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[gong music]

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- Nelson Ferreira: Lion art
really is the expression

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of the lion
as being a live creature.

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The physicality behind it,
it takes quite a bit to do it.

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- No matter if it's competition

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or if it's just a random
performance on a Tuesday,

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we all love it so much,

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and I feel like that's what
makes it really special.

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- Nelson: Four, five, six,
start it from the beat.

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Ready?

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[counting in Chinese]

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I'm the chief instructor,
also known as shifu,

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of the Zhong Yi Kung Fu
Association.

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So, I started in Chinese martial
arts when I was 14 years old.

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This is our 30th year teaching
traditional martial arts

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and also lion dance here
in Madison.

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[drumming]

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Martial arts schools
traditionally are linked

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with lion dance culture
in itself

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and they help celebrate
the new years.

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[drumming and gong]

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- Laila Jenkins: When we start
a performance,

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we always, like, click the rim
and it's really loud.

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Everyone starts
paying attention.

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- Ong Lee Ping: Without the
music, there's no dancing.

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- Nelson: The Sar Ping style
that my teacher,

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Chan Siew Kee from Singapore,
teaches us

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is really important
'cause it's a beautiful style.

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The music is very festive.

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The style itself
has prescribed beats.

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We can't modify what that
particular beat is

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because there's a meaning
behind the beat

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and there's a movement that
the lion does with the beat.

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There's eight emotions
that it shows.

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There's seven
different postures,

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different ways
of raising the head.

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And all of those things have
to be taught very carefully

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because a small little detail
can make or break the way

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that the structure looks
or how the art is performed.

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And it takes a long time to
refine that particular movement

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to trick the audience
into believing

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that's a real creature rather
than somebody under the lion.

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All of those are emotions

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that you're supposed to make the
lion show through the big heads,

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which, you know, is very,
it's difficult.

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That's why it's not just
a matter of blinking the eyes

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or moving the mouth.

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It's actually moving
the whole body

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to express that sort of
particular emotion.

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So, you kind of have this
particular area here

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that you can kinda see.

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And then when
you open the mouth,

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you can see through the mouth.

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But besides that,

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you can't really see
what the eyes are seeing,

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which is difficult
'cause a lot of times

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when the crowd comes over
to play with the lion,

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they look at the lion,

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they're going like this
in front of the eyes.

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The person has no idea
what's going on.

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They can see that
there's feet down here,

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but they have no idea
what the person is doing

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in front of them.

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- I can see the person's legs
in front of me,

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and then everything else, just,
is black.

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- Nelson: Really jump backwards,
I got you right here, okay?

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Ready?

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Like that, there you go.
[students cheer]

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There's a lot
of two-person work, right?

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So, you have a head
and you have a tail,

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and they have to communicate
with each other

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and trust each other

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because there's a lot of tricks
that they can do.

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And the knee out, out, out.

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- Ong Lee: If you wanna
do fun tricks,

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like throwing people
over your head

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or having people stand
on your legs.

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[students applaud]
- Nelson: Very good, nice job.

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The more you trust each other,

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the more you understand
each other,

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the friendship grows
and the more fun you have,

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and then the energy comes up.
[students applaud]

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[upbeat percussion music]

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Usual for the viewers,

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we try to go with the story
about the big-headed monk

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and how he plays with the lion,

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and the lion overcomes
several different obstacles,

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just like we do in daily life,
and ultimately,

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there's a big payoff in which
he grabs some lettuce,

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which the lion is an agent
of transformation.

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So, he eats lettuce,
but he spits out fortune.

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And when he spits out fortune,

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the idea is that he's being able
to spread it to the community

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or trying to share it
with everybody.

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We do grab the tangerines

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and we give 'em out as gifts
to the audience.

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And every time
it gives the gift out,

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it's kind of like the lion
is wishing wealth.

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We want the audience to have fun
and really enjoy.

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If you watch the performances,

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a lot of times, you just see
the kids light up,

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so they usually are, like,
fascinated by it.

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Some of the reactions
we've had from the crowd

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are just how much fun
and excitement it was,

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especially hearing the live
drums and music being played.

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The concept of equality
and equity is really important

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for our team, and everybody
on our team understands that,

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and they all help each other.

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- Olivia Yee: Honestly,
I think the main thing

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I want an audience to take away
from lion dance

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is, like, the enjoyment
of the show and kind of, like,

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a celebration of culture.

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[group cheers]

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- We have, like, a lot of people
from Southeast Asia

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that will come up to us and say,
"Oh, watching your show

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"just reminded me
of being back at home.

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"I miss it so much.

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It's so great to be able to see
it here in Madison, Wisconsin."

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[upbeat percussion music]