05-07-2018, 09:59 AM
Yesterday was Sifu Kwong Wing Lam's burial. As part of the services beforehand, there was a lion dance. This was a far different kind of dance than I've ever seen, with mourning lions -- four of them, on their knees, making their way slowly up the long aisle, pausing repeatedly for mourning bows left, right and center, stopping at the altar for more bows, moving around the altar for bows before Sifu, then carefully maneuvering about to avoid turning the tail to Sifu, bows to the immediate family, then again careful maneuvering to avoid turning the tail to the family or to Sifu, to retreat down the aisle, backwards, stopping repeatedly to make more bows -- taking a half hour or so in total.
At the end of the service, there was another lion dance, similar to the first, with all kinds of ritual bowing, turning away for the closing of the casket, and then following the casket out to the hearst.
I saw neither of these, which should tell you something -- or at least DM. I was in one of those lions. The tail. Lady Cranefly was the head.
I'm posting this on this thread because, while my mind should have been elsewhere, there were times during those dances when, hunched over, struggling to balance on my knees, in my own little world beneath the lion's fabric body, looking down at a small section of the floor, I had to wonder what I was doing, at age 67, with bad hips, in such a situation, and furthermore whether I would be able to finish the dances (I did, but it wasn't pretty, and I don't really want to see the footage).
Sifu had told me maybe two months ago that he was no longer correcting my stance-work, because he knew I was limited by my hip problems. He encouraged me to get it taken care of.
Today, very achy, more wobbly than ever, I'm thinking maybe that lion dance was a final lesson from Sifu -- to take his advice and get my hips done.
At the end of the service, there was another lion dance, similar to the first, with all kinds of ritual bowing, turning away for the closing of the casket, and then following the casket out to the hearst.
I saw neither of these, which should tell you something -- or at least DM. I was in one of those lions. The tail. Lady Cranefly was the head.
I'm posting this on this thread because, while my mind should have been elsewhere, there were times during those dances when, hunched over, struggling to balance on my knees, in my own little world beneath the lion's fabric body, looking down at a small section of the floor, I had to wonder what I was doing, at age 67, with bad hips, in such a situation, and furthermore whether I would be able to finish the dances (I did, but it wasn't pretty, and I don't really want to see the footage).
Sifu had told me maybe two months ago that he was no longer correcting my stance-work, because he knew I was limited by my hip problems. He encouraged me to get it taken care of.
Today, very achy, more wobbly than ever, I'm thinking maybe that lion dance was a final lesson from Sifu -- to take his advice and get my hips done.