LIONS BLESS TEA HOUSE

reporter: Miguel Dominguez  text: Wikipedia

On June 16, in the new Chinatown of New York, located all the way to the Queens terminal of the "7" subway in Flushing, the luxurious tea house 718 Lounge had it's grand opening in the traditional Chinese way, with Lion Dancers announcing to the whole neighborhood the festive occasion, and then going through every corner of the establishment, blessing the premises.

The Lion dance is a traditional dance of Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume. The Chinese lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as dragon dance. An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is operated by two dancers, while a dragon needs many people.

The lion dance, sometimes along with the dragon dance, is usually performed at many important grand occasions, including Chinese traditional, cultural and religious festivals, business opening events, birthday celebrations, honored guest welcomings and wedding ceremonies by the Chinese communities.

In the old days, the lettuce was hung 15 to 20 feet above ground and only a well-trained martial artist could reach the money within it while dancing with a heavy lion head.

The Chinese Northern Lion Dances are usually performed appear in pairs in the north China. Northern lions have shaggy orange and yellow hair with a red bow on its head to indicate a male lion, or a green bow to represent a female. During a performance, northern lions resemble Pekingese or Fu Dogs and movements are very lifelike. Acrobatics are very common.