Chinese New Year Lion Dance - Dragon Dance

Lunar New Year Celebration or Spring Festival

In China, the lion dance differ in various places, especially in its appearance. In Northern China, the body of the lion has full of hair except the head. It looked more like the real lion and usually dance in pairs. In Southern China, the lion looked far removed from the real lion because it was made of multi-colored pieces of linen. They definitely dance individually and never in pairs.

The lion dance is an important festive tradition in China, an entertainment and dance form in festive occasions usually during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. The Lion dance is another important tradition in China, usually performed with the dragon dance on auspicious occasions. A good performance is believed to bring luck and happiness.

The most spectacular event of the Chinese New Year festivities must be the Lion Dance. Lion dances take place throughout the first few days of the Chinese New Year, and bring good luck to the households or businesses which they visit.

The Lion Dance itself is performed by two performers one handling the lion's head leading the dance and shows the lions emotions. The other one will play the body and the tail of the lion. Careful observation of the Lion Dance will show that it is in fact a very careful demonstration of stylized movements performed by skilled performers usually from martial arts school or acrobatic team. To enhance the 'life' of the lion, the eyelids, mouth and ears of the Lion's head will move resembling movement of the lion.

The dance is accompanied by loud music played on large drum, gong and cymbals. The use of firecrackers, drums, gongs and cymbals are related to the role of the lion in dispelling evil and bringing good luck - evil being afraid of loud noise. A man who entices the lion, usually holding a fan or a giant ball called Qing.

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