As church members hurried to hang red decorations around the auditorium, the dancers were practicing stances and lifts for their lions' movements.
The 16-day cultural festival starts on Saturday, ushering in the Year of the Dragon and bringing good luck for the new year. However, the dancers had already performed at several Lunar New Year celebrations in the Twin Cities area for Chinese and Vietnamese communities, with more performances scheduled.
"I think at this point, everybody's very tired," said Minh Pham, 23, choreographer of Minneapolis-based DTG Lions. "We're putting all our effort into perfecting our lion dances, and we're really excited for some amazing performances."
The dance group is based in St. Anne's Vietnamese church community and is mostly composed of high school students who dedicate their Saturdays to practicing and performing.
Lion dancing originates from ancient folklore and is a complex cultural dance style that originated in China but is also practiced in Vietnamese and Korean cultures. It requires two dancers to synchronize their movements to create powerful and dynamic performances that mimic a lion's actions. One dancer controls the head of the lion, manipulating strings to make it blink and open its mouth, while the other dancer holds the first dancer's hips and acts as the lion's rear.
This ancient tradition is believed to ward off evil spirits. According to Minh, "Back then, around the Lunar New Year, there used to be demons, these monsters that would come and attack the villages. And the story goes, one day, these mythical creatures, which look very similar to lions you see today, they come in and they save the village, and everybody's super grateful."
To continue the tradition, villagers started creating mascots resembling these mythical creatures—similar to the lions seen today. These mascots typically have a mirror on top of the center of the head, meant to drive away evil spirits when they see their reflection.
The tradition has evolved into an art performance and is a highlight of Lunar New Year celebrations. Lion dance performances are usually accompanied by music from drums, cymbals, and gongs. DTG Lions has a few members who specialize in playing those instruments.
"For the drum part, it helps guide the lions but also is the heartbeat of it. And it sets the tone of the story and also emphasizes that as we have various tempos and dynamics throughout the whole performance," said Thomas Tran.
DTG Lions means community for young Vietnamese Minnesotans
For the younger generation of Vietnamese Minnesotans at St. Like Tran, DTG Lions is a special community for the younger generation of Vietnamese Minnesotans at St. Anne's.
For me, it's just nice to have a Vietnamese community that's all similar to me and they all just enjoy the same thing that I do," said Tran, who is 17 years old.
Although lion dancing is an old tradition, it's been a unique way for people in DTG Lions to both connect with their culture and build friendships.
"On the weekdays, these kids are going to American school, they're hanging out with their American friends and all that stuff. But I think the beauty is that we have one day a week where we can come together as a Vietnamese community, learn our traditions, and hang out with people within our community. our community, and really share that with other people when we go out and perform," said Minh.
Minh leads DTG Lions along with Michael Pham, who is 24 and is responsible for the group's physical training. They have both been with DTG Lions for at least five years and remember a time when they had only a handful of people performing in the group.
Now, it has grown rapidly over the past two years as they have expanded to performing outside of their church community.
"What sets us apart is the number of youth, the number of kids that we have in our group." And we're always growing," said Michael.
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