At the Northwest Kung Fu Academy in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, the artful practice of lion dancing is an all-year-long affair.
Inside the school’s nondescript building on Maynard Avenue, where the walls are adorned with lion masks and the green tea is freshly brewed, students practice Chinese Kung Fu.
Kung Fu is a test of the mind and body; it requires discipline, integrity, consistency and sacrifice to learn and do well.
“There are many styles of Kung Fu and lion dancing,” explains Sifu David Leong, the owner of the academy. “Ours requires strong moves of the head and tail that show the lion is the king of the jungle. Those can only be achieved by constant practice.”
Leong has been teaching the martial art for more than 40 years; he’s performed in films alongside Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness senior student Michelle Gantz-Carpenter has been training with Sifu David Leong for seven years. She’s preparing the costume for the dance she’s nearly perfected after years of astute study in traditional Chinese Kung Fu.
Sifu David F. Leong practices a high kick with his class on a recent morning at Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness. “I don’t charge my students much because I know its difficult and sometimes people will start and realize it’s not for them. In order to really start understanding Kung Fu it takes time. . . six months at the very least.”
Darren Huang, 6, the youngest student in the class, stretches on a recent morning the at Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness in Seattle.
Sifu David F. Leong lights incense and says a prayer at Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness before the team begins a traditional lion dance ceremony at the Chinatown-International District Lunar New Year celebration in Seattle.
(From left) Quinn Fong carries a lion mask out the door from Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness studio onto Maynard Avenue with partner Daniel Moon. They are preparing with team for a traditional lion dance ceremony at the Chinatown-International District Lunar New Year celebration to begin.
Max Fong and senior student Michelle Gantz-Carpenter dance their way through the streets towards Hing Hay Park where thousands wait to see them perform their traditional style of dance.
Sifu David Leong performs during a Lunar New Year celebration in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. “Kung Fu was designed first and foremost for health and fitness. It’s an art with thousands of years of development from the early monks who created it,” says Leong.
An enthralled crowd of spectators watches Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness lion dancers perform at the Lunar New Year celebration in Seattle’s International District.
Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness lion dancers dance around firecrackers exploding in the storefront of an International District business. The firecrackers, like drums, cymbals and gongs, are meant to help scare off the bad spirits and bring good luck to business owners who give red enveloped offerings to the lions.
After the lion dance ends the dancers respectfully roll up the ornate tail into the mask of the lion and store it for the next of many performances to come.
Daniel Moon (middle left) and Andrew Tsui (right) store the lion masks and flags in Northwest Kung Fu and Fitness van after finishing their first of many lion dances during the weeks of Lunar New Year celebration in Seattle.
Greg Hoover (right) gives Sifu David Leong a high-five at the end of the Lunar New Year celebration in Seattle’s International District. He performed as ‘Dai Tao Fut,’ a smiling Buddha that pacifies and tames the lions as they dance through the streets.
“Anyone can purchase a lion costume online,” Leong says, “but being able to actually perform the dance well requires much practice and determination.”
Lion dancing dates back thousands of years to the Han Dynasty in China, when lions were still only a myth. In Chinese culture, this auspicious beast is meant to bring good luck to those celebrating Lunar New Year, which begins Feb. 16. But lion dancing is also traditionally performed at other special occasions such as weddings or the opening of a new business.
Last Sunday morning, Leong and his team of dancers kicked off the Year of the Dog celebration at the neighborhood’s Hing Hay Park. As drums sounded, Leong’s students danced through the streets in lockstep with their partners, quickly jutting the bamboo and papier mache lion masks in seamless movements. Thousands of people who were in attendance watched, smiled and laughed.
The lion snaps one way and then pops in another direction.
Leading the lion through the neighborhood as if he were taming it was Dai Tao Fut, a big-headed smiling character resembling Buddha. The lion dance symbolizes getting rid of the previous year’s bad luck and wiping the slate clean for the year ahead.
“I’m upholding these ancient traditions in my own way, the best way that I can, and trying to not ever let them die,” says Leong, who has been performing with his dancers in Seattle since 2001.
“There are lots of senior citizens from China who immigrated to Seattle years ago and now live in this neighborhood,” Leong says. “Elders have come up to me with tears in their eyes thanking me for the experience, telling me that it brings them back to their villages in China.”
Lunar New Year events will kick off this weekend with various celebrations in the weeks ahead.
