and a clown complimented the dancers on their sparkly pants

Sunday was the Chinatown Seafair Parade. our kung fu school's lion dance team performed, and we went along to help out. since we didn't know much about what was going to happen and both neighborhoods we were going to be in are prone to petty theft i left the camera at home :(

we arrived at the school way earlier than we needed to, but it worked out well since C and i combined our powers for good and mounted the new school flag on its pole. we also got to observe and assist in lion repairs. this was my first chance to touch one.

i was surprised to discover that for all the rough usage they get, the heads of the lions are basically a rattan frame covered in papier-mâché, with string and wire controls for moving parts. (hence the testing and repairs.) the beards and eyelashes and such are wool. i learned little tidbits about them all day. we had a grandmaster out as part of the parade group - it takes three people to run - and as we were packing up at the end of the day sifu was pointing out the dragon and pheonix sculpted on top the head and the paintings of other animals all over the head surface. the idea is to represent all the auspicious creatures on the one lion.

C and i, being tallish and the same size, carried the two big school flags and led the group in the parade. (eep.) the school flags are rectangular banners mounted on a t-shaped pole: violently colored confections with hot pink and green edging, complete with shiny silver rivets, gold hanzi on red medallions edged with fluffy white maribou, glitter edging on the animals and landscape and yin-yang, and six-inch-long multicolored fringe on the bottom. (i wish i could find an example picture online, but i don't seem to know the right search terms.) i was carrying the tiger and crane, C had one with dragons. the back side on both is a somewhat more subdued painting of General Kwan.*

the parade was delightful. it's the biggest of the neighborhood ones, and the sidewalks and bleachers were packed along a two-mile route. carrying a 12 foot pole with a sail equivalent mounted on it while walking toward the Sound is a little rough. (so was the block lined in trees.) fortunately we paused frequently for the various lion routines. it was lovely to see the ripples run through the crowd as heads snapped to watch the lions behind us. (we marched behind the Calgary Round-Up Band; it was a little rough to keep focus on our drumming instead of theirs.) there were a couple times where sifu had the lions do a series of bows to elders watching along the route. when we hit the end there was a nice little ceremony where the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team saluted us.




*"the General" is on one of the three banners we acknowledge with a bow when entering and leaving the studio. General, family banner, school. reverse on departure.

and a clown complimented the dancers on their sparkly pants

Sunday was the Chinatown Seafair Parade. our kung fu school's lion dance team performed, and we went along to help out. since we didn't know much about what was going to happen and both neighborhoods we were going to be in are prone to petty theft i left the camera at home :(

we arrived at the school way earlier than we needed to, but it worked out well since C and i combined our powers for good and mounted the new school flag on its pole. we also got to observe and assist in lion repairs. this was my first chance to touch one.

i was surprised to discover that for all the rough usage they get, the heads of the lions are basically a rattan frame covered in papier-mâché, with string and wire controls for moving parts. (hence the testing and repairs.) the beards and eyelashes and such are wool. i learned little tidbits about them all day. we had a grandmaster out as part of the parade group - it takes three people to run - and as we were packing up at the end of the day sifu was pointing out the dragon and pheonix sculpted on top the head and the paintings of other animals all over the head surface. the idea is to represent all the auspicious creatures on the one lion.

C and i, being tallish and the same size, carried the two big school flags and led the group in the parade. (eep.) the school flags are rectangular banners mounted on a t-shaped pole: violently colored confections with hot pink and green edging, complete with shiny silver rivets, gold hanzi on red medallions edged with fluffy white maribou, glitter edging on the animals and landscape and yin-yang, and six-inch-long multicolored fringe on the bottom. (i wish i could find an example picture online, but i don't seem to know the right search terms.) i was carrying the tiger and crane, C had one with dragons. the back side on both is a somewhat more subdued painting of General Kwan.*

the parade was delightful. it's the biggest of the neighborhood ones, and the sidewalks and bleachers were packed along a two-mile route. carrying a 12 foot pole with a sail equivalent mounted on it while walking toward the Sound is a little rough. (so was the block lined in trees.) fortunately we paused frequently for the various lion routines. it was lovely to see the ripples run through the crowd as heads snapped to watch the lions behind us. (we marched behind the Calgary Round-Up Band; it was a little rough to keep focus on our drumming instead of theirs.) there were a couple times where sifu had the lions do a series of bows to elders watching along the route. when we hit the end there was a nice little ceremony where the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team saluted us.




*"the General" is on one of the three banners we acknowledge with a bow when entering and leaving the studio. General, family banner, school. reverse on departure.