Lion Dance

Our Chinese Lion Dance is available for many different occasions, for Grand Openings, weddings, birthday parties, parades and celebrations. Make your event the most memorable and unforgettable one with the highly acclaimed Anta’s Kung Fu Lion Dance Team. We have been featured on the front page of the Miami Herald’s Neighbors, Doral Planet, Doral Tribune and on the international TV show Control on Univision. We have performed at numerous parades, grand openings, parks, schools, celebrations and at the Southern Command Military Base.

Chinese lion dancing has two traditions: the northern lion and the older southern lion. Anta’s Lion Dance Team dances the Southern tradition which is more colorful and faster then the Northern lion. Wong Fei Hung Chinese folk hero and the most famous Hung Gar Master was know as the greatest Lion Dancer in China at the turn of the last century. Kung Fu action stars Jackie Chang and Jet Li have both portraits Wong Fai Hung in movies. Anta’s Fitness and Self Defense is a Hung Gar school and teaches lion dancing as part of the Kung Fu tradition. The dance in an extension of Chinese martial arts and incorporates various skills and techniques and is always performed by kung fu practitioners. Lion Dancing gives you an incredible aerobic work out. To perform a Lion Dance a performer must be physically fit with extremely strong legs.

In Chinese, Kung Fu means hard work and the dance is a display of the strength, coordination, and agility. Kung Fu was devised by Shaolin monks who studied animal movements and incorporated them into the fighting movements. There are styles based upon the movements of the tiger, crane, snake, leopard and dragon.

The lion dance is an important tradition in China. Usually the dance is part of festivities like Chinese New Year, the openings of restaurants and weddings. If well-performed, the lion dance is believed to bring luck and happiness. We do it for the Kung Fu tradition and for the physical training.

The lion is enacted by two dancers. One handles the head, made out of strong paper-mache and bamboo, the other plays the body and the tail under a cloth that is attached to the head. The lion is accompanied by three musicians, playing a large drum, cymbals and a gong. The head dancer can move the lion's eyes, mouth and ears for expression of moods. The lion dance combines art, history and kung fu moves. Every kind of move has a specific musical rhythm. The music follows the moves of the lion: the drum follows the lion; the cymbals and the gong follow the drum player.

Quite often people observing the dances think that they are looking at dragons. The main difference between lion dance and dragon dance is that the latter is performed with more people than two. The 'Lion' which popularly exists in the Chinese culture and custom is seemingly incredible because China does not have lions and the description of lions by the Chinese nobles derived from their imaginations. Chinese temples all over China and overseas had these imaginative lion sculptures placed in the frontages. These lions were far from the true likeness of a real lion because the real ones have no horns.

The traditions of the lion dance had a long history in China. These were recorded over thousands of years ago. Legends of the origins of lion dancing can be found in ancient Chinese literature. Although there are many accounts, most are familiar with the following version. It relates to three hundred years ago in a small Chinese village terrorized by an unusual creature that always appeared on New Year’s Eve. Frightened of the beast, villagers would be confined to their homes while the beast foraged for vegetation in their fields. One year, the villagers retaliated by making their own version of a beast, made up to look like a brightly colored lion. As New Year’s Eve approached, two men would maneuver the man-made lion while other villagers followed, beating on metal pots and pans to scare away the beast. This commotion caused the beast to retreat back to the mountains, never to be seen again. The scene would be recreated by the villagers every New Year’s Eve in commemoration.

Martial artists have their own account of the origins of lion dancing, also dating back to the mid 18th century. Their version takes place in the southern Guangdong Kwangtung province of China, where a fierce lion would appear out of the mountains, terrorizing the villagers and causing great destruction. The villagers sought the help of experts from many Kung Fu systems throughout the neighboring villages. They organized expeditions into the mountains organized to fight off this enemy lion. As with all accounts, good eventually overcomes evil, and they gained victory. In celebration, they constructed a lion costume.

The experts wore the costume and incorporated their Kung Fu skills into a victory dance. This account supports the close association of lion dancing and Kung Fu. Another story was that 'the emperor of China of the Ching Dynasty had seen a lion dance in one of his dreams and he ordered the guards of the palace to dance in accordance with what he had seen after he woke up. What ever story you believe Lion Dancing in an incredible tool to keep you in shape and improve your martial skills. Kung Fu schools around the world are helping keep this ancient Chinese art alive.

Call us today at 305 599-3649 Or email us at FitDef@aol.com for more information on the Chinese Lion Dance, or to book our team for your special event.

Click here to watch an instructional clip of our lion dance, and click here to watch an instructional clip of our lion dance music!

Doral Chinese New Year Celebration 2009

Tzu Chi Benevolent Association 2006		Asian Hertiage Week FIU (Florida International University) 2007

Chinese New Year at the Sky Bar 2006		Cobb Theatre  2005

University of Miami Home Coming Parade 2004		Renaissance Charter School 2005

Parrot Jungle Island Halloween 2004		John I Smith Elementary School 3 RD Grade Class Chinese New Years 2007

America TeVe's Festival Navideno 2006