High-legged Lion Dance

High-legged Lion Dance

Nominating Unit: City of Maoming

High-legged lion, also called high lion, was said to be originated from the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, whose creator, Master Ma Deliang from the martial art school in the county seat of Dianbai, got the inspiration from the glazed lion figurines on the high roof ridges of an official temple. Now it is mainly distributed in two places, North Street of Diancheng Township and Nanba Gelou Village, Dianbai County in City of Maoming.

High-legged lions are 2.5 meters tall, smaller than the common lion models of South China. The unique feature is that two wood staffs of 1.6 meters and 1 meter long are installed at the head and the tail of the lion respectively, so the performers can hold the lion costumes high up during dancing. This is where it got its name “High-legged” or “high”. Besides, there are two models of lions, representing male and female. The male lions are decorated in red, while the female ones in yellow or blue.(https://www.daowen.com)

During the performance, two people will operate one lion, and there are generally a group of six lions dancing together. The dancing starts with the dancers making a show-up with lion costumes high in the air. The performance follows the sequence of “greeting at the door”, “celebration”, “low-tide”, and “climax”. Under the flexible operation of the dancers, the lions jump up in the air, running high and low, jumping and rolling in a continuous manner. Their movements are strong and powerful, yet agile. The male and female lions sometimes tease each other, sometimes lean their bodies against each other affectionately. The lively performance resembles vividly the process from first meeting to falling in love. The High-legged Lion Dance is loved by the audience because they are cute and lively. They are also fondly called Chinese High-legged Persian Cat among some foreigners.

Under strong invasion from imported and pop cultures, audience for the High-legged lion dance is diminishing, and the heritage of its techniques and art is experiencing a breakdown. This unique lion dance is in a crisis of atrophy. Timely protective measures are needed to be taken.