DRAGON DANCE

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster,

Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
The Dragon
Prominent symbol found in Chinese culture.

- Supply luck and scare away evil spirits.

- Power and wisdom
- -Associated with clouds, which supply rain and in turn that brings growth,
peace, and fertility.

- Elements - Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
The Dance
Han people tradition

Symbolizes the dragon’s search for knowledge, truth, and wisdom

There are no sexual or sensual connotations

20 basic stances that makes patterns and cycle through

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
 The Lion
● Lion dance has two performers
● They thought the Lion was a myth too
● Power & Prosperity
● Example of Chinese folk culture

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon

The Dancers
Anyone, but...

Martial arts training for strength

6 months to master basic steps

Ready to perform after 1 or 2 years

Coordination and maintaining rhythms

Collective dance / a team effort

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
RELIGIOUS ORIGINS
● In Chinese culture the dragon was revered and venerated as a divine beast.
○ Dragon brings good luck/ is supposed to control the waters of the Earth
○ Appeasing the dragon so that rain would fall
○ Han Dynasty ( 180- 230 AD)
● Today In traditional Chinese culture dragon dance is used during the
Chinese New Years to banish bad spirits from the previous year and to
renew yourself into the new one with good fortune and luck
Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
 DANCE SPACE
● In open areas such as in public or wide stage
● Environment has to be culturally adaptive to set the theme and setting of the
dance
● Dancers use as much space and movement as they can to interpret a dragon
dancing
Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
COSTUMES
● Made of materials like grass, bamboo, paper, and cloth.

● Odd numbers of the dragon’s joints are regarded as auspicious.

● There are 9, 11, 13, or 29-jointed dragons. Dragons with >15 joints are too heavy to dance with, and are mainly used

for display, so this kind of dragon puts more weight on decoration and boasts a high degree of both craft and

technology.

● The dragon body is woven in a round shape of thin bamboo strips, segment-by-segment, and covered with a huge

red cloth with dragon scales decorating it. The whole dragon is usually up to approximately 100 feet in length and

rods are held up every 3 to 6 feet to raise the dragon segments.

● The main body of the serpent could be green (meaning a great harvest) or yellow (representation of the empire)

golden and silver (symbolize prosperity), and red (excitement/good fortune of festivities).

● Fire Dragon lights up because of candles or oil lamps that are suspended inside it.

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon

 Music
Tempo rhythm

Chinese opera songs

Drums

Gongs

Cymbals
Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
Oppression in the Past
● This group has been oppressed in the past because in 1882 the U.S. congress passed the chinese
exclusion act. They blamed chinese for taking jobs from the american people.

Identify specific evidence of oppression that has suppressed this group and therefore their cultural
expressions have been denied or changed.

● They were oppressed and had to work low income jobs. The chinese would want to be
independent workers so they worked as laundromats. This oppression changed their culture since
they did not have as powerful jobs as they may have had in china.

How has privilege or oppression influenced the evolution of their dances and cultural celebrations in
this country?

● The oppression of having to work low income jobs and the chinese exclusion act changed their
dance because they could not perform their dance because one of the dances meaning is power.
Americans did not want any of the chinese people to have power.

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon

Oppression in the present
● Asian- Americans still face racial oppression and stereotyping.
● Asian Americans are viewed as “hardworking” because they are to show
what “good immigrants” look like
● Because they are a person of color they experience the bias racism towards
them
● Types of slurs used against Asian- Americans
○ Chink
○ Curry muncher
○ Chinaman
○ Yellowman

Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon

Acculturation to U.S. Culture
● May face many conflicts as they are exposed more to the traditions, values,
and norms of majority society
● Ethnic Identity development
○ Devote time into becoming “Americanized”
○ Want their kids to marry only within their ethnic group to pass down heritage.
● Model Minority
○ Concluded that Asians are more “intelligent” than other ethnic groups
○ May feel the pressures of being the Model citizen for other ethnic groups.
Natalie Montoya, Masio Sgangster, Tanner Thacker, Emily Alarcon
Pictures of Dragon dance
Video of dragon dance
Video of Lion dance
Works Cited
“Asian Americans Then and Now.” Asia Society, asiasociety.org/education/asian-americans-then-and-now.

Chae, Mark H. M.A., Ed.M. Acculturation Conflicts Among Asian Americans: Implications for Practice. Seton Hall
University, The New Jersey Journal of Professional Counseling, Volume 56, Winter 2001/2002.

Gehrmann, Valeska. “Dragons and the Dragon Dance.” History of Yemen - Key Figures in Yemen's History, 2015,
www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/dragon_dance.htm.

“How Do You Do the Dragon Dance?” Wonderopolis, wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-you-do-the-dragon-dance

“Lion Dance Costume.” Lion Dance Costume, www.liondancecostume.com/.

“The Chinese Dragon Dance.” China Family Adventure.com, www.china-family-adventure.com/dragon-dance.html.