Gregory Chuck wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> There are 78 people subscribed to the lion dance list.
>
> There is also a way to determine all of the email addresses
> on the list. Due to privacy considerations, I'm not sure if
> I should specify how to get the list. It's really not that hard
> to get, though. (After all, this is an Internet-based public
> list, right?)
>
> If there is consensus that we should display the list, let me know.
> Likewise, if enough of you want to keep the list private,
> that's fine also.

Lets volunteer if we think its worth while. We should all submit info if we're interested:

Sherman Wong
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
sgwserv@pixi.com

If its not too overwhelming, one of us can collect all the submittals and compile a list.

I don't want to be the collector but here is my info

Stephen Chew
Wing Lam Lion Dance
Sunnyvale, Ca
chew@broadvision.com

well heres my info for those how would like it

Terence Yang
Chung Wah Gung Fu Centre
Toronto, Canada
cd947@torfree.net

It's been a while since I've (a paid, professional lurker...) have actually said anything... first of all, it's good to see that the volume in the list has gone up! I've enjoyed the recent discussions, and have been appalled at the post regarding the fact that racism is still alive and well in our heartland. Ignorance and fear lives on! What a sorry statement of this country!

Back to the topic: our school has begun lion dance practicing again, but the note of interest is that we have changed the way we practice: our focus is on the performance for the New Year's celebration in New York City. It turns out that this training is very different (and somehow the same..) than what we've done in the past. We're refocusing in on the basics (we have a relatively large group of people that have never touched a lion head or tail before!) - the stepping patterns, how to hold the head, what the head movements are, what they mean, and that sort of thing.

This focus on the basics is extremely important, I feel, because even for those of us who have been in it a while, a fresh look at the underlying priciples can give new meaning, and a new feel to what we do! Being that I've only been practicing the lion for a little over a year (slightly longer on the tail..) I consider myself to be a beginner.. and will stay that way for a long time!

The hard part for me is to (re)learn the stepping patterns, and weight transfers.. Lion stepping is very different than kung fu stepping is, yet they share many facets. This has been very hard to get used to! However, it seems that the steps are complimentary to what I've already learned in our martial classes, so I consider this to be an expansion of current skills, not necessarially learning a whole new different set of skills.

Have other people found this to be true? I'd be interested in hearing what others have found in terms of how they may have linked their lion training with their martial training (assuming that they started within a martial school). Did you find that they seemed to compliment each other, or conflict?

We seem also to be focusing the training more towards the enduance side, and less on the technical side (probably figuring that this will come later)... but we found from our experience last year that the most difficult part of the celebration was the enducance!!! If we encountered any challanges, we handed the heads back to the most experienced members, who answered them. The rest of the time, we are moving from door to door... for over 5 hours!! That really takes its toll! I can understand why some groups do not perform for celebrations such as these, and prefer to tackle the more interesting challange of a competition.. but the exposure for our school is invaluable! It's an experience I wouldn't miss! Now, if there was a competition here on the east coast.....

take care!

Bernard

Ok my name is Jennifer aka "lurker" sorry I have not contributed much to the list but I enjoy reading all of your comments. I train in Kung- Fu, Dragon style. I have been with my school for almost 4 years now.

Just started working with the Lions again, we took a break for the summer. I have been working on the repairs for our school's lions for a few years now...

I just bought a baby head for my two year old daughter and she really enjoys it. Anyone have any suggestions on some "games" to get her started? Chris Reardon if you read this please e-mail me ! I have MUCH to ask you !!!!

So the main purpose for this note is to say that instead of just "lurking" I will take down all the info and try to put together a list of names. OK ? Unless anyone else has the burning desire to do this ?! Didn't think so....

So ok everyone e-mail away !!

Jennifer

Hi everyone,

Well...here's my info...

Paul Hung
Brandeis University Liondance Troupe
Waltham, MA
ST950288@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
LION@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
http://www.brandeis.edu/students/lion

Well..there ya go!

-Paul

Hello all :

First of all that me intro my self first i'm kia liang,very interested in lion dance but learn it very long ago and now i stop training . By the way is there any singaporean in the list i would like to learn lion dance from you and I would like to make friends from all over the world who share the common interested

Below are my e-mail address
shaolin@post1.com
http://www.singnet.com.sg/~kialiang
pls sign my web page with comment.

bye

Here's my info.,

George Chan,
Qiao Yi Lion Dance Club,
Christchurch, New Zealand
Jschan@xtra.co.nz

Cheers,
George

Hi all,

I'm one of the quiet ones around here. My info is in my sig file. Oh yeah, my kungfu school just got its websit up. www.chinwoo.com Check it out. We also have some videos for sale, including the "1995 Roar of the Lion" when Kun Seng Keng performed in the Southwest Region. Just e-mail my sifu jkwong@chinwoo.com for price information. Take care, everyone. Bye!

J. Minh Nguyen

Senior, School of Arts & Humanities
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration
The University of Texas at Dallas
Black Sash Society member, J.K. Wong Kungfu Tai Chi Academy
minh@utdallas.edu
http://www.utdallas.edu/~minh/

Jennifer,

For your 2 yr old, I'd simply let her play "games" - play is the work of children and their work is developing coordination and muscle strength. (I've been a nurse for 30+ years). Don't expect perfect moves. Children develop different areas of their bodies at different rates, generally upper body first, then legs and hips and then the back. "Peek-a-Boo" (head up/down) comes to mind, but I'm not so sure that a 2-yr-old is even ready for overhead arm development to any fine degree. Of course, she's getting nearer to three every day! Just let her play and watch and imitate at her own speed, she'll do what comes naturally!

> Chris Reardon if you read this please e-mail me ! I have MUCH to ask you !!!!

As for questions - my email address is below - feel free to contact me privately and ask away as many questions as you like! :)

> I will take down all the info and try to put together a list of names. OK ?

Here's my info for the list:

Chris Reardon - Hudson, FL
Wah Lum Tam Tui Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu
Wah Lum Kung Fu of Pasco (Sifu Bruce Cohen)
email: 22sew@gte.net
web http://home1.gte.net/22sew

Hi everyone !

Thanks Jenny(lurky?) for collecting this list.

I know the e-mail address says Lillian but I'm Henry. The son that just got into this e-mail shit and is ,eventually going to get my own line someday.

Henry Ching
Lung Kong Physical Culture Club
Kaneohe, Hi, USA
liching@ makani.k12.hi.us

Tim Lee
Honolulu, Hawaii, US
timothyl@hawaii.edu

PEACE Out!

Corey Chan
San Francisco, CA
USA

cchan@icnc.com

Im interested
Kiley Wong
2932 s normal
chicago il 60616

Hi I am Daniel Low
Wong Sheng Hung Fut Kung Fu
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
orientaldagon@bc1.com

Hi,

Until I moved this summer, I was practicing hung gar at the Asian Martial Arts Studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Southern style lion dance is part of the training program and we have done a lot of performances.

Here is my current information:
Lars Noodén
Lund, Sweden
lars@munin.lub.lu.se

BTW: A year and a half ago I put some video clips of some lion dances on the web. Some platforms can even play the audio. The "temporary" URL is: http://www.umich.edu/~karatedo/AMAS/LionDance/

regards,

Lars

Sorry I haven't taken part of any of the discussions that went on lately, but I'm nearing my graduation date at Uni, and things are really hectic at times...

Rob Teng
Roger Chan Wing Chun and Liondance school
Delft and Nijmegen, Netherlands
R.H.H.Teng@ET.TUDelft.NL

Greets,
Rob

Hi - if anyone is in the San Francisco Bay area, I was wondering if you know of a good praying mantis kung fu school. I'm moving there and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

John

Hello everyone,

My name is John Wai and I teach Choy Lay Fut in Plantation, Florida.

Florida Kung Fu Academy
1591 S. University Drive
Plantation, Florida 33319
(954) 382-2228

Here is my e-mail adress

Sifu Gobert Wing-Hong Yeung
Shaolin Hung Gar Kung Fu Academy
Dallas, Texas

gyeung@ti.com

I WORK AT A LOCAL YOUTH SHELTER WHICH IS DEVOTED TO HELPING TROUBLED TEENS AND RUNAWAYS. WE RECENTLY WATCHED A SPECIAL ON CHINA AND ITS TRADITION WHICH PROMPS THIS LETTER. OUR SHELTER HAS A MASCOT, WHICH IS THE LION ( THE LION AND SHEEP WILL ETC..). WELL, THEY SEEN THE LION DANCE ON THE SPECIAL AND ARE WANTING TO DO A GROUP PROJECT OF BUILDING ONE IN OUR CRAFT CLASS. IF THERE IS ANY INFO YOU CAN HELP US WITH IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!! I HAVE LOCALLY EVERYWHERE AND HAVE EXHAUSTED MY EFFORTS, SO IF YOU EVEN KNOW OF WHERE I COULD LOOK AND YOU WOULDNT MIND, PLEASE DROP ME A MAIL.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Hi there...(stop using all caps, ok?) :)

First, I want you to know that building a whole lion head from scratch is a tremendous endeavour - especially considering that you probably won't find references. What might be a better idea at first is to canvass kung fu schools in your area and see if any of them have heads that are old or unwanted. If you manage to find a head like that, maybe they'll give it to you for free or at a minimal price. In any case, having the frame makes things easier - at that point you would strip off the fur and hair as well as all the skin (ouch!) so that you are left with a bare frame. You could then progress to cover the head with papier-mache or glue-paste+fabric, then to painting the head and finally to placing the fur and hair and shiny things etc. I know that there is at least one video (which I have) which shows the basics of building a frame. We can arrange to get a copy of this video sent to you. Perhaps you could build two lions, the first one done as I described above, and the second one made from scratch + experience gained. In any case, let me know what you think.

Hugo

Here's my two cents.

Jeff Hung
Wing Lam Lion Dance
Sunnyvale, CA

jeff.hung@lamrc.com

Hi everybody,

For those of you who know...I'm STILL looking for a Drum. I emailed Clarion Music about a week ago and they still haven't replied. Has anyone ever dealt with Clarion Music before? Are they even open for business? I really want to get my drum and maybe a few of those CD's that they have. My "students" are growing restless. =)

Paul

Hugo's idea is good, but most kung-fu schools tradisionally bring the lion to life (opening the eyes,) so when the lion's use is done it has to go back to heaven. So this might not be an option. I've helped my mother's second grade class make one, and have pictures and ideas to make a lion without the tradisional methods. Or maybe other's on line have also made a lion head as a kid ! ha ha ! So, Please send me your mailing address and I'll mail you some ideas. aloha ;-) henry ching

Hi.

I would like to know where is good place to look for lion heads at a good price? How can we get people to sponsor us?

My e-mail is: stang@east.slc.k12.ut.us

Thanks Sy Tang

They are definitely still in Business and I know they had several drums in stock. I suggest you call them. I don't know how often they check their email.

Stephen.

Hi everybody,

About making a Lion Head...

Back in High School when I took art A.P...I had a few friends take on that task of building a Lion head. What they did was take many balloons of different sizes and taped them together very VERY gently with masking tape and Saran wrap. After putting the many balloons together to roughly the size and shape of the Lion head, they wrapped the entire thing with alot of Saran wrap.

Now the messy part...They put a heck of alot of petroleum jelly (or something) onto the balloons. Using a mixture of Papier Mache that hardened really well (yet allows the material to be flexible) the pasted on strips of Mailing paper (the light kind that feels like painting scrolls.)

The tough thing was making the shape with the balloons but they did it in two tries. With the whole thing hardened, they cut and pasted whatever they wanted. With wire (from paper clips), cardboard, styrofoam cups, and anything else they could find they whipped up a really nice Lion head suitable for little kids. I was REALLY impressed.

Hope that gives you some ideas =)

-Paul

Hi,

Sorry for the multiple posts today...trying to get everything together.

Would anyone know the address and phone number for Darwell Imports? Possibly a toll-free number? =) It would be great if they had a website.

Thanks again!

-Paul

Howdy,

Geoff Hudson
Seattle Kung Fu Club
Seattle, Washington
USA

check out sifu brendan lai of sf. call 800-362-8850 for details.

Hi Bernard,

> It's been a while since I've (a paid, professional lurker...)

Glad to get you out of lurking...

This is how we train. We focus on the basics. We actually don't join competitions so we don't train for that. What is that like?

> This focus on the basics is extremely important, I feel, because
> even for those of us who have been in it a while, a fresh look at
> the underlying priciples can give new meaning, and a new feel to
> what we do!

Not only that, without the proper basics the lion usually looks weak and not alive. It also doesn't have that martial "feel."

> The hard part for me is to (re)learn the stepping patterns, and
> weight transfers.. Lion stepping is very different than kung fu
> stepping is, yet they share many facets. This has been very hard
> to get used to! However, it seems that the steps are complimentary
> to what I've already learned in our martial classes, so I consider
> this to be an expansion of current skills, not necessarially learning
> a whole new different set of skills.

Is your style a northern style or a southern style? The stepping in our lion dance is in line with our Hung Gar training. The northern folks have to make adjustments but overall it's like you said, good for your overall training.

> Have other people found this to be true? I'd be interested in hearing
> what others have found in terms of how they may have linked their
> lion training with their martial training (assuming that they started
> within a martial school). Did you find that they seemed to compliment
> each other, or conflict?

They definitely complemented. Lion dance works your stance work and waist power generation. It also builds upper body strength and teaches you to think creatively.

I also agree that you need good endurance for the Chinese New Year celebrations. It's great fun and training.

Stephen