With the 2020 Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year fast approaching on 1/25, Asian families worldwide are gathering to celebrate with friends and family. Many places celebrate the New Year with large festivals and cultural performances. 

A mainstay of every festival celebrating the Chinese New Year is the Dragon and Lion dances where dancers get in a Chinese-style dragon or lion getups and perform beautiful acrobatic feats and dances.

This tradition dates back to the Han Dynasty. The dragon was a symbol of the Imperial Authority and was amphibious, able to move through land, air, and water. It started as a farming tradition to bring about good luck and prosperity at the start of a new year. The dragon in dragon dance can have almost any number of segments, ranging from as little as seven sections to as many as 46 sections. Each part is controlled by one person, requiring significant coordination among the dragon’s members.

There will be a dragon dance performance at the Culture Center of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta on 1/25 and 1/26. The address is 5377 New Peachtree Rd #2840, Chamblee, GA 30341. I will be one of the segments at that performance, so see you there!