[New Year Chronicle] Lion Dance Teenagers in Guangzhou City: Practicing Kung Fu and Dedicating to Inheriting and Wanting to Be the "Lion King of the World"
[Same period on site] One, two, three, four from left to right
[Explanation] The Spring Festival is approaching, and the Qingchuan Su Gong Temple in Chebei, Guangzhou has become lively again.
Every night, a group of lion dance teenagers follow the master Su Peijian to learn lion dance. The training usually starts with the horse stance, and in the middle, they will repeatedly practice the demeanor and movement of the lion's head to prepare for the Chinese New Year performance.
[Explanation] In lion dance performances, lions are often personified.
Through such difficult movements as soaring, moving, dodging, fluttering, circling, and leaping on the ground or pile formations, the lion can perform eight states of joy, anger, sadness, joy, movement, stillness, surprise and doubt.
The lion head and the lion tail need a solid foundation and tacit cooperation to express the "spirituality" of the lion. The highest state is "the unity of man and lion".
[Concurrent] Su Peijian, master of the lion dance team of Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
When they wake up from a lion, they usually look for something with their eyes closed, just like waking up from sleep. After waking up, they see it now, look everywhere, stand up and look into the distance, and then do the most polite gesture, which is to worship the lion.
[Explanation] In Guangdong, almost every township has its own lion dance team, and Chepi Village is no exception.
Su Peijian introduced that the Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association in Tianhe District, Guangzhou was established in 2010. The team has more than 50 members, most of whom are "post-00s" and are relatively young lion dance teams in Guangzhou.
The reason why it can attract young people to join is that the lion brought lion dance to the campus and won the support of parents for their children to learn lion dance by participating in some competitions.
[Concurrent] Su Peijian, master of the lion dance team of Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
The training in the school is different from the training in the ancestral hall, because the nature of the performance in the school is higher, and then in the ancestral hall, the inheritance of ideas is more important, so the gameplay is different, and the training process is also different.
[Explanation] For the new generation of lion dancers, Su Peijian is very strict. Only those with good basic horse steps and skills can hold the lion head. Wang Zhiming is one of them.
Wang Zhiming is a "post-00" and has been learning lion dance for 3 years. After seeing the lion dance performance in the ancestral hall, he was deeply attracted and joined the lion dance team.
He admitted frankly that at the beginning of learning the lion dance, he had to sprint for half an hour for each training session, and the later physical training was also very hard, but in the end he persevered.
[Concurrent] Wang Zhiming, a student of the Lion Dance Team of the Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
Discuss more with others, do more research, discuss and communicate with outside masters, and most importantly, practice more.
[Explanation] During training, Wang Zhiming held a red lion and kept practicing the lion's demeanor and movements.
[Concurrent] Wang Zhiming, a student of the Lion Dance Team of the Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
Next time, practice well.
Go for it later, the Lion King of the world, right, Master?
[Explanation] Although the development of the Lions is getting better now, Su Peijian is still a little worried.
He told reporters that a few years ago, some of the team members gave up the lion dance because of employment and study issues. At that time, there were only 3 people at the time. The lion dance performance usually requires 8 people to complete it, 6 people are responsible for the music, plus a lion dance. head and a lion's tail.
[Concurrent] Su Peijian, master of the lion dance team of Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
At that time, I really wanted to give up, I gave up and I gave up. To put it bluntly, I really gave up, but every time I came home and slept on the pillow, the image of me and our training would surface, and then I still couldn’t give up, and then came back Yes, there are basically both ups and downs.
[Commentary] Su Meijia, a lion dance member, has a deep understanding of this. She began to learn martial arts in the second grade of elementary school, and later learned lion dance with her brother Su Peijian, mainly responsible for playing the seven-star drum.
[Concurrent] Su Meijia, a member of the lion dance team of Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
Occasionally passed by after school, because they were all from this village, and then I saw our current Master Su. He said that he told me that Meijia and our Lions team might be gone, and then I couldn't help but want to cry, although I didn't say that I have always followed the lion dance to practice. It's just a music group, a chorus player, or a drum practice, but I think it's meaningful to say that it's here for me.
[Commentary] In order to keep the lion team from disbanding, Su Peijian and Su Meijia began to look for new lion dancers on campus.
In their view, the dissemination of traditional culture must start with children. Only when children feel that the lion dance is very attractive and powerful, will people be willing to come and learn.
[Concurrent] Su Meijia, a member of the lion dance team of Guangzhou Chepi Dragon and Lion Sports Association
And now our juniors and juniors, when they see these things, they don't charge money, and let them practice like this as if they are interested. In fact, the main reason is to inherit this thing and increase their interest.
We don't have a lot of girls now. They knew me at the beginning, but only during boxing practice. They have a kind of attitude towards the lion dance. It's difficult, I don't want to practice that attitude, and then they really came after , I saw it at the beginning, and now, they also have this goal, and they also want to play a female lion. I think this is very good.
[Explanation] The lion dance has a long history in China and is now divided into two categories: southern lions and northern lions.
Among them, the Southern Lion, also known as the "Awakening Lion", is the most representative of the Awakening Lions in Guangdong and other places, integrating martial arts, dance, and music.
Since ancient times, lions in Guangdong have been regarded as auspicious objects to exorcise evil spirits and avoid evil. Every festival or major event, there must be lions to cheer up.
Reporter Wei Jiefu Sun Qiuxia Liu Guanqun reports from Guangzhou
Responsible editor: [Zhang Kaixin]