Break the prejudice, the sister also came to wake up the lion!
World Fashion Garden ELLE May Twin Cities Special Edition, we went all the way south to the flower city of Guangzhou, where we met a special group of girls - they are one of the few all-female awakening lion teams in China. Facing the camera, they are still lively and cheerful, chatting about their youth with the waking lion. ELLE Wonder Talents' "Extraordinary Future Project" tells the story of the growth of the lion-awakened girl.
The three members of the lion awakening team, each prepared a story of their own: Zhong Ziying, who served as a drummer, recalled the first time he climbed the pole and shouted; "lion tail" Kiki, remembering the Lantern Festival, the whole team ate tangyuan together; "lion head" Shuxian pulled up his pants and told the history of the scars on his legs. "I just fell last week," Shuxian said, "it's very hard, every day is very tired, but the next day I will still get up and continue training." "They are all women's teams from Guangzhou Baiyun and Nanxing Hexingtang Awakening Lion Team, a rare full-length girl and a lion-waken lion team that has won numerous awards at the same time.
From left to right: Lion Tail Kiki, Lion Head Shuxian, Drummer Zi Ying
Renhe town is located on the outskirts of Guangdong, next to Baiyun Airport, and countless planes roar over the village every day. As soon as you enter the village, the traditional Lingnan atmosphere comes to your face, which is an interesting contrast with these modern "big birds" overhead. Tall and stout banyan trees grow comfortably in the square in the center of the village, and old people play chess and chat under the trees. Red kapok fell all over the ground, and the lion girls said that those who were hit on the head by the falling kapok would become heroes, which is a popular saying in Guangzhou.
On Friday nights, the girls trained under the kapok trees, the gongs and drums sounded sonorously, and dense beads of sweat oozed from their foreheads in the moonlight. Even if no kapok hits their heads, they dance like heroes.
Awakening the lion is a traditional activity with a long history and was included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2006. In the Guangdong region, the southern lion is the main one, and it is said that the lion head of the southern lion comes from the shape of the Nian beast. The lion, which danced with courage and a sense of strength, was believed to be able to drive away evil demons and bless peace, so it is an important celebration that continues to this day.
These are the histories that they have to learn when they join the Lions, and these girls have listened to the "history lessons" of their brothers. However, even if they don't know the origin of these, they are no strangers to waking lions, and they have been watching lion performances since they were young.
Tops VERSACE
Shuxian joined the Lions in 2018, her uncle was once a member of the Hexingtang team, recommended her to learn, she herself also found it funny, and then became a member of the initial lineup of the women's team. Zhong Ziying's uncle and uncle, "Before, they were all lions, and my sister used to be a lion team, but now she is in her third year of high school, so she didn't continue to practice." ”
Set Messential
The Zhong Ziying family and the Lions have a long history, and according to coach Yu Weizhao, the formation of HexingTang comes from the Zhong family. In the 1990s, when the ancestral shrine was worshipping ancestors, it was found that the same sect in Donghua Village did not have its own lion team, and another lion team of the Zhong clan sent a "lion" to it. At that time, the village could not afford a complete lion team, and the different families pieced together and contributed money to form, so there was the name Hexingtang - the word "He" implied that behind the lion team, it was a collection of the strength of the families.
The formation of the women's team also went through a similar stage, and there was a shortage of money and people at the beginning. In 2018, several girls joined the Lions, the number was not much, Yu Weizhao did not feel that there was any problem, and he took it with him. When it comes to forming a complete team, there must be a lion's head and a lion's tail, and there must be a drummer and a cymbal. He told the girls that as long as they can find enough people to do the women's team, "I will buy you all the flags and drums." ”
Jacket CELINE by Hedi Slimane
Kiki, who is now serving as a "lion's tail" in the team, was pulled into the team in this way. She only joined the Lions in her third year of junior high school, and is now an older member of the team. Awakening lion to talk about boy skills, the best age to participate in the training is about the fourth grade, the physical condition has not yet been fixed, and at the same time has the ability to understand some complex instructions, and the ability to cooperate with partners. But Kiki didn't feel that age caused any obstacles, she told her life in the Lions, and the speed of speech involuntarily became faster, "At that time, my classmates were practicing, telling me how much fun it was, and I was interested in trying it." At first, it was more hard work than fun, but slowly I felt that I was having fun in the pain, really enjoying and immersing myself in it. ”
Regardless of men and women, joining the team starts with the most basic training. Zhong Ziying is now a drummer, but when she joined the lions, she also learned basic skills such as zama steps and physical fitness. Soon, she showed her talent for drumming. The instruments of the lion are usually drums and hi-hats, and the drums are divided into seven stars, five stars, three prayers and other routines, and the different routines are the arrangement and combination of three sound elements of drums, drum rims and drumsticks. Zhong Ziying has not learned other instruments, there is no foundation, "play more will be." Master and brother I listened to the side, first a simple drum beat, a little bit up, or quickly can get started. "At the beginning, I will also be scolded, and I will not learn it for half a day." But now, Yu Weizhao thinks Zhong Ziying plays drums better than he does, "especially in fusing different styles of play." I've been playing for more than ten years, and now it's no longer possible to let me turn (play), and the gestures have been fixed. She is now overtaken by me. As he spoke, he smiled proudly and happily.
"The disciple should surpass the master." In Yu Weizhao's eyes, there are many things that "should" be done, training on time and in accordance with the rules and regulations of the lion team - but among them, not including the awakening of the lion " should " is only a boy's business.
Shu Hyun (top left) coat C+plus SERIES
Ziying (center) sports suit and suspender are both CELINE by Hedi Slimane
Kiki (top right) jacket CELINE by Hedi Slimane
On the first day of the first month of the first month of 2019, the Lions went out to perform, and the owners of the mall found that the girls who were about to perform were all girls, and immediately found the coach and asked to change all the male players.
"The reason is that it will affect feng shui," Yu Weizhao said, this incident has become a thorn in his heart for a long time, "I myself gave birth to a daughter, what does this mean, what age." Zhong Ziying and Wu Shuxian, who joined the team earlier, both remembered this incident, "I didn't feel it when I trained before, and I thought we could also go on," Zhong Ziying said. ”
"The men's team also felt very unhappy when they heard it," Shuxian said, "they also spent a lot of effort to guide us in rehearsals, and everyone was very sad at that time, and they couldn't practice for so long." Kiki, who joined the team later, did not experience the incident first-hand, but also experienced the guidance of old eyes, especially the elderly, who will cast incomprehensible eyes, "When we go out to perform the New Year, there will be grandma walking around and saying, how can girls also wake up lions?" ”
"From a traditional point of view, there is no women's team. It's rare that we can start a pure women's team now, unless it's a school team, but not in the village team. "Yu Weizhao joined the Lions in 1999, from a team member to a coach, and now almost half a parent, watching the children grow day by day, knowing their progress and change, but also knowing that the establishment of the women's team is a subversion of tradition." Just like the dragon boat team, there were no girls, and before even women could not go near the boat. ”
Coats are Traditional
The lion awakening team has long been dominated by men, but tradition and custom are not a reason to keep women out. As early as 1985, the country's first female lion dance team was born in Guangzhou, which was established by Zhao Jihong, who was known as the "Southern Lion King" at that time. He walked into the Guangzhou Cement Factory, the Guangzhou Shipping Corporation and the First Cotton Textile Factory to teach lion art to the female workers of the factory.
Waking the lion is not only a celebration, a ritual, but also a sport that combines dance and martial arts. To do a variety of footwork, bouncing, lifting and other movements on the stool, plum blossom pile and high pole, there are very high requirements for physical fitness and strength, and women have to pay more time and sweat in catching up with the power gap. Yu Weizhao's training requirements for female team members are exactly the same as those of male team members, running everyone is starting from two kilometers, "Sometimes when preparing for the race, the strength of the women's team will even be higher, surpassing the men's team." ”
When Shuxian first joined the team, her arm strength was weak, and the coach asked her to move bricks to enhance her upper limb strength. "Putting down the bricks is completely different," Shuxian said, "and the contrast is particularly strong." Now she plays the role of a lion's head, and the Dao weighs five or six pounds, "Watching Master's demonstration feels very flexible and relaxed, and when he lifts it himself, it is really heavy." ”
The lion's head is the soul of the awakened lion, which must be combined with footwork and prop control, while the lion's head must show a flexible posture and look, the eyes can blink, the ears can listen, and the mouth can roar, which means that the actor must have strong flexibility and flexibility. But Shuxian is exactly the "kind of person who is born with very hard bones", "the coach let us practice a word horse, I practiced for three months or did not make any progress, just a little more." She folded her fingers and compared the little bit she said, she often added a tone word at the end of the sentence, saying it faster, looking extremely cute, "It's very difficult, it takes a long time to practice." ”
Shuxian modestly said that she was the most talentless, she joined the Lions at the age of 10 and persisted to this day. The moment she put on the lion's head, she looked like a changed person, and her eyes were beyond age, calm and sharp. Taking down the lion's head, she immediately ran to the side with Kiki and began the girl's selfie time.
People who have seen the lion wake up once will feel that the cool and heroic posture of the lion's head is based on the support and dedication of the lion's tail. In a way, the difficulty of the lion's tail is higher: the lion's tail actor is in the back, and the line of sight is completely blocked by the lion's head actor. "By feeling," Kiki said, "in the usual training, you have to run into the lion's head, at the beginning it is to practice by yourself, and then after practicing, you will raise the lion's head (the team members), and then put on the props and practice footwork together." ”
Kiki changed four partners before and after, and each time she changed partners was a process of mutual familiarity, "The skills are the same, but we must be familiar with the power habits of the lion's head." It was a process of mutual correction, and the lion head sensed something wrong that would tell me. We'll also make videos and come down a little bit to see where we have problems. "Lion awakening is a collaborative sport, and completing a program requires a tacit understanding between the lion's head and the lion's tail and each lion's familiarity with the drum beat. All this is of course the result of day-to-day training, but also the result of the long-term relationship between the players and familiarity with each other. "Our female players are not squeamish." Kiki said proudly.
The members of the team live close together, attend the same school, and they often go to school together, after school together, and train with the Lions. When the program is arranged, it is also a matter of consultation and brainstorming by everyone. "The choreography of the action, the master brother will give us advice, when the game can be played on the spot, the scene may have a better effect." They participated in the program "Taoyuan Jieyi" of the Fifth Guangzhou Youth Lion Awakening Exhibition Competition, which combined the creativity of the team members.
"Girls can't do what boys do in terms of movements, but girls perform (lions) better than boys." Yu Weizhao said. In "Taoyuan Jieyi", Wu Shuxian is dressed in a custom-made purple lion, with a lively and agile posture, and her performance is less rough when she is drunk, more delicate and cute, which is a state that is difficult for male players to show in the past. "Taoyuan Jieyi" finally not only won the gold medal of the lions, but also won the best drum music combination, which gave Yu Weizhao a great surprise, "As soon as our team went to the competition field, it was a big kill, no matter how some people usually look at the female lion with traditional prejudices, when we got on the stage, we were shocked, sharp, not worse than anyone." ”
Because of this lion team, everyone was surprised, and the girls gained a sense of friendship and accomplishment, learned how to face themselves, and how to bravely face prejudice. And we also see a kind of intertwined power of old and new: young "post-10s" love the traditional awakening lion, which is extremely precious. As Shuxian said: "I like to wake up the lion, I like the atmosphere of unity when I train, everyone is together." ”
*Originally published in the June issue of ELLE World Fashion Court
Photo by Wenjun
Styling: awing
Make-up/hairstyle: Jogo Studio
Producers: Qiu Xiaowen, Momo
Fine Arts: Joe
Interview, author: Xiang You
Edit: Sherry
Director/Editor: Yushu Wang
Video photography: Cai Hongfeng
Video Lighting: Money Breaks In
Color: Wang Jian
Remix: Grass
Art Design: Xia Fei
Recording Engineer: Su Zhijian
Video lighting assistant: Liu Bo, Zhang Wei, Liu Haoyu
Acknowledgements: Guangzhou Baiyun District Renhe Town Government, Guangzhou Baiyun Renhe Nanxing Hexingtang Lions Coach Yu Weizhao, Zhang Zheliang