After Chinese New Year, one red lion flew among those staggered piles with a distance of 1.8 meters. Crowds gave a warm accomplishment for the performance. Surprisingly, this outstanding performance was completed by a young girl.  

Southern lion dance emphasizes power and strength, which makes it relatively impossible for girls. However, Baoyi Huang is eager to break this gender stereotype in lion dance, and insists that female is as good as male.  

Baoyi Huang was a 26-year-old girl from Shunde, with an unbelievable training time of 13 years. Last year, she was prevalent for a lion dance post at the scenic spots, with 560 thousand likes and over 12 million views over the Internet. After a short period in vogue, this topic was left behind and more teammates decided to leave.  

However, she still dreamed of attending the Genting World Lion Dance Championship with friends and showing the passion and courage held by Chinese girls.  

When serendipity comes with lion dance – why not girls? 

In 2009, Baoyi Huang with flexible moves has caught Dadao Deng’s eyes, the female lion dance team coach. He approached her mom and gave away his invitation. Initially, Baoyi thought lion dance would be fun to play. Nevertheless, what things go did exceed her expectation.  

She was scheduled to conduct intensive training daily, with 2 hours of basic skills before and after school. Although she gave everything had, some predecessors still believed that certain techniques should not be inherited by female as they have less endurance and power.  

By keeping this blacklash as courage, she was brave enough to jump between staggered piles, which are 2.5m tall at maximum and 1.8m away from the next stand. Sweat and tears became worthy once their team achieved a good grade in the competition with the male team.  

Back to the team – a feel like home 

After leaving, she still kept her passion for lion dance. During her leisure time, she actively attended the training and shows organised by other teams.  

Luckily, at a business show in 2019, she received an invitation from Peikun Lee, the coach of Lunjiao Three Continents Dragon Lion Group. Without hesitation, she accepted the offer and found the feeling of belonging once she put the lion head on again.  

In no time, she and her teammates worked tightly and successfully and won the first prize in the 2019 Guangdong Dragon and Lion Championship.  

Lion dance is an art – all the details matter  

During the training, she realised that the cute side of lions is the competitive advantage only achievable to female dancers. Through the imitation of cats, she then developed her stylish and lively ways to express the lion’s mood.    

In 2021, she suddenly got famous as a consequence of lion dance posts. After the visit to the MCN institution, she rejected the offer of being a celebrity as it deviated from her initial intention. Even though her family did not support her decision, she described her persistence as felicity, “I devoted to the lion dance, which is my career as well as my enthusiasm.” 

Lion queen – I have younger girl "followers" 

Her biggest dream is to be the last one standing on the stage of the Genting World Lion Dance Championship, obtaining the “Olympic champion” in the lion dance. 

All dancers wish to pass down their skills. In these two years, Kunpei Lee focused on the competition and publicity in school. The slogan of “no limits” represents the spirit: break the gender barrier and respect the dancing tradition.  

Her team will host the lion dance class weekly in Three Continents Junior School. During the weekend, some kids will come to the centre and practice lion dance. Most of their students are girls.  

What if you cannot achieve your dream? She replied with a smile, "I have those young followers. I will be the coach and support them unconditionally." 

Author | Eddie 

Revisor | Ivy 

Source | Nanfang Plus