Members of the Hong Luck Kung Fu Club's lion dance team practise on Jan. 20, 2022. With the Lunar New Year around the corner, the group is preparing to perform for the local senior community, as a symbolic act to bring in health, luck and life.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
Celebrations for Lunar New Year – one of the most important festivals in Chinese culture – have been quiet in recent years because of COVID-19.
But in a bright red storefront on the edge of Toronto’s Chinatown, members of martial arts studio Hong Luck Kung Fu Club are preparing to make a splash on Tuesday.
To honour the community’s elderly, the Hong Luck Kung Fu Club is planning to perform a traditional lion dance outside long-term care homes run by the Mon Sheong Foundation in downtown Toronto and Stouffville.
And with performances right around the corner, members of the studio were practising late into the night to perfect the movements and co-ordinated teamwork.
The lion dance – which is meant to mimic the movements of the big cat – is performed during Lunar New Year and other Asian cultural festivals. Symbolizing power, wisdom and prosperity, the lion head is adorned with decorative horns, mirrors and red ribbons to ward off evil spirits and indicate the creature’s friendliness.
A member of the lion dance team drums during the practice in preparation for the 2022 Lunar New Year.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
Don Tan, 28, a member of the lion dance team, looks up at a red and black lion during practice.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
A person walks by the Hong Luck Kung Fu Club on the edge of Toronto’s Chinatown. Portraits from the ‘Best of Chinatown’ window exhibition by local Chinatown art initiative ‘Long Time No See’ are pasted on the windows.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
The lion is usually operated by two people, one of whom manipulates the head while the other acts as the tail. Using a mixture of art, history and kung fu, the dancers are typically accompanied by drummers and another person performing as a fan-bearing Buddha. Together, they tell a story of community and triumph.
“The whole idea is we’re chasing out pestilence, we’re scaring away evil spirits,” martial arts teacher Rick Wong says. “We’re trying to bring in health and breath back into the community.”
Mr. Wong was an original student of the club’s founders, who started it back in 1961.
“For me, it was about trying to understand my Chinese cultural roots,” says Mr. Wong, illuminated by the red glow of an ancestral shrine in the studio. “I liken studying martial arts to being a bit like a looking glass. I get reflected back to see who I am … and see where my ancestors came from.”
The Hong Luck Kung Fu Club is pictured during a practice in preparation for the 2022 Lunar New Year.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
Rick Wong, shown in front of the studio’s ancestral shrine, was an original student of the club’s founders and is now a teacher there.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
Julian Soriano, 32, a member of the lion dance team, packs up after practice.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
Mr. Wong says the studio’s classes used to attract mainly young people. But recently, he has seen an increase in older people and women looking to learn self-defence in response to rising anti-Asian violence.
It’s important to him that these members of the community are not overlooked.
“The Chinatowns that work the best are the ones that support their seniors. It creates longevity,” Mr. Wong says. “If a Chinatown isn’t supporting its seniors, it’s going to die.”
Students of the Hong Luck Kung Fu Club put on a fire spinning performance to bring in light on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, on Dec. 21, 2021.Katherine Cheng/The Globe and Mail
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