Students at Eric Langton Elementary were treated to a special performance as they celebrated the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Horse on Friday, Feb. 20.
Vancity Lion Dance out of Vancouver made a special appearance at the school, teaching the students about the meaning of the lion dance, how it is performed, and answering any questions the students had.
Josh Pratt, instructor with the dance group, also talked about the significance of the lion and how they characterize the lion for the new year.
“The idea of the lion is that it chases all the bad away, and it brings in the New Year, it brings in the good luck for everybody for the New Year,” Pratt told the students after they assembled it the gym.
He also explained how the lion costume for the lion dance is based on a mythical creature in Chinese culture called the Nian.
Emily Tran, 12, and her twin sister, Madison, and older sister Kayla, 17, played the symbols and gongs for the performance, while Danny Thai performed on the drums.
Kenneth Liang, 27, and Henrik Ngo, 20, were the lion dancers. Both have been dancing for the past decade, and Liang just returned from a competition in China where he received a bronze medal for his lion dancing.
“I think it’s pretty cool that we get to come out to schools like this. For an area like Maple Ridge, you don’t see a lot of lion dancers. It’s always great to come out and teach the kids about the culture behind lion dance,” said Ngo.
Pratt also further explained this year being the Year of the Horse.
The horse, he noted, represents forward movement, progress, maybe even travel. The element of the year is fire, he said.
“The fire represents excitement or passion,” Pratt further explained.
“So this year, for the year of the fire horse, when you see the lion dance, there’s going to be a lot of lion dance that’s very exciting. You are going to see a lot of the happy lion, the joyous lion, the playful lion,” he said.
According to Britannica, the Lunar New Year is a 15 day celebration that began this year on Feb. 17, with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and it will end on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later. Also known as the Chinese New Year as it is a very important holiday in China, it is also celebrated in other Asian countries like Korea and Vietnam.
Following the presentation at Eric Langton, the group was giving another presentation at Albion Elementary before heading to a school in Langley.