Hok San Lion Dance 2015 - 2017

This article was originally posted on the old House of Normal Blog 2024. It has been rewritten and updated May 2026.

If you are lucky enough to train at a Kung Fu school that also practises Lion Dance, you’re almost guaranteed to fall in love with it. At Shaolin Kung Fu Guan, we trained in Hok San, a more modern Southern Lion style originating from Heshan in Guangdong, China, which later became hugely popular throughout Malaysia and Southeast Asia, compared to older traditional styles such as Fut San.

Lion Dance is surprisingly complex, combining high-intensity training, new skills, puppetry, acting, dance, music, culture, performance art, and entertainment. There’s always something new to learn and master.

I initially started as a tail, which—if you don’t have super-strong hip flexors—is easy to fatigue in that bent-over position. However, for the 2015 New Year celebrations, I was trained as the Female Monk character.

The Monk characters have their own routines and generally lead at the front of the lion line. They act as guides for the lions—extra sets of eyes pointing out people with red envelope gifts and the locations of the Choy (lettuce offerings). The fan used in the routines also helps cool down the performers inside the lion suits, as it can get quite warm in February here in Queensland.

I had quite a bit of fun with it, playing an over-the-top female character inspired by the comedic female performances in old Jackie Chan and Jet Li kung fu films—fluttering the fan in front of my face, exaggerating hip movements, and kicking one leg up behind me. 😆

It was always hilarious seeing the looks on people’s faces when I took off the mask and they realised the Female Monk had a beard.

From 2016 to 2017, I alternated between Lion Tail and Lion Head roles. Performances were held at Chung Tian Temple, 8 Street (the Asian food court) at Garden City Shopping Centre, and various other events, school fetes, and markets.

By 2017, I had become extremely busy with work and was unable to train, much to my disappointment. I still attended events in support of the school and occasionally got roped into playing in the band whenever there was a vacancy.

In 2024, it was great returning to training, especially the Lion Dance classes. My daughter also joined the school and began her own Kung Fu journey, quickly discovering her own love for Lion Dance. We started training as a team, with her as the head and me as the tail. We also began building our own Hok San lion, which I’ll post about on this website soon, along with build notes.

Update: May 2026

Unfortunately, much like in 2017, work became increasingly busy again. On top of that, the constant interruptions to the train network made attending classes nearly impossible.

With the school based in Mt Gravatt, it’s around 40 km from home, and the train line upgrades for the 2032 Olympics have created massive transport problems for those of us without a car. To attend training, I would have needed to ride roughly 28 km each way by bicycle.

As of 2026, the south-side train lines are still offline. (I know, right? WTF?) To make matters worse, the school has since moved even further away.

Sigh.

Time to consider an alternative perhaps…? 🕺