Hi guys, it's Peter Lee here joining in the discussions. I head the Chung Wah Association Lion and Dragon Dance Troupe here in Perth, Western Australia. We do mainly the Southern Style with a little bit of Northern Lion and Dragon as well.

I've read many requests for a good contact to buy lion dance equipments in Malaysia or HK etc. There's a friend that I'd recommend, it's H.P. Siow from Malaysia. His contacts are as follows:

IDD + country code + 03-7922968 is a fax/phone at his work address:
No.32, 2/29, Old Town,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
West Malaysia(I don't have the post code)

In my opinion, this guy (Siow sifu) is making one of the nicest lion heads around. A good indication is 80% of the competing teams in HK 95 Championship used his heads. He makes several hundred heads a year, so he's stuff is pretty popular.

H.P. Siow is the chief instructor of the Malaysian world beating lion dance troupe, Kun Seng Keng. He's a really nice guy so check him out.

Hi LuVly8@aol.com

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond to you. I have some videos, but the quality and sound is very poor. You'd probably be dissatisfied if you purchased these! There are some good videos out there though, some of domestic groups performances/competition, and some from competitions from overseas. I'd be interested in purchasing some of these too, especially if the videos had the dances of other animals besides the southern lion. Anyone?

Thanks and good hunting.

Hi!

My name is George WH Chan and I am the co-ordinator of the Qiao Yi Lion Dance team, in Christchurch, New Zealand. The team is only 1 year old and is currently doing the Southern Lion Fock-shan style. I have learnt the art in Sabah, Malaysia while in highschool and have been doing the lion dance (lion head) for 8 years.

The aim the team is to improve our knowledge on liondance and also to help in the preservation and the introduction of the art and sport of lion dancing. I hope I will be of some contribution to this aim.

Thankyou and Happy Lion Dancing!

>ThankYou Very much. And one more thing, would you say doing lion dance
>for two groups at the same time,do u think thats betraying the other group?

Hello Kiley,

This was a very good question, so I decided to share it with the rest of us in the hopes of stimulating some other discussion. I hope you don't mind.

I don't think there's a "right" answer for this question. Some people will say YES. Others will say NO. Then there are those that will say MAYBE, IT DEPENDS. Here comes my answer. It's not the right answer. It's the answer that's right for me.

I consider it a privilege to lion dance with more than one group at a timeŠnot a right. Kind of like what the DMV says about your drivers license. And since it's a privilege, it has to be earned. It can't be abused. I'm very fortunate to be able to perform with several groups, and not just myself, some of my other teammates and probably some of you out there as well. How do we do it? I think the answer is respect. If we're honest with our instructors from the beginning, and if we respect them, we should be straight up from the onset about our desire to perform with other groups as well. Ask your instructor(s) how they feel about you performing with other groups BEFORE you start doing so. And be sure the other group knows that you belong to another group as well BEFORE you dance with them.

Betraying is a really strong word. There are probably instructors/groups who would feel betrayed if one of their members danced for another group. And why not? If a member gave away secrets he was specifically asked not to, that could be considered betraying a trust. Or if a member secretly danced for another group and somehow the word got out-I'm sure that some feelings could get bent out of shape (not to mention some bones! Ha ha!) That's why it pays to ask your instructor for his/her blessings before you dance for another group. That shows respect. If your instructor feels strongly one way or another, you should respect your instructor's feelings. If you can't live with your instructor's wishes, then your choices are to deny your own wishes or find another instructor whose feelings match your own. Also one should be careful about what kind of uniform one wears to another group's show. Sporting someone else's uniforms probably wouldn't be the most polite thing to do.

I've been very lucky to have the chance to perform with different groups during the year. I feel it promotes friendship and cooperation between the groups I belong to. We share and exchange ideas/personnel, but the groups still stay different enough to keep their own identity. If this is also your desire, but you don't know how to get started, here are a few ideas. I'm sure the other members of this mailing list will have even more ideas. 1) Get good at doing EVERYTHING in a lion dance, not just a favorite part. Don't look down on other parts besides the drum and lion head. The lion tail, cymbals and gongs, and buddha are sometimes even more important! 2) Practice respect and courtesy. Be genuine and friendly with members of other lion dance groups. Not only is this good for lion dancing and martial arts in general, these are the groups that might invite you to some of their jobs if they're short-handed! 3) Get good at doing something that no one else does or wants to do. This could make you a sought-after, essential member of the group(s) you belong to. 4) Be sure to be very respectful of the other groups members and its instructor(s). Follow all the guidelines they ask of you and be sure to thank them for inviting you to join them.

What are some of your answers to Kiley's question?

Corey

Just to let all know...

On Saturday, September 28, 1996, Han Wei, a nonprofit organization dedicated in promoting Chinese culture and martial arts, will be hosting the 1996 Han Wei National Martial Arts Championship. (BTW, Han Wei also publish a monthly newsletter called the Wushu! Newsletter, if interested, email me) :)

On that day, for the first time in Cleveland (after 1958), we will have 5 Lion Dance teams will be performing under one drum (5 different schools). We invite you all who are close to Cleveland, Ohio to stop here and join us to make a bigger presentation. :) (Sort of like the beginning of the movie Once Upon A Time In China III) :)

Many national and international known martial artists of all styles (it's an open tournament) will be participating with us.

We also are in search of a Dragon Team to help make this event a small party to celebrate. :) If anyone here on ths list are into Dragon Dance and can be able to participate, please let me know Thanks!

--
Look at the wonders of the nature and you will feel insignificant
Look at the inventions of the humans and you will feel insignificant
Only when merge your body and soul into the nature, you will discover
wisdom, love, peace, intelligence, power to overcome ur obstacles...

This is Kiley, im not sure what your name was but i know it started with a C! Remember we were talking about the lion dance tapes? You can i email me more info at the following email addresses, CrAzYgUye@, CrAzYgUy75@, CraZyguy91@. Thankyou

Hi this is kiley Luvly8@ used to be my address, but now i will be updatingmy address from time to time, sorry for the inconvenience. But for now please send all mail to KileyLion3@

y We have a ceremony coming up next week in San Bernardino, California. How do get I in touch with a local group who would be interested in performing? Any leads that you may give me?

Hi!Kiley,

I must say that I totally agree with Corey. RESPECT is the key word. As my one of my master said: Respecting others will not get one into trouble. Respect plays a very important role in the lion dance, especially in the blessing of a new lion, the greeting of others( ie. lions, dragons, kirins, etc), the entering of new buildings etc. There are many "rules and regulations" for the above acts and although many are pure superstitious most are based on respecting others. Remember that we are the product of our instructor's and group's training and they will not be too thrill to see that all their efforts are being used by somebody else. However, I think that the Chinese "tradition" of secret keeping has caused the downfall of too many traditional Chiese cultural art and I hope this will not happen to the lion dance!( except maybe before a lion dance competition.)

Corey's point on the importance of all parts of the lion dance cannot be stress enough. Some part of the lion dance may look simple but they are all equally important in a good performance. A good lion dance performance means a good combination of all parts of the team, not just the skills of the lion dancers or the drummer. A gong can easily muck up a otheriwise good performance. This can be seen in many lion dance competition.

I hope that my views will be of help to you. Bye!

George

Okay lion dance lovers, while I'm making a tape for Kiley, is anyone else interested in getting a tape of assorted lion dance performances? It's about 1.5-2 hours long. These performances are mostly live ones, some from shows on the streets, some from tournaments held in San Francisco, some from tournaments held in Asia. Please note, these videos were shot by amateurs, not Hollywood production crews. Most of the footage was shot with someone's hand held video camera. The sound is not that great on some of the lion dances (and might be totally missing on footage translated from Super 8 movies! The picture is fuzzy and very snowy on some of the performances. It is NOT an instructional tape. There's no dialogue, just lion dancing, most of which is not at the same level as what you see in the movies. Just real life lion dancing, very good, good and not so good. There's mostly southern lion performances, maybe a couple of northern lion dance performances. But I just want to let you know right away, that this is not a professional quality tape. If you've already got cool lion dances on tape, you don't need this. In fact, for $40 plus shipping, it's terrible! Don't buy it!

If you still gotta have it, let me know.
Corey Chan