r/interestingasfuck
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u/bigdinggdong
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Jan 29 '23
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Lion Dance practise without the costume and the head. /r/ALL
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u/CluelessSage Jan 29 '23
At first I was thinking front bro got off easy, but then his buddy just starts hanging off his belt like it’s nothing….
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u/Frifelt Jan 29 '23
All while keeping your balance on two small discs.
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u/hotmanwich Jan 29 '23
That when wearing the costume you can't even see... Fucking nuts.
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u/JaySayMayday Jan 29 '23
Wish I could remember the name of it, there's a travel show where the host went to a (temple?) known for this. They probably had more than a dozen really athletic guys that practice this day in day out, to a point where it's totally muscle memory. There's some traditional/expected moves but the big difference in the temple they showed is every group is expected to be good enough to add their own twist to the dance, and they attend competitions every year.
Pretty cool stuff.
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u/RavingNative Jan 29 '23
If you remember the name of the show, please post! I'd love to try and find the episodes.
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u/LabyrinthOzz Jan 29 '23
Holy crap. I wonder how young they are when they start training to dance? Building full body muscle memory like that takes a huge time investment.
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u/chili3ne Jan 30 '23
I don't think age matters much as the kids lion ?costume? is much lighter and smaller. One article I read said that the average training time takes 2 years, with 1-3 days of practice per week. It is a huge investment and takes a lot of time to perfect
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u/DuePomegranate Jan 30 '23
I think the 2 year training time is referring to ordinary lion dance troupes that perform on the ground, although the front guy does stand on the back guy and there are leaps and lifts (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JSS9GxARG8&t=434s)
No way this competitive/stunt stuff on poles can be learned in 2 years.
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u/tickitytalk Jan 29 '23
While walking backwards holding a guy over your head 8’-0” in the air (how the hell do you know/see where to put your feet?!)
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u/chili3ne Jan 30 '23
Apparently it's just muscle memory. The average training time is 2 years with 1-3 days a week of practise (correct me if I'm wrong)
But not just that, the front person has to use one hand to guide the mouth and another to pull on the strings to move the eyes. And the other guy has their hand in the tail (I think)
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u/ADHD_Supernova Jan 29 '23
I mean, covering your nuts is often desired in a good costume but I suppose not always.
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u/reugeneh Jan 29 '23
That's what is jaw dropping, no just the strength but the balance throughout, with that fluid movement. Nuts.
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u/Pumpkin_Creepface Jan 29 '23
The human body is capable of amazing things with training, just hardly anyone does this degree of physical development from early enough.
I remember reading how ridiculously strong chimpanzees are compared to the average human, but then those guys are basically practicing gymnastics for fun ALL THE TIME.
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u/Diplomjodler Jan 29 '23
Yesterday I did ten lunges. Today my legs are sore. Maybe this wouldn't be the right sport for me.
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u/DreamMaster8 Jan 29 '23
This is one of the thing I love about same sex dancing, figure skating or gymnastic. At any time the balance or who is leading can switch. I wish there was more of it honestly cause u can do some amazing stuff.
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u/Voiles Jan 29 '23 •
Yeah, how else would we have seen a successful execution of the Iron Lotus?
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u/SphericalBitch2020 Jan 30 '23
A silver for you. To match their skating outfits... Now I want to see Blades of Glory..... !
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u/razorteef Jan 29 '23
canada recently began allowing same gender pairs in figure skating, so hopefully well see some more cool stuff in that field soon
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u/Points_To_You Jan 29 '23
Yea. Jump across and landing on those posts can’t be easy with someone hanging on your belt.
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u/snakeskinsandles Jan 29 '23
Idk why, but the thing that looked the most painful was him keeping his arms up THE ENTIRE TIME
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u/AnonDooDoo Jan 29 '23
Btw, the front guy needs to be controlling eyelids and mouth of the lion mask while he’s doing all of this.
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u/Due-Ad9310 Jan 29 '23
I take it that's why we don't see him use his hands through this since they'll be occupied?
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u/CZiemba Jan 29 '23
Yup. One hand will be used to hold the weight and control the mouth, while the other is pulling on a few different strings to control the eyelids and eyebrows. The guy in the back often times will have on hand behind his back to wag the tail.
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u/Due-Ad9310 Jan 29 '23
Wow that's crazy, and all that while they're doing this? Pretty sure I'd die lol.
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u/CZiemba Jan 29 '23
From the looks of their instagram, it looks like they've dedicated themselves solely to the lion dance. When I was training I would need to spend 2 or 3 months doing lion dance 3-5 times a week and we only did a few carries. No jumps, no tall poles, just a lot of dancing and a few heel clicks from the guy I was holding in the air. These dudes have definitely spent over a decade training this and now are focusing all of their training on the lion dance. This is the utmost pinnacle of the lion dance
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u/conventionalWisdumb Jan 29 '23
Can you provide a link?
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u/Innuendo6 Jan 29 '23
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u/greymalken Jan 29 '23
I think it might be slightly easier just to teach a Lion to dance.
That’s wild.
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u/Amystery123 Jan 29 '23
I haven’t see a more impressive dance. Simple outstanding. The performers have conquered the fear of falling by simply perfecting their act. Every movement till the last flip seemed effortless. Thanks for sharing the link!
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u/Innuendo6 Jan 29 '23
there's a saying in chinese, 10 minutes of performance on stage, takes 10 years of training off stage.
these guys are the epitome of it.
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u/imanayer Jan 29 '23
For a few long moments I forgot there were two people inside a costume and just enjoyed a lion dancing.
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u/Chickenmangoboom Jan 29 '23
This was so cool, now I want to see it in a room with good acoustics so that the drums are on point.
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u/cambriansplooge Jan 29 '23
Big puppets like this rarely get the respect they deserve in the west, stagecraft blows my mand
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u/Fidodo Jan 29 '23
Maybe it's just reddit but it feels like talent in general doesn't get the respect it deserves in the west. I see so many amazing posts here and the comments are just like "whatever I've seen this done better before".
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Jan 29 '23
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u/beardy64 Jan 29 '23
Also just because you've witnessed a single recorded thing (often with CGI or impressive editing or multi million dollar budgets and equipment) doesn't mean that the thing in front of your face being done live without retakes by humans in your area isn't a completely different situation.
Sure I can get better visuals of a lava flow by watching a documentary shot from a helicopter, but I also will never forget standing on warm lava that recently flowed over a road, trees still poking out of it, seeing a faint red trickle in the distance with my own eyes, with my family around me.
I guess some people are so eager to have synthetically perfect experiences, they've forgotten any amount of authenticity and connection.
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u/FOR_SClENCE Jan 29 '23
that's what happens when you have a bunch of middle class white kids who haven't applied themselves in any way.
anyone who trains sports recognizes how hard this stuff is.
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u/lqku Jan 29 '23
always some smug neckbeard in the comments explaining why the video is fake, scripted, or why that feat of athleticism isn't really that difficult
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u/Fidodo Jan 29 '23
The dumbest ones are those that say "it's not that impressive, they probably tried this a thousand times and just posted the take that worked". No fucking duh, that's called practice and if something takes a lot of tries that makes it more impressive, not less.
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u/hybridrequiem Jan 29 '23
We have accomplished similar feats with technology (animatronics, CGI), so the fact that we’ve always been able to do this with a lot of practice, effort, and talent seems to get lost on most people
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u/Semont Jan 29 '23
Instant gratification combined with not understanding the hard work and dedication that goes into more than a decade of practicing your craft. This is why there is such a big divide of opinions in things like AI art and NFT.
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u/k112l Jan 29 '23
Plus the stamina to handle weight of the lion head - keeping it upright, proper, and powerful looking
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u/bluemafoo Jan 29 '23
Not to mention guy in the back is covered and can’t see anything while blindly stepping across the poles- backwards.
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u/wiffleplop Jan 29 '23
Holy crap those guys are athletic. I couldn’t even get up on one of those posts, never mind jump up carrying a friend and then dance around between them. So impressive.
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u/HolyMolyitsMichael Jan 29 '23
This is without the weight of the head of the costume the guy also has to lift as well as the flowy body cover that covers them both. Coordination kings over here.
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u/RobbertDownerJr Jan 29 '23
Oh yeah, I just realized they probably won't even see those poles with the costume on. Their line of sight would be so limited they'd probably only see just the general direction of where they should go. This realization just gave me a new application for those performances.
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u/askeeve Jan 29 '23 •
It definitely seems harder don't get me wrong, but I think they can still see pretty well
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u/RobbertDownerJr Jan 29 '23
That dude in back, other than those times he was holding the other guy above his head, was mostly only limited to seeing where his own feet where. He seemed to have made at least a couple of those jumps blind. But yeah front guy's vision doesn't seem as obscured as I originally thought.
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u/SJane3384 Jan 29 '23
Thanks for posting the actual dance. I couldn’t figure out exactly how these were lion moves lol.
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u/fionsichord Jan 29 '23
This is why I came to the comments to see! Super extra bonus that it’s the same location- I’d have been happy with a separate example!
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u/Toneboneh Jan 29 '23
Definetely tough to see out. You get a tunnel vision effect under the full lion costume.
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u/HorrorMakesUsHappy Jan 29 '23
This realization just gave me a new application for those performances.
I think you meant appreciation, but it was amusing to wonder what applications you might have in mind.
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u/RobbertDownerJr Jan 29 '23
You know, when you're jumping from pole to pole with your buddy but you have to be stealthy so you get covered in sheets and... nah, I totally meant appreciation, text prediction tripped me up.
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u/Vectorial1024 Jan 29 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
Additionally, in the real performances there would be drums and chimes which will add additional distraction for the dancers
Edit: I watched this video with my audio muted
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u/rodgers12gb Jan 29 '23
its choreographed to the music... so no the music would not be an additional distraction.
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u/gigglefarting Jan 29 '23
Imagine thinking music is a distraction to dancing.
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u/VagueSoul Jan 29 '23
What do you think dance is choreographed to…?
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u/blewpah Jan 29 '23
Most impressive part to me is when the body guy holds up the head guy while taking a few steps backwards on the poles. The athleticism as well as the trust they put in each other is really admirable.
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u/FOR_SClENCE Jan 29 '23
broke my nose doing lion dance practice, I was on the wushu team but a few of the team were on both collegiate/national teams at the same time.
the lion dance kids basically did full leg day + endurance training + choreo for 20 hrs/week, and that was on top of another 20 for wushu as it was. they had maybe one rest day.
one of the bottom girls tore her own ACL, and she was someone who could squat 2 plates, ass to grass, for more than 40 reps. they have crazy endurance.
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u/xxMeiaxx Jan 29 '23
The body guy cant see ahead too(just his own foot and ground) once they are in costume.
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u/wiffleplop Jan 29 '23
Their muscle memory is staggering. I quite like watching the lion dances when I get chance.
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u/Bigfops Jan 29 '23
I want to find someone I can trust as much as lion head guy trusts lion butt guy.
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u/Tacoman404 Jan 29 '23
As someone who got to this level once and fell back down to “average” due to an accident it really can be unbelievable to even yourself at first. Like holy shit I just did that.
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u/ItalianChungus Jan 29 '23
Now I want to see it with the costume
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u/dontkillyourselfpls Jan 29 '23
They uploaded one with the same routine + costume on their Instagram! Their ig handle is @guanshen.lu
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u/GivingRedditAChance Jan 29 '23
Guess I will never see it, I don’t have instagram :(
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Jan 29 '23 •
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u/bobthebobofbob Jan 29 '23
I thought it would be way cooler in the costume, but I think I actually liked it better without it lol. I feel like the costume is just kind of distracting and all the layers hanging off the side end up hiding a lot of the impressive stuff.
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u/elizabethan Jan 29 '23
If you Google "Instagram" and their username you should be able to access it from a browser.
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u/TapirOfZelph Jan 29 '23
upon doing a cost/benefit analysis, it has been determined that you should turn that frown upside down
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u/aerofanatic Jan 29 '23
This likely isn't the same people, but you can kind of see the people in the costumes as they do the dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs0GuU0cUtw
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u/BazilBroketail Jan 29 '23
Those motherfuckers don't skip leg day...
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u/FOR_SClENCE Jan 29 '23
they really don't. they generally do 3-5 hrs 3 times/week. they'll be at the park doing conditioning for two hours and then focusing on choreo for the rest.
it's definitely in the thousands of calories per day type of workout. their endurance is nuts.
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u/onekrazykat Jan 30 '23
Since you seem to know what you are talking about… How long do they train to do this? Like are they starting as 7 or 8 year olds?
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u/FOR_SClENCE Jan 30 '23
for wushu, maybe as young as 4 or 5 same as gymnastics. lion dance is too dangerous for really young kids so I'd expect it to start at 12-14.
I don't know for sure about that, so anyone part of a team can correct me.
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u/missesT1 Jan 29 '23
Pretty cool. When I was a little girl in Singapore I would see the lion dances and assume they were using magic :). Looks like just insane athletic ability
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u/LadyLuckMV Jan 29 '23
Looks like just insane athletic ability
All part of the magic.
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u/Ash-MacReady Jan 29 '23
That was fucking impressive. I struggle to put my socks on.
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u/eggybread70 Jan 29 '23
Lion dancing looks so effortless I barely gave it a second thought. Seeing it like this though gives me huge admiration for the strength and skill of the dancers.
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u/Chemical_Advance_448 Jan 29 '23
the head is usually 20-30 lbs, so not effortless. If you playing the back part you're bending at the waist in a slight squat the whole time, so not effortless either. It speaks to the skill of the dancers that you think it looks effortless!
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u/Lav_ Jan 29 '23
Jumping between those posts with your back turned while hanging off another person's hips. My cheeks puckered up more than once watching that.
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u/dontkillyourselfpls
Jan 29 '23
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Hey OP, while farming karma, couldn't you have given credit where it's due? This is a relatively fresh vid and I only saw it on my ig feed today, from the original poster. Wouldn't have been difficult at all to give them credit...
The original vid was posted on their Instagram (@guanshen.lu). They have another one of the same routine, but with the costume on.
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u/Noisy_Toy Jan 29 '23
Damn. Looks like you have to have an Instagram account to even view it. Oh well.
Maybe someone will share it to Reddit for the rest of us.
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u/Aussiewhiskeydiver Jan 29 '23
‘Karma farming’ lol so anyone that’s posts content is a karma farmer now. I guess we should all stop posting content
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Jan 29 '23
Reddit gets fucking weird over the mere THOUGHT that people might gasp post something for KARMA.
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u/Rdtackle82 Jan 30 '23
That’s not the point, it’s that sharing an artist’s hard work to the internet and it blowing up without proper credit assigned is a dick move.
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u/TokiVideogame Jan 29 '23
i don't get the part where they got onto the pole,how
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u/KK-Chocobo Jan 29 '23
Front dude squated himself plus his partner with enough momentum to swing him onto the other poles. And with the costume, the 'lion head' weighs about 20lbs too.
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u/lanciadub Jan 29 '23
Where can I, see with the lion head?
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u/Speculater Jan 29 '23
Right?! I mean cool! But come on!
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u/ShrugIife Jan 29 '23
You think the guy in the $3,000 suit is going to post a link to a video???
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u/dontkillyourselfpls Jan 29 '23
They did, actually post a vid with the suit on. It's on their ig page! @guanshen.lu
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u/Every3Years Jan 29 '23
The comment you replied to is riffing on a popular but no longer famous line from the once upon a time great Fox show known as "Arrested Development"
I'm glad you didn't know cuz your comment is so nice 🙂
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u/jojotoughasnails Jan 29 '23
I have so many questions:
Are these 2 like, dedicated dance partners? Like you have to be so in sync I can't imagine you can just swap out with anyone.
Are lion dancers in fixed positions? Like front versus back? Or are they interchangeable? The back person seems to require so much strength to lift the front and then front should probably be lighter to make it easier, etc.
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u/mjr_llo Jan 29 '23
im always so impressed with lion dancing. i did lion dancing as the front guy in college and you dont realize how nature the urge is to draw your legs up when youre getting picked up. rip to all the back guys whos crotch ive accidentally kicked
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u/jacrwa Jan 29 '23
No farts allowed
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u/guanzo91 Jan 29 '23
I used to do Lion dance as the bottom. My partner would fart all the time inside the costume. fml.
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u/faulknip Jan 29 '23
If you ever get the chance to see a lion dance definitely go, its absolutely amazing to watch. I've been lucky enough to see it a few times and it never disappoints
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u/completelytrustworth Jan 29 '23
I'm a pretty strong guy but I can't even imagine shoulder pressing another entire person and holding them so perfectly still like that
Like everyone is impressed with their coordination and acrobatics but I'm just amazed at the sheer shoulder strength of the legs guy, holy shit
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u/postdiluvium Jan 29 '23
They have places just for practicing this? I remember this used to be done at the back of Kung Fu schools
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u/Delicious_Watch_8139 Jan 29 '23
This is insane ability but I don’t even know what the finished production looks like. Anyone have a link to that?
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u/AntNew2592 Jan 29 '23
It's really incredible. I specially love the parts where one of the performers totally relies on the other for a maneuver, like the whole thing being physically impossible without the other being there. It's like they are conjoined entity. Awesome.
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u/Skytraffic540 Jan 29 '23
Kid being lifted up is like “Rar rar” with his raptor fingers lol
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u/19-PRISMO-91 Jan 30 '23
Thank you for completely shattering the illusion for me. I thought they used real dragons.
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u/mr_grieff Jan 29 '23
You know that scene in RRR where the two leads fight in tandem, one of them sitting on the shoulders of the other one. I thought it was a fun but ultimately impossible action sequence.
After seeing this, I don't think it's so impossible anymore.
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u/invisible_23 Jan 30 '23
This level of coordination is mind-boggling to me, I can barely walk across a flat surface without tripping
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u/Ryan_T_208 Jan 30 '23
The amount of skill and trust you'd need to do that is crazy, and they aren't even wearing the Dragon.
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u/GiraffeAnatomy Jan 29 '23
When your job is to sit on a man's head all day, or have an ass on your head all day.
For real though, this is some top tier athleticism and it looks amazing when they have the dragon costume on.
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u/stun Jan 29 '23
I still can’t figure out how the guy behind climb/jump onto the poles at the very beginning.
Yes, he pulled himself up by holding onto the front-guy, but I don’t know how he did it.
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