to mind would probably be the music behind the lion’s movements. In fact, during performances, the audience rarely concentrates on the musical instruments – the focal point of the lion dance is the lion. Honestly, I think this should be changed. Drumming is an art form in itself. It’s just as hard as learning the lion dance movements. A lot of people who learn drumming after learning the lion movements get discouraged easily because of this difficulty. Not only do drummers have to continuously play the beats, they have to look after the lion and adjust the music according to the situation. Basically, the music is what keeps the dance alive – it is the lion’s heartbeat.

When I first started lion dancing, I didn’t get to go under the lion head. Before I was able to learn the lion’s movements, I needed to be able to play the cymbals first. Playing the cymbals is a lot easier than playing the drum for most people. I was able to learn the cymbal beats pretty quickly, so my Sifu decided to teach me drumming too. The first thing I learned was the “proper” way to hold the drum sticks. I was taught to hold it gently with my thumb and index finger, like this:

Picture taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/19/food-guilty-pleasures-jay-rayner

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Scientists have recently discovered a fascinating creature in the mountains of southern China.  It has the thin legs of a horse and the large head of a lion.  Surrounding its face is a massive amount of loose, fluffy hair.  They call it the Lion Horse.

Just kidding.

Something as simple as a horse stance can be done in multiple ways.  Kung fu, Tai Chi, Karate, and even Tae Kwon Do utilize the horse stance.  Although they all do the horse stance in a similar way, each style still has their own differences – even if it’s a small detail like the angle of the knees and feet.  In southern Chinese martial arts, two major methods of horse stance exist.  二字鉗羊馬(Yee jee keem yeung ma) is the less common version mainly used in Wing Chun, featuring slightly bent knees and inward pointed toes.  The more popular version, 四平馬(sei ping ma), is used in most other southern styles.  Traditionally speaking, this is also the horse stance used in lion dancing.  But recently, another version has appeared in the contemporary styles of lion dancing.  I like to call it the “modified horse stance”. Continue reading