The Extravaganza of Classical and Samba Lion Dance
Website Map The Origin Learning Performances Ambassadors Interview Questionnaire Activities Narrative
 
Classical lion
The making of lion heads
Practicing lion dance
The Samba Lion
Producing Lion Masks
Practicing for Street Parades
eBook
The Lion Headpiece Master
The Xiluo Street Parade
Classical lion-Practicing lion dance
  In the 2009 academic year this school established the Zunliao Lion Dance Club, working with Puhsuan Temple to pass on local customs, cultivate local culture to promote school and community development. Lion dance coaches are invited to teach students in the whole school every Monday morning. The students begin by learning boxing and then lion dance arts.

  At the time, Principal Fu-tang Chang and coaches decided that the whole school would learn boxing arts starting on September 28, 2009. The whole school would warm up together, then divide into two groups, the first with first through third grade, and the second with fourth through sixth grade. The coaches practiced with them separately.

The whole student body warming up together
First, second, and third grades in a group
Fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in a group
  After a few weeks of practice, the principal and coaches thought that the effects of learning how to box were not good, so they decided to split the students into three groups by lower grades, middle grades, and upper grades. The coach taught us how to box, and the principal and teachers also helped, so our boxing improved faster.
The principal helping with teaching the lower grades
The teacher teaching the middle grades
The coach teaching the upper grades
  A few weeks later, we saw that the coach brought lion heads and lion dance musical tools to school. We were curious because we did not know what he wanted to do. Apparently, today he wanted to introduce lion dance. The coaches divided into three groups and introduced the lion head, lion tail, and drumming. After the coach made his instructions, we could try and it was very interesting. Today is the most fun day we have had since boxing.
The coach introduces the lion head
The coach introduces drumming
The coach introduces the lion tail
  Then, every Monday, the lower and middle grades were still practicing boxing, while the higher grades practiced boxing and lion dance. Lion dance is not as easy and simple as imagined. Don’t look down on the lion head. Even though it looks small, it is actually very heavy. Your arms get very tired if you hold it for too long. Don’t look down on the lion tail either. Even though the lion tail is not as heavy as the head, it is not easy to be bent over all the time. Both the lion head and tail require strong wills and bodies. Don’t look down on the power of lion head and lion tail!

  Even though lion dance is hard work, we still think that it is more fun than boxing. However, the coach says that for lion dance to look good, we have to be good at boxing. The principal also tells us that we can perform at the school celebration community sports event, so we have to hurry up and practice.

The coach talking about important points in lion dance
The coach demonstrates lion dance
We learn lion dance from the coach
  In the next semester, our school established a lion dance team, and the coach invited older students to box and lion dance for the coach, then the coach selected 18 people to form the lion dance team. Later, the coach thought that the lion dance team was not practicing enough, so other than when the whole school practices every Monday, we also practice lion dance and boxing on Thursday mornings.
The lion dance team practicing
Practice of the Zunliao lion dance team
The lion dance team practices boxing
  Before August 2010, Principal Chang retired and our new principal is Mr. Guo-hsun Lin, who also likes to box and lion dance with us. Mr. Lin also wants us to practice lion dance and boxing every Tuesday after class, and the coach comes to teach us. Now, we spend three days a week practicing boxing and lion dance, and we also train during winter and summer vacations. We like lion dance more and more now.
After school ends, the coach teaches us to box
After school, the coach teaches us lion dance
Mr. Lin guided us
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