...chinese lion dancing

A traditional way of celebrating the Chinese New Year and other special events can now be seen in many cities in the UK. With a little bit of effort it can be something done within your programme for all ages and wrapped in with other elements of celebrating the Chinese New Year, or other celebrations.

Making the costume can be as easy as painting cardboard or making a papier mache models with paints, and using cloth for the body. You could get teams together to make a number of them and have a competition to see which has the scariest face.

A great way to get a little more involved is to ask someone from your local Chinese community to get involved, not just with the lion dance but also other elements of celebration - banners, lanterns, food and history.

At the more involved end, clubs and teams exist who may be able to help. Your local martial arts club may also be able to point you in the right direction.

Good and fascinating background - history, types of lions, dance sequence, the story and making the team www.stafford-lau-gar.co.uk/articles/liondance1.html (and continue to lion dance page 2)

www.chinatown-online.co.uk has a wealth of information including ideas to celebrate the Chinese New Year (lanterns, foods, banners) that will give you ideas for a themed evening.

Further website with history and background
www.cam.ac.uk/societies/ldt/ld.htm