Lion dance roars in San Francisco

The Chinese New Year parade isn't the only place to watch a lion dance in the San Francisco Bay Area. At weddings, grand openings of new businesses and other celebrations, the traditional Chinese art is performed year-round, thanks to the efforts of lion dance groups and young people increasingly embracing the activity.

Connie Lu, a senior at Lincoln High School in San Francisco, has been practicing lion dance for three years in a youth lion dance club. She performed as the lion's "head" at a high school competition during the weekend in San Francisco's Chinatown to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

"I officially started (performing) in my freshman year, but I had been a 'tail' in a Chinese school for some years. I was only following the head's steps," Lu told China Daily. "I think being a head is more fun because you can play out the lion," she said.

Lion dances are performed by two dancers in lion costumes — the "head" and the "tail".

Lu's team — 11 girls and two boys — participated in the competition, along with four other teams of about 100 contestants. The event also attracted hundreds of tourists.

Blinking big eyes and shaking the body, the yellow lion played by Lu and her teammate jumped up on a narrow bench to the beat of drums and gongs and picked up a hanging flower bouquet. The dancers' skillful movements won a big round of applause from the audience.

Lion dance is a traditional Chinese performance combining martial arts, music and storytelling. Ancient people regarded lions as a symbol of bravery and strength, so the dances are performed to drive away evil and bring luck and fortune.

Accompanied by beating drums and clashing cymbals, lion dances imitate a lion's movements, such as scratching, shaking the body and licking the fur.

Each performance also has a unique meaning. Lu's performance tells the story of a lion who tries to cross a river to get a flower for his friend, but he is afraid of the river at first. Finally, he conquers the challenge and gets the flower to his friend.

"The meaning is everyone has struggles in life and it can be scary. But when we work together and work hard, we can achieve it," said Sophia Lee, a teammate of Lu's. "Lion dance gives us a chance to educate and share our culture with everyone. We want to let people know more about AAPI culture," said Lee, a ninth grader.

The competition required contestants to innovate with new concepts and movements while maintaining tradition, said Jennifer Chang, one of the competition's organizers.

"They all presented a unique performance through their own understanding of lion dance culture. For example, the traditional 'picking greens' technique is changed to picking keys to open treasure boxes or picking flowers. These new ideas can relate to young people more easily, and therefore, the lion dance is no longer a repetitive, unchanging art," Chang told China Daily.

Saturday's competition was the second following last year's success, according to one of the organizers, LionDanceME, a San Francisco-based performing company that started as a high school club.

"We want to show to the public young Asian Americans carrying and celebrating AAPI heritage. We want to help our community to overcome the difficulties during the pandemic," the organizer said.

The first Inter-League High School Lion Dance Competition received positive feedback and encouragement for participants and also attracted hundreds of tourists to Chinatown.

Over the past few years, lion dance groups in the Bay Area have participated in rallies and marches to bring awareness to anti-Asian hate.

The lion dance shows that the Chinese community is resilient, according to another San Francisco-based lion dance association, Yau Kung Moon.

"At LionDanceME, we have more than 700 performances a year," said Lee. Asked how many performances she has given, she said, "Countless."

Whenever they have a chance, Lu and Lee introduce lion dance to their friends from non-Chinese backgrounds. "They are amazed seeing us in lion costumes," they said. "They think we are very cool."