Southern Lion

Our Lion Dance Troupe was started in 1934 after a pair of Northern Lions were brought here by Mr Wei Yuan Feng from Hebei Province, China. However, it was not until 1953 that we began to do Southern Lion performances.

That was the year in which Mr He Shun, a famous Southern Lion Dance practitioner, joined the Association as an instructor. He combined the drumming rhythm and basic dance movements of the Southern Lion with the classical body shape of the Northern Lion.

This resulted in a lion that almost roared to life during the performance, with an air of ferocious dignity befitting the king of animals. Mr He Shun then left for Negri Sembilan Chin Woo when they hired him in 1954. In the same year, Mr Zheng Wei Lin took over as Southern Lion Dance instructor but he left after two years as he was not used to having the Northern Lion dancing to the style and rhythm of the Southern Lion.

Mr He Shun returned to Singapore in 1968. In 1971, he rejoined us as an instructor and started teaching our members the Hok Shan Southern Lion Dance. The defining characteristic of this style is its portrayal of the lion as a big cat which can express a spectrum of emotions such as happiness, anger, fear, joy, suspicion, drunkenness, sleepiness or wakefulness.