With a mixture of ferocity and finesse, three historical lion costumes sway facet to facet, shaking their our bodies and stomping their toes. Beneath every costume, two members of the Joyous Spring Lion Dance Troupe shuffle forwards and backwards time and again, till each step is exact and in time with the beat of a drum.
The spectacle is a typical one within the Royaltree Circle neighborhood in San Jose — particularly round Lunar New Yr when the troupe rigorously prepares for the handfuls of lion dance performances set to enchant people all through the South Bay.
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“We have anywhere from three to four performances every weekend,” mentioned Eva Luong, co-leader for the troupe. “For the next month-and-a-half, we’ll have around 20.”
The variety of Lunar New Yr reveals is a document for the small 13-member workforce, which shaped in 2022 and holds their weekly practices within the driveway of Luong’s mum or dad’s home on Royaltree.
Because the troupe begins a collection of pre-routine workout routines, Luong seems to be on with delight. “This is all voluntary, none of us get paid at all,” she mentioned. “We do it to be able to continue the lion dancing culture.”
On Jan. 29, roughly two billion folks all over the world will have fun the Lunar New Yr, ushering within the Yr of the Snake with events, firecrackers and conventional meals.
Across the Bay Space, which has one of many largest Chinese language-American communities in america, lion dance troupes like Joyous Spring are hustling to showcase their abilities at lots of of new-year-related festivities — particularly in main South and East Bay cities, and significantly in San Francisco, which boasts the most important Lunar New Yr parade within the nation and attracts an viewers of hundreds of thousands.
The lion dance is a time-honored custom in lots of Asian cultures; individuals dressed as colourful caricature lions mimic the beasts’ actions utilizing components of martial arts and acrobatics. No dance is full with out the accompanying sound of drums, cymbals and gongs.
Lion dances will be seen throughout particular events, like weddings, birthdays and retailer openings, and symbolize good luck and fortune. They’re additionally an integral a part of ushering within the new 12 months, based on the Chinese language lunisolar calendar, and honoring a brand new Chinese language Zodiac signal.
On a current Saturday evening in San Francisco’s Richmond District, Tony Shiu dons a vibrant red-and-yellow lion costume and prowls his approach down thirty ninth Avenue, the place his Daly Metropolis-based West Coast Lion Dance Troupe is performing within the district’s Lunar New Yr parade and welcoming the arrival of newly elected Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The occasion is only one from a prolonged record of the group’s weekend gigs. They’re anticipated to attend 60 personal occasions and bless greater than 150 shops in San Francisco and Daly Metropolis with their dancing from Jan. 28 till late February. West Coast additionally participates yearly in San Francisco’s Lunar New Yr parade, which is able to happen Feb. 15.
The schedule is demanding, however Shiu, who’s 63 years outdated and has been dancing for nearly 50 years, is hell-bent on persevering with to guide and prepare with the West Coast workforce. Shiu mentioned he likes to share the story of the lion dance and see the viewers’s excited expressions because the lions come to life.
“My goal is to share my knowledge with them,” Shiu mentioned. “I see the look on their faces, oftentimes I see them nodding their heads because they understand it’s a little more than just this costume dancing around.”
The origin of lion dancing stems from a legend in Chinese language mythology, the place a monster referred to as “Nian” — translated to “year” in Mandarin — would terrorize a village. Sooner or later, the story goes, the villagers found Nian was afraid of loud noises, hearth and the colour pink. They long-established a lion-like costume collectively and when Nian appeared, two folks within the costume charged on the beast whereas different villagers set off firecrackers and beat pots and pans. Nian, frightened, ran away.
These days, the lion dance holds a extra symbolic that means, mentioned Jayde Wong, a frontrunner and award-winning dancer for the San Francisco-based group LionDanceMe.
‘We continue the lion dance because it’s a method to deliver good luck and drive away any evil spirits for the brand new 12 months,” she mentioned.
LionDanceMe’s delight has additionally been on the transfer. From January to February, the roughly 150 members will carry out at greater than 300 reveals, half the overall variety of performances they’ll do in a 12 months. Their shoppers vary from elementary colleges and senior facilities to small companies and enormous tech corporations.
“It’s always really fun to see how these different audiences from different backgrounds perceive our performance,” Wong mentioned.
On Jan. 29 alone, they’ll do 60 reveals — essentially the most the group has ever achieved on Lunar New Yr, Wong mentioned. On that day, the members will cut up into 11 groups and journey to totally different cities, performing each hour from 9 a.m. to five p.m. To maintain observe of the good migration, Wong created an Excel spreadsheet itemizing every workforce’s location and present time.
“It’s a really, really crazy time for us right now,” she mentioned, in a current name between reveals.
Again on Royaltree, the Joyous Spring troupe continues to observe within the driveway. Because the sky darkens, they activate their very own transportable out of doors gentle and run via their routine for an invisible viewers. Proper earlier than the brand new 12 months, Luong asks the members what they stay up for essentially the most about performing. Their solutions are often the identical, she mentioned.
“A lot of time they’re saying, ‘I want to make the elders happy,’ or ‘I love playing with kids and seeing them light up,’” Luong mentioned. “That’s what we look forward to the most, the community interaction.”
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