Freestyle Lion Dancing - 2003 (Rare Video)

All credit goes to the NFLDC and LongWok. I uploaded this to my channel since this is rare & hard to find video from almost a decade ago. This is the first USA National Freestyle Lion Dance event which took place in San Francisco in 2003. Main goal is to bring awareness and appreciation for lion dancing as a genuine performance art.

Chinese New Year is considered a popular time around the world where lion dance performance are seen. Animals in the cycle for example include 2020 year of the Rat and 2022 for year of the Tiger based on the lunar calendar. For those unaware, 2023 will be year of the Rabbit & 2024 will be year of the Dragon according to official animal cycle. Lion dance competition and championships have become a sport of high energy with lion dance drumming creating positive feel of joy and excitement. The art of lion dance also exist in traditional Chinese culture festival events. San Francisco and New York & Boston are major cities in USA that have traditional lion dance performance events. Acrobatic lion dance are rare but do exist in some places as it is more popular in China and Hong Kong & Vietnam cities. Singapore & Malaysia also have lion dance or Múa lân & 舞獅 which is lion dance in traditional Chinese language or 舞狮. Again this lion dance competition in San Francisco is super rare and definitely an amazing experience of watching the beautiful movements. Firecrackers are important to lion dance during Chinese Lunar New Year where different community cities may also have parade celebrations. San Francisco Chinatown and Boston Chinatown are just some cities that have their own Chinese community with food & Chinese restaurants as well as New York Chinatown locations to eat at. Where each have their top best & popular favorite places to eat for delicious Chinese food. Acrobatic high poles do require more skills and amazing talent to achieve high jumps for this epic style of performance. Genting lion dance is a popular event that shows this Chinese art in action in Asia region. Barongsai and Hung Gar or Hok San with lion dance drumming are familiar terms or words in the lion dance community for many who enjoy this art. Also rare that lion dance have appeared in movies and films which is awesome and amazing that footage were made and do exist. Lion dance performance also appear during big or small openings & major large events such as wedding & traditional eye dotting around the world in many places to bring prosperity and happy energy for everyone.