舞獅

How to listen

The music is mainly percussion. In the southern lion dance, the style most often seen outside China, the band is a large drum, a large gong and large cymbals. The northern lion is accompanied by Beijing-style cymbals, gong and drum. Listen to how the rhythm and the movement fit together. In the Hok San school of southern lion dance, particular drum patterns were developed to match the lion's movements. In the dragon dance, the dancer at the head has to keep in time with the drum, and the tail has to keep in time with the head.

Some of the sound around the drums belongs to the occasion too. In the Guangdong custom, New Year troupes go from door to door amid the noise of firecrackers, asking for red packets.

The dance

A Chinese lion is usually worked by two dancers, one at the head and one at the tail, and many of its basic moves come from Chinese martial arts. The southern lion, from Guangdong, has a single horn and a head of papier-mâché over a bamboo frame. Its two main styles are Fut San and Hok San. The northern lion is more acrobatic.

The best-known set piece is cai qing, "plucking the greens". At New Year a lettuce is hung up or set on a table in front of a house or shop, tied to a red envelope of money. The lion approaches it like a curious cat, eats the greens and spits them out, and keeps the envelope as the troupe's reward.

A short history

Masked animal dances in China go back to antiquity, but the lion is not native to China, and the dance may have come in from Central Asia. Detailed descriptions appear in the Tang dynasty, when writers already saw it as a foreign dance. The southern lion is a later adaptation, perhaps from the Ming dynasty. Dragon dances are described in Han dynasty texts, some tied to rituals for rain, though those early dances do not much resemble today's.

Start with

Begin with Lion dance in Sha Tin: plucking the greens, recorded at the custom described above. For the dragon, listen to the Chinese New Year dragon dance, The Hague. The Wan Chi Ming Wushu Institute appears in a Brooklyn demonstration from 1989. The Lions, dragons and New Year drums collection has more, and the luogu page covers the gongs and drums.

Questions

What is the lion dance?

The lion dance is a traditional Chinese dance in which two performers in a lion costume imitate a lion's movements to bring good luck and ward off evil. It is performed mostly at the Lunar New Year and other festivals.

What music is played for the lion dance?

Mainly percussion: a large drum, gongs and cymbals. Some schools developed drum patterns to match the lion's movements.

What is the difference between the lion dance and the dragon dance?

A lion is worked by two dancers, at head and tail. A dragon is a long puppet carried on poles by a whole team, and its head must keep in time with the drum.

What does "plucking the greens" mean?

Cai qing is a New Year custom in which the lion "eats" a lettuce tied to a red envelope of money in front of a house or shop, keeping the envelope as the troupe's reward. It is believed to bring good fortune.