March 2026 Newsletter
- Mar 1
- 6 min read
Whew - we survived lion dance season (our busiest yet.) As much as we'll miss it, now we go back to our gongfu roots.
We have a bunch of birthdays this month! Be sure to wish Mike, Gianni, Amelia and Li Jie a happy birthday when you get the chance.
With scheduling this month:
Morning Taiji: Taiji 13
Evening Taiji: Taiji 28/Wuxing Qigong
Beginner Gongfu: Disciple Li Jie's pick
Kid's Gongfu: Basics & Testing skills
Advanced Gongfu: Yang Jia Qiang (NEW)
REVIEW OF LION DANCE SEASON 2026
What a wild season that was! Honestly one of our most memorable yet.
If I had to give some quick highlights:
Ocean Mart: A new, strong contender for the craziest show. It ended multiple times, ala Lord of the Rings style.
Gary’s Asian Bistro: Probably my overall favorite, even if I wasn’t the one collecting 20+ ceiling choi. Twice.
Waldorf Astoria: Our first official display of the new LED rainbow lions. Great visuals and clean performance.
Chinatown: Always the most exhausting and chaotic, but let's add a giant golden tree in the center. Why not.
Millcreek: A reminder that moving a drum is not as simple as people think and "no thanks" on the elevator
Kim Heang: Our most loyal customers, complete with some fun, unplanned choi sequences.
Lehi Legacy: A meaningful opportunity to perform for those with sensory processing disorders. That one mattered.
Discovery Gateway: Always a fun and easy show for the largest group of kids.
Lion dancing is many things for me, beyond nostalgia from dancing when Jake (our lion dancing manager) and I were younger with Jung Hing - our lion dancing group aside from our martial art classes. Not only does it push physical limits, true gongfu, it is us carrying the torch for those who brought lion dancing to Utah in the first place. It is about culture, representing the school well, and demonstrating the work you have put into your body to perform. You can easily tell the difference when a conditioned martial artist is under the lion. We call it "dancing" but any performer that's been under the lion will tell you it takes real gongfu.
So what exactly does that entail?
The head is constantly juggling multiple things: being observant of the environment, guiding the tail, pulling the rope lever to open and close the eyes and ears with one hand while holding the head with the other, grabbing hongbao and quickly stuffing it into a shirt filled with sweat and lettuce. They're listening to the drum to know when to change to a different section of the performance, knowing when to bow, wakeup, eat choi and spit it out, or hurry their way back. They are watching for kids so they do not knock them out with a kick, bowing to the respectable gods at the business, trying to avoid slipping on ice, lettuce, and tile in the winter, all while maintaining traditional lion movement that requires low stances and sharp transitions, with limited vision and very little fresh air under that giant bamboo puppet.
The tail is backbreaking work, literally. It does not get as much attention or love as the head, but the effort is equal, more often times harder. Completely covered by thick fabric, with almost no vision except the feet in front of them, their torso has to stay horizontal while remaining in a low stance and shaking that tail. They often have to lift the performer playing the head to reach choi, requiring strong legs, shoulders and arms. The tail is at the mercy of the head, not really knowing how much of the performance is left and their not feeding off the energy from the crowd like the lion head, so they have to just trust the head and keep going until it is over.
Now let’s get into the chaos of lion dancing. I always joke with the students that no matter how much we plan, something will go wrong at every show. ALWAYS. It is jokingly the Jung Hing way. Plans completely deviate, you hear multiple orders ending with “meh, you’ll figure it out,” the crowd gets loud and takes up more of your limited dance area, kids are running around grabbing the lion head or smacking the tail, and people are forcing red envelopes into your lion's mouth before you have even finished your intro routine while charging into a bow.
It's when a business owner ties a head of lettuce to a fishing pole and expects human hands to rip apart fishing line while holding a lion head and sitting on someone’s shoulders. It is when someone who thought they were on instruments is suddenly on lion head because the choi is hung too high. It is when I have to recruit a three year old last minute to play gong alongside my drum, and the crowd absolutely loves it.
It's when the sea of people stubbornly say “we’re not moving,” and the lion gets trapped so they can't finish the routine with the other lions. It is when there is one more thing to do on top of the other last thing because the owner has now gone feral on their requests. It is when the lion head has to do something strange with peeling an orange, or when a performer's hair hits the inside light controls of the new rainbow lion and the colors shift out of sync. It is when Shifu has to shoulder roll back to the gong after getting pinned near a cash register, or when the head is sitting on the tail’s shoulders going Pac Man mode on the seventh to tenth choi hanging from a ceiling, and the show ends with a scroll upside down and the owner going Braveheart with it all.
There was one moment where Jake and I just looked at each other at Ocean Mart and started laughing uncontrollably, because everything was so chaotic, and we loved it. We've always done this for the love of the art and everything that it comes with.
That is when a real performer shows up, when they roll with it and bring the lion to life. It stops being two people under a costume and becomes a majestic creature that commands respect and authority, collects red envelopes to bring good fortune, gives kids a spectacle and core memory they will never forget, and displays athleticism the crowd knows they cannot pull off. That is the magic of real lion dancing. People trust us to carry on a tradition we did not create but have to honor, and as a school we do it right, out of respect for the art itself.
I have soooooo many photos that I'll eventually get around to posting on social media, so be sure to follow us. For all my students who gave it their all, and the families who supported us this season, thank you. We could not have had this incredible season without you.
-Shifu & Shimu
HOUSEKEEPING & POLICY ITEMS
For morning Taiji classes - if you're unable to make it to class, and you don't give a warning via text that you're unable to make it and class gets cancelled, you will be charged a $10 fee. Reminder that we're unable to do solo classes with Shifu's morning class. This is to help prevent a too-late cancelling classes
Tuition is charged monthly and follows a "Use it or lose it policy", meaning payments apply to the month regardless of how many classes are attended. Life happens, and if you plan to take time off and want payments paused, you must notify us of your exact return month at least one week before the end of the current month so our system can be updated. Once a return month is established and tuition has resumed, the date cannot be changed retroactively. If payments have restarted but you have not yet returned to training, the tuition still applies and cannot be refunded, credited, or reassigned.
The best way to avoid any issues is clear communication in advance, including notifying us ahead of time if your time off needs to be extended beforehand.
This must be done in advance to prevent abuse of the policy.
SCHOOL SCHEDULE
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