All throughout May, 小萝莉影视 is celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with聽stories about the people and places shaping the D.C. region.
Co-founded by friends who grew up watching kung fu movies, a Northern Virginia lion dance team is keeping Chinese and Vietnamese cultural traditions alive 鈥� one loud, energetic performance at a time.
Andy Huynh, who grew up in Alexandria, is one of the co-founders of the Hung Vuong Lion Dance Team, a group that traces its roots back to a Vietnamese-American Boy Scout troop. Huynh said the troop was led by refugees from the Vietnam War era, who wanted to preserve the traditions and culture, here in the United States.
It was in that troop where Huynh and his friends 鈥� teenage boys obsessed with kung fu films like “Once Upon a Time in China” starring Jet Li 鈥� first spotted lion dancing on screen and thought: Why not try it ourselves?
“Our first thought as young teenage boys was like, ‘Oh, we like kung fu, and lion dancing is unique and cool and it’s part of our culture,'” Huynh said.
They started out just having fun, not entirely sure what they were doing. But as they got older and learned more, the team grew to about two dozen members.
Now, the Hung Vuong Lion Dance Team is an extracurricular activity of a joint Boy and Girl Scout troop, Troop 612, based in Fairfax.
Lion dancing, Huynh said, is more than a performance 鈥� it’s a cultural tradition meant to symbolize luck, prosperity and positive energy while driving away evil spirits. The team performs most often around Lunar New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also dances at weddings, grand openings and other celebrations where people want to bring good luck.
The lion itself has two parts: the head, which features the mouth, eyes and decorative details, and a cloak-like section the team simply calls the tail. Two performers work inside the costume in sync 鈥� one controlling the head, the other holding onto the belt of the person in front and using slight tugs to communicate direction.
“You can’t just simply go in and shake the costume and say that’s lion dancing,” Huynh said.
The movements range from playful and catlike 鈥� leaning into the idea that people find lions and cats adorable 鈥� to strong and powerful, reflecting the lion’s role as a guardian against negative spirits. Acrobatic moves are also part of the show, including lifting the head so the lion appears to stand on two legs.
A drummer, gong and cymbals provide the soundtrack, with specific rhythms that are, Huynh said, universal in lion dancing. The team also uses certain drum beats as internal cues, signaling when to return to the front, prepare for a bow or start wrapping up.
Firecrackers are sometimes part of the tradition too, used to scare away spirits while the lion runs and weaves and interacts with them.
“It’s fun, it’s festive,” Huynh said. “It’s usually associated with festivals and it’s just a great atmosphere.”
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