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New lion dancers prance in jazz

The Young Reporter (2009, February), 41(05), pp. 9.
Author: Jojo Choi Tsz-tsun. Editor: Austin Chiu Tung-wai.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0015955

Jojo Choi Tsz-tsun

Perched high on a pole, the golden lion gingerly moves its body in rhythm with the beats of gongs and drums. It stops at times and looks around with its eyes blinking vividly. Hopping agilely from pole to pole and, all of a sudden, it leaps into the air and snaps the lettuce dangling above head.

The lion dance mimics how a lion climbs uphill to the top of a lofty mountain and reaches its goal. Performing is a pair of dancers under the exquisite lion costume, with one manoeuvring the head and the other the tail.

Lion dance is one of the traditional Chinese arts performances that still lives today. Though superstitious, many Chinese still believe that “Choi Chang” -the veggies-picking rite of lion dance-would bring happiness and fortune and keep disasters at bay. Dancers are therefore paid to perform when new shops open, during festivities and maybe, in particular, in the times of grim economic recession.

According to Hong Kong Ha Chiu Kin Dragon and Lion Dance Association, they have 30 per cent more job assignments this year than last year. The number of jobs reached as many as 11 a day.

While businessmen’s increased eagerness to pay for anything that can promise them a good year could be a reason for the rise in business, some insiders say it is more to do with the modernisation of the dance.

Son of the troupe’s founder Mr Jackie Ha, who has been playing lion dance for 18 years, says in order to keep the old art abreast of the rapidly changing world, new elements have been introduced.

“Packaging is important,” says the 22-year-old full-time designer. With that thinking, he has redesigned lion wigs, dancers’ outfits and other accessories to better appeal to customers.

“Customers now look for something new and special. So the choreography needs to be creative,” he says.

“We would modify our performance to suit the clients,” says Ha’s fellow Mr Sham Man-siu, a master of 13 year’s experience.

He recalls that the group did a lion dance in jazz gaits and jazz music for an opening of a gallery last year. “We tailor-made the lion dance in jazz upon request by the customer,” he says.

The match was amazing, he says, and the customer was pleased with their performance.

Dance groups in Hong Kong have begun to pay attention to aspects other than the dance alone, he goes on saying. People have brought in props such as confetti cannons, bubble makers and smoke generators to the performance and some would play fire tricks.

As if it is a taboo to talk about money, Mr Sham hesitates to disclose how much they can earn from each show, just saying it is a “sea food price” .

Although there are no standard show prices, Mr Edwin Hou Chifai, a teacher who leads a lion dance team of a secondary school in Hang Fa Chuen, Hong Kong East, says a 15-minute show performed by professional dancers normally fetch about $7,500 and school teams charge anywhere between $600 and $2,300.

Seemingly, lion dance is a new lucrative business to tap into, but few have noticed the tremendous efforts one has to make behind the stunts. It can take up to three years for a novice to master the skills to dance on poles and the process is far from easy.

Student Mr Chan Man-king, 16, who took part in a world-class lion dance competition last year, says he used to have practices three times a week and he had to receive a two-month intensive training before the competition.

The trainings had been demanding and exhausting, he recounts. Perhaps what spurs him on is the sense of satisfaction he gets from a successful performance and not less, the money, however nominal, he is rewarded.

“I am happy to receive the money I get,” he says wearing a big smile on his face. “But what makes me really like lion dancing is it gives me pleasure, good health and friendship.

“I am happy that I have the chance to perform abroad and learn the importance of cooperation,” he says.

But Mr Hou says that the general perceoption [i.e. perception] of lion dance has not been good as some regard it triad-related. He says he is faced with constant pressure to disband the school team after the school’s principal received complaints.

“I hope lion dance can clear its name one day... and develop as a healthy sport for teenagers,” he says.

Edited by Austin Chiu Tung-wai

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