Lion Dance in China

At first, the northern lion was popular in the north of the Yangtze River. Nanshi is very popular in South China, Southeast Asia and overseas. In recent years, there have also been dances that combine the two, mainly using the footwork of the Southern Lion and the Northern Lion, which is called the Southern Lion and the Northern Dance. The northern lion looks like a real lion, with a simple head and golden hair all over. Lion dancers (usually two people dancing at one end) will coat their trousers and shoes with fur, and look like lifelike lions before dancing. The lion with a red knot on his head is a male and the green one is a female. The northern lion shows flexible movements, which is different from the southern lion. Dance is mainly about jumping, falling, turning, rolling, jumping and scratching.

Lions in the north usually appear in pairs; Led by a master dressed as a samurai. Sometimes a pair of northern lions will match a pair of little northern lions. The little lion teased the big lion, and the big lion teased and showed his family. The performance of the northern lion is closer to juggling. Musically, Beijing cymbals, Beijing gongs and Beijing drums are the main instruments.

Hebei is the birthplace of the northern lion. The Lions Club in Beili Village, xushui county was founded in 1925. As a folk flower club, it developed rapidly after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The activities of lion dance in Xu Shui are mainly during the Spring Festival and Spring Temple Fair. During the performance, two people cooperated with each other. The former plays the lion's head with props on his head, and the latter leans over his hands to grasp the former's waist, puts on a lion skin decorative cover made of cow hair and plays the lion's body. The two of them cooperate to dress up as a big lion, which is called Tai Lion. Another person wears a lion's head mask and a lion's skin to play a little lion, called a little lion; People who tease lions with hydrangeas are called lion-attracting dragons. Lion guides play an important role in the whole lion dance. He should not only be heroic, but also have good martial arts, and can perform actions such as "turning the lion forward", "turning the table back" and "turning the plum blossom pile in the cloud". The tacit cooperation between the lion guide and the lion constitutes an important feature of the lion dance in the north. The basic characteristics of Xu Shui lion dance are exaggerated appearance, big lion head, smart eyes and big mouth, which are both dignified and charming. When performing, you can imitate the movements of a real lion, such as watching, standing, walking, running, jumping, rolling, sleeping and shaking your hair. , you can also display "playing with the bench", "plum blossom pile" and "jumping pile"

Xu Shui lion dance plays an important role in China folk art performances. 1953 went to Beijing, the capital, to participate in the China folk art performance, and performed abroad on behalf of the country for many times. He won the first prize in the 4th World Youth and Student Festival held in Bucharest, Romania. Hebei Acrobatics Association officially named Beili Village as "the hometown of acrobatics and lion dancing" in June, 20001year. Nowadays, due to the high cost of lion dance props and the difficulty in training new people, Xu Shui lion dance is facing a crisis of inheritance, and it is in urgent need of rescue and support from relevant departments. The Southern Lion, also known as the Lion Awakening, has a more vigorous shape and pays attention to "horse stance just look" when dancing. Southern Lion shows a vigorous lion style mainly through the movements of dancers, and generally only two people dance at one end. The lion's head is based on the face spectrum of China traditional opera, which is colorful and beautifully made. Eyes and mouth can move. Strictly speaking, heather's lion head is not like a lion's head, and some people even think that heather is closer to the "Nian" beast. Heather's lion head also has a horn. It is said that it used to be made of iron to cope with the fights that often occur when dancing lions. Traditionally, the lion's head is divided into Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The three lion heads are not only different in color and decoration, but also have different dancing methods according to the personalities of the three ancient people. Red is Guan Gong lion, representing loyalty and victory. Because Guan Yu is Wu Caishen in the eyes of China people, Guan Yu's lion also represents wealth. Yellow is Liu Beishi, representing Zebei's livelihood, benevolence and royal extravagance; Black is Zhang, representing domineering and courage. Therefore, Zhang is usually only used in competitions or kicking stadiums. Generally speaking, red and yellow are common in festival activities.

There are many dance styles of heather, including: rising, normal, rising, questioning, scratching, welcoming, saluting, jumping, examining, sleeping, coming out of the hole, outbursting, climbing mountains, going upstairs and so on; Dancers show various forms abstractly through different horse stance and lion head movements. Therefore, the Southern Lion speaks like a spirit. The Southern Lion has performances such as going out of the cave, going up the mountain, patrolling the mountain to meet the lion, picking green and entering the cave. Among them, "picking green" is the most common. The original meaning of "picking green" is "anti-clearing and restoring sight", but now it is generally taken as a symbol of "prosperity" and prosperous business. "Green" is the homonym of lettuce (making money). Hanging lettuce and vegetable market (red envelopes), the lion jumped a few times in front of "green" to show hesitation, then jumped up and ate the green vegetables in one gulp (called picking green), then chopped the lettuce (called broken green), imitated the lion's full expression (called drunk green), and then greeted everyone with chopped green saliva (called making money everywhere). In order to increase entertainment, sometimes all kinds of green picking methods (azure picking, ground picking, water picking, etc. ) Used in conjunction with various stunts, such as shouldering (the lion dancer stands on the shoulder of the lion's tail), folding arhats, climbing poles (climbing bamboo poles), or crossing plum blossoms (crossing wooden stumps of different heights) and so on.

When dancing the Southern Lion, there will be gongs, drums and cymbals. Lion dance should match the rhythm of music. When dancing the Southern Lion, sometimes a person will dress up as a "Big Head Buddha" and be led by a sunflower fan.

There is usually a "closing ceremony" before the lion dance. The ceremony was presided over by the officiating guests, and cinnabar was painted on the lion's eye and heaven, symbolizing giving aura and life.

Heather lion head

Generally speaking, heather's lion head can be divided into Heshan lion costume and Foshan lion costume. Foshan lion's head is big and round, with a broad and powerful forehead and a flat mouth. The lion head of Heshan is flat and long, and its mouth protrudes like a duckbill, so the insiders also call it "duckbill lion".

Traditionally, heather's lion head can be divided into "Liu Bei Lion", "Guan Gong Lion" and "Zhang Fei Lion". The three lion heads not only have different colors and decorations, but also have different dance methods according to the personalities of the three ancient people. For example, those who jump the lion Zhang Fei must be brave and domineering.

Southern lion dance

In lion dance techniques, the Northern Lion emphasizes realism, while the Southern Lion emphasizes freehand brushwork. In the performance of the Southern Lion, it is necessary to show that the lion is sometimes mighty and brave, majestic and majestic, and sometimes playful and humorous, so the expressions of joy, anger, drunkenness, joy, fierceness, surprise, doubt, movement, quietness and wakefulness should be vividly performed. Successful performances often show the audience not only exquisite skills and superb difficulty, but more importantly, let the audience see or appreciate the various thoughts and actions of the lion in the performance, personalize the lion dance performance and give people ideas. Let people watch the lion dance performance sometimes nervous, sometimes surprised, sometimes happy, sometimes intoxicated, so as to get the feeling and enlightenment of life, sublimate their thoughts and enjoy beautiful art. It is really important to show the lion's demeanor in the lion dance performance, so how can we master it? I should not talk about the demeanor in the performance of the Southern Lion just in my opinion, but the purpose of this move is to explore, improve and develop the lion art together with the generals, which is purely intended to attract jade and hope that the predecessors will be upright.

Hi: With the light and cheerful drums, the lion is happy, happy, blinks, smiles, shakes his head or jumps, turns around, and has lunges, horse steps, knees or independent steps.

Anger: counterweight, come on, beat the drum quickly. The lion was angry, stared, growled, shook his head hard, and stood with lunges and lunges.

Drunk: Accompanied by the slow drums. The lion's eyes are half open and half closed, trembling slightly, unconscious, hanging his head and dragging his feet, all kinds of footwork.

Wake-up: light first, then heavy, slow first, then beat the drum quickly. In the process of lion's recovery, the lion's eyes are slightly open, half open and wide open, stretching and surfing are combined, and the opening and closing of the lion's mouth are coordinated left and right.

Move: According to the passion of the lion, the light, heavy, fast, slow, urgent and slow drum footwork changes posture with the rhythm of the drum.

Quiet: The drum stops the lion from being silent, his eyes are calm, and the lion is static and prominent. Just watch the footwork, lunge and stance.

Music: Drumming requires light, fast and heavy combination. The lion is happy, shaking his head, opening and closing his eyes and mouth with the rhythm of drums, with small jumps, yangko steps, small steps and so on.

Fierce: balanced, fast, and sharp drums. Strong momentum, great strength, strong mouth and eyes opening and closing, shaking his head and showing off, strong pace, overcoming difficulties and having answers. It is often difficult to fly piles over long distances.

Take it by surprise: stop beating the drum suddenly, quickly, rush because of fear of being frightened in an unexpected situation, or stare at your mouth or keep your mouth closed. The lion's body shakes, especially the shaking of the lion's hind legs. Use lunge and stance.

Doubt: With the slow drumming, the eyes are opened and the mouth is closed, and the lion's head slowly turns left and right or stretches forward and then retracts, without moving, without doubt, in the form of servant step, lunge, horse stance just look up and knee climbing.

Search: With light, heavy, fast and slow drums, the eyes and mouth move with the rhythm of the drums, and the lion's head rotates vigorously left and right, stretching back and forth to find the combination. In-situ rotation combined with purposeful search.

Hope: With the cooperation of light, fast and slow drums, the lion stretches his head and looks far, slowly turns left and right, lunges, stands, knees and shoulders.

Exploration: It means lion distress detection and reconnaissance with light to heavy to sharp drums. The front paws or hind legs can be explored from high to low, from near to far, or the upper body can be stretched forward for exploration, and the mouth and eyes can be slightly opened and closed to match the drum.

Fidgety: With the rapid and heavy drums, the lion looks impatient and fidgety when he is puzzled. The lion's head swings from side to side, always stepping or turning, looking around, and his mouth closes one by one.

Play: there are light, fast and drums. The lion is relaxing and playing, and his eyes and mouth open and close with the drums. The footwork is mostly small jump stride, broken step, positive step, cross yangko step and so on.

Play: With the light, heavy, urgent and slow drums, the lion teases, teases and plays curiously. Eyes and mouth open and close with the drums. As soon as the lion enters and retreats, its front paws or hind legs stretch and retract or grab and grab. The footwork is usually to rush up and then suddenly stop and slowly explore the steps.

The accompaniment of beating the lion drum, gong and hairpin is an important link to achieve the best effect of lion art performance, and plays an important role in determining whether the lion art is realistic in form and spirit and whether the routine is completed. Emphasize: light, heavy, fast, slow, urgent, slow and stop. Because the lion dancer and the two can't discuss the rhythm of their movements in the lion quilt, the rhythm of all movements is mostly controlled by gongs and drums. Often, people who learn lion dance in the early stage will learn the rhythm of gongs and drums first and become familiar with the rhythm of lion dance before they can begin to learn lion dance.

Light: then tap, tap, with the strength of the wrist.

Weight: then hit high and fall high, using the joint strength of elbow, shoulder, waist and leg.

Fast: just fast beat, fast beat, with the strength of wrist and elbow.

Slow: It means slow beat and slow beat.

Urgent: There are more drums between beats.

Slow: Less drums between beats.

Stop: all kinds of blows stop for more than one beat without music.

Southern lion competition

Southern lion competition can be divided into Gaochun lion art competition and traditional lion art competition, among which Gaochun lion art competition is the mainstream. Malaysian, Chinese mainland, Hongkong, Macau and the United States hold worldwide lion dance competitions every year. The famous international competition is Genting World Lion King Competition held in Malaysia every two years.