LION DANCE & KUNG FU PERFORMANCES

Grandmaster Leongs Academy is well known around Adelaide for its entertaining & exciting Lion Dance performances & Kung Fu demonstrations. These are usually performed around the Chinese New Years period at restaurants, however we do perform them all year round for schools, cultural organizations, clubs & business's

The lion dance originated in China over a thousand years ago. The lion is traditionally regarded as a guardian creature. There are different variations of the lion dance in other Asian cultures, with each region possessing their own styles.

Chinese lion dances can be broadly categorised into two styles, Northern (北獅) and Southern (南獅).

The Northern dance was used as entertainment for the imperial court. The northern dance is acrobatic and is mainly performed as entertainment. The northern lion is usually red, orange, and yellow (sometimes with green fur for the female lion), shaggy in appearance, with a golden head.

The Southern dance (which we do) is more symbolic. It is usually performed as a ceremony to exorcise bad spirits and to summon good luck and fortune. The southern lion exhibits a wide variety of colour and has a distinctive head with large eyes, a mirror on the forehead, and a single horn at center of the head. The lion dance also symbolizes the myth of the Chinese new year.

The Lion dance is often confused with the Chinese Dragon Dance, which features a team of around ten or more dancers. The Lion Dance consists of two people.