Lion Dance Team celebrates 40th anniversary, honors state senator as former member

TROY — A local heritage organization celebrated its 40th anniversary and recently honored a former member, state Sen. Stephanie Chang.

The Michigan Lion Dance Team has helped preserve Taiwanese and Chinese culture for decades and educate others about their history.

“Our group was operated by Taiwanese school members starting in 1978,” explained Stacey He, the team’s event director. “Originally, we were engineers and professionals. We’re usually very low-key as a community, but this was our 40th anniversary, so we love getting a chance to come to events or invite people to join us. This was a way to unite the Taiwanese American community. We were invited to places like the (Detroit Institute of Arts) and other global festivals, in parades and so forth.”

The lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese and Taiwanese culture in which performers mimic a lion’s movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion dance is commonly performed during the Lunar New Year and other traditional, cultural and religious festivals.

The 40th anniversary celebration took place Oct. 14 at Ward Church in Northville. Chang said she was honored to be invited back.

“It was a great celebration,” she remarked. “Basically, the current Lion Dance Team performed, there were some speeches, and a few awards for alumni were given out. We talked about being the children of immigrants. There was some food, and it was a really lovely, intergenerational event.”

Current team members were honored with the President’s Volunteer Service Award, acknowledging their outstanding efforts in promoting cultural education and giving back to the community over the past year at the event.

Chang, who represents residents from parts of Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties, said the team has grown by leaps and bounds since her time.

“A really long time ago, when I was a child, I was on the team. It’s amazing that it’s been 40 years since the team started. I think I was in middle school and high school while I was on the team,” she said. “The Lion Dance Team has grown in numbers and sophistication since my time as part of it. They are so organized. They have great uniforms now and are so professional. They have performed in a lot of places where we never got to years back, such as the governor’s residence and the DIA and in several parades.”

She noted she was able to play a role in bringing the team to the Michigan governor’s residence for its first official celebration of the Lunar New Year in 2020.

He said that the team incorporated some new and exciting elements into their show for the 40th anniversary.

“This year, because of the 40th anniversary, we arranged a new performance and added new elements. We added some K-pop elements like Gangnam Style dancing,” she said. “We changed our rhythm section too. We don’t want to just stay old-fashioned. We like to add those new elements.”

Chang was thrilled to see what the team had done and was proud of their ability to blend tradition and innovation.

“I’m the daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants,” said Chang. “(There were some) Chinese and Taiwanese schools that started, and the parents there wanted to make sure their kids learned the language and culture. A lot of the success of the programs is due to the parents who started programs like the Lion Dance Team for their children. It’s that passion that has kept the team alive and flourishing.”

She added that being able to celebrate different cultures in different ways is something she has tried to do as a state senator.

“I enjoy being able to help spread cultural awareness,” she said. “I think it’s really important for younger generations to learn about their culture and keep it alive. I think for the broader community, it’s good and quite fun, being able to learn about different aspects of cultures and people like this.”

The Michigan Lion Dance Team members hope they can one day celebrate the next 40 years.

“Our goal for the next 40 years is not just to entertain, but to also educate and include different cultural elements. We want to mix different elements together,” said He. “The Taiwanese American community around Detroit is about 20,000 people. Taiwan has a lot of unique cultural elements, and we don’t want the next generation to forget their roots. The lion dance can bring that history from 1,000 years ago to life. We want to bring our resilience and our ability to overcome adversity to younger generations.”