Photo: The dancing lion

Photo by Elijah Ellis.

Lion heads are made of paper-mache and bamboo and vary in weight from the very light to somewhat heavy. Lion dancers work in teams of two. The front person handles the head and the back person is the tail. There is also a drummer, cymbalists, and a gong player. A large-headed Buddha also teases the lion with a fan. He represents a renegade monk who was too undisciplined to handle Shaolin temple training, and so, as legend has it, he was either cast out from the temple, or he simply ran away. Depending on the occasion, firecrackers may also be used to scare away evil spirits. Most often the lion dancers are gung-fu practitioners because of the difficult and strenuous moves required to make the lion come to life. Every move has a specific musical rhythm. The lion and its musical accompaniment are synchronized together throughout this elaborate routine. The lion dance may vary from improvisation to extreme choreography, depending on the occasion. [Source: jingmo.com]