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It takes great skill, and muscle,
By Betty Shimabukuro
to master the Chinese Lion
and his dance
Star-BulletinFIND something around your house that weighs about 35 pounds. A large boom box, perhaps, or a small television.
Got it? Now go stand in front of the kitchen table. Lift the TV over your head five or 10 times. Then jump straight up, at least 3 feet, and land upright on the table. Try not to ram the TV into the ceiling.
This is what it's like to be a lion dancer. Except that you wouldn't be able to see anything in front of you. And you would make the vertical leap gracefully.
To be the head player in a lion dance is to carry around a mask that weighs as much as a small child, while performing acts of dance and acrobatics that would challenge any athlete. To be the tail player is to do all of that while bent over -- and occasionally lift and carry the head guy, running for several feet.
If all you've seen of lion dancing is in crowded banquet halls, you've never gotten the full effect of what an experienced team can do. This weekend is your chance, at Honolulu's first Lion and Dragon Dance Drum Ensemble Competition, one of the Year 2000 Lunar New Year events. Another competition will be held next weekend.
CHINATOWN LANTERN FESTIVAL
Hours: 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday
DRAGON FESTIVAL 2000
Greg Chadwell is a slim 6 feet tall, 125 pounds, not a visible ounce of fat on him. Yet -- "he's considered very obese in the lion dance world," says his teacher, Shane Maihui of the Gee Yung International Martial Art Association.
Not only that, but at age 24 Chadwell is, to put it nicely, over the hill. He'll probably retire soon, Maihui says, and help teach a new generation.
But this weekend, Chadwell will be head player on Gee Yung's team in the lion dance competition. He's been practicing daily with tail player Wayne Chan, who at age 27, 5-feet-10 and 175 pounds, is on the high end of the scale as well. "Kids half our age are doing this," Chan says. "They're smaller, lighter, more agile."
Optimum weight for a head player is no more than 110 pounds; for a tail player 150. Prime performing age is 16 to 23.
But watch these two for just a few minutes and you can see why Maihui has them carry the school name. They are quick, strong, graceful -- three years of partnership clear in the experienced, coordinated way they move.
"You learn all about trust," Chadwell says. "Without trust you can't pull something like this off."By this he means tackling the platforms -- metal plates 3 to 10 feet high and about 10 inches across, secured atop metal posts. The lion must jump up and land on these plates, balance, dance and climb ever higher. The tail player helps lift and steady the head player.
"Like in judo," Maihui says, "first they learn to fall."
Keep in mind that neither dancer can see much. A peek out of the mouth or below the head is about it. The tail player sees only the ground and the feet in front of him. Continual practice of a set routine is the key.
"It pretty much comes from muscle memory," Chadwell says.
The hardest part, though, is not the physical challenge, but the artistry, Chadwell says. The lion must show feelings -- curiosity, anger, uncertainty -- and the only tools the dancers have are a few strings inside the head that blink the eyes and wiggle the ears. The rest comes from a tilt of the head, a shake of the fur, body English.
For advice, Chadwell says he spends a lot of time watching cats.
"A lot of people feel you can just pick up a lion head and start shaking it," Maihui says.
It's actually a highly disciplined pursuit that combines athletics with art and cultural training. Maihui says three hours of training twice a week is normal, with daily training in the two months preceding the new year, when the lions are in greatest demand.
Lion dancing is tied closely to the study of kung fu, a yin-yang relationship that prepares the players physically and philosophically, Maihui says.Many students begin at age 7, although Maihui once started a socially mature 4-year-old.
It is a team sport, involving not just the dancers in the lion costume, but also the instrumentalists on drum, gong and cymbals. Students generally learn all parts, eventually specializing in one (Maihui, after more than 15 years, is a drummer when not teaching).
Inside the costume you'll usually find young men, despite the fact that smaller women might be better suited for the dance. In Chinese tradition, women were not allowed to handle the head, Maihui says, but that's changing and a few young women are coming up in the ranks.
Chadwell and Chang signed on as teen-agers, a time of many distractions, and willingly accepted the discipline. Chang says he was inspired by the excitement of the Chinese New Year and a fascination with noise, color and artistry of the dance. "I always thought it was cool."
Lion dancing also is storytelling and puzzle-solving, which is what the lion is doing when it approaches a store during the New Year, searching for the little packet of money.
The way the lion captures that prize is rooted in traditional Chinese stories, Maihui says, and varies according to the puzzle the storekeeper has set up. "If you don't do it right you are bringing bad luck."
Among standard tests: The lion must approach three times before grabbing the prize, just in case it's a trap.
All of this is part of learning the lion dance, a package of sports and tradition that is unique among cultural arts.
"I take pride in this," Chadwell says. "For me it's an honor. Not too many people can do this. It's a privilege."
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