Awakening Lion: Yingge Dance

As part of the opening day festivities for Lincoln Center's Chinese Arts Week, the Zhao Family Lion Dance Company — a UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage carrier — presents Xing Shi, the millennia-old south China theater procession known as the Awakening Lion (南国醒狮).

Originating in Guangdong, the Awakening Lion is joined by the gravity-defying Fumei Youth Yingge Team from the town of Puning, performing Yingge dance (英歌) — a highly stylized folk form that merges Chinese opera acrobatics, costuming, and makeup with characters from classical novels including White Snake and Water Margin.