Here's What It Takes To Be A Lion Dancer On Lunar New Year

If you’ve been to a Lunar New Year parade or festival, it’s very likely you’ve seen a lion dance performance.

Along with foods like dumplings and noodles and traditions like giving red envelopes filled with money, lion dances are a big part of Lunar New Year celebrations.

Jenny Lin with the Chinese American Museum in L.A. says the lion dance represents “happiness and prosperity, and it's a great blessing for anybody who comes and watches a lion dance because it's supposed to ward away any evil spirits.”

A brief history

The lion dance originated in China several centuries ago. And in L.A., the tradition goes back decades, including as a part of the long-running Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown, which this year is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

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The basic set up is a two-person team that makes up each lion — one wearing a fluffy lion head (and moving its mouth and eyelids like a puppet) and another at the back end of the lion.

There’s puppetry involved in the back end too, only it’s slightly less complicated: just wagging the tail. The main challenge in being the back end of the lion is staying bent over throughout the performance and keeping your back flat.

Oftentimes a dancer wearing a Buddha costume and mask will guide the lions. And with any stunts, UCLA lion dance team coordinator Laura Kubiatko says, “they can also serve as a spotter.”

The dancers also take their cues from the music that other members of the dance troupe play — using drums and cymbals.

Lunar New Year isn’t the only occasion where dragon dancers perform. They’re also called upon for birthday parties, weddings and store openings. That’s what keeps UCLA’s student-run lion dance team — one of several lion dance troupes in Southern California — booked and busy pretty much year-round.

But Lunar New Year is still their busiest time, with more than 40 performances between January and February and sometimes as many as 15 in a week.

Making the team

The UCLA lion dance team, founded in 2001, is affiliated with the Association of Chinese Americans (ACA) on campus, and is comprised of about 40 members.

They practice twice a week for two hours — one late-night practice at the Tongva Steps on campus, and on weekends at the top of a parking structure near the UCLA Medical Center.

What does it take to join the team? Most members start without any experience and there are no tryouts. Team coordinator Kubiatko says all that’s required is “a good attitude, willing[ness] to learn and an appreciation for the art.”

Several members of UCLA's ACA Lion Dance Team at a recent practice.

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No, lions are not the same as dragons

Alexis Wong, a former team coordinator, says that the lions, with their unique looks, are often mistaken for dragons.

“Dragon dancing is actually a different kind of dance. Dragons in Chinese mythology fly, so they're actually held up on poles above [dancers’] heads.”

How else to tell the difference, Wong says, is that a dragon will usually be held up by at least 10 people.

A dragon dance is performed in Foshan, China in 2013.

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Lion dancers perform on stage during the 120th Golden Dragon Parade in Los Angeles in 2019.

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“The easiest way to tell if it's a lion dance is that there's only two people in the lion," Wong explains. "And they're basically their own mythological creature within Chinese mythology. So, not like an African lion, but they are their own separate thing from a dragon.”

Styles of lion dance

Sometimes the lions are made to look more fearsome (the better to scare off evil spirits) and other times they’re designed to be more cutesy.

And there are many different styles of lion dance, though two of the main ones are the “southern” and “northern” styles.

Samuel Lu, another UCLA lion dance team coordinator, says the most popular style across the Chinese diaspora is the southern style, “which is the one that we practice as well. So it involves very lively lions that focus a lot [on] blessing the audience, the venue, as well as interacting and just being cute.”

Finding connections

While it is a significant time commitment, the team members say there are a lot of benefits that make it worth it.

Lu says “this team has really shown me a side of Chinese culture that I feel really proud to connect with and also showcase to communities all around L.A.”

How to see the team perform

This Sunday (Feb. 18), UCLA's ACA Lion Dance Team performs at the Dharma Seal Temple in Rosemead.