INFO
| Name | E-PACS Lion and Dragon Dance Group |
| Established | 1988 |
| City | Tāmaki Makaurau |
| Artform | Dance, Martial arts |
| Decades Active | 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s |
ABOUT
Founded in 1988 by chef, community leader, musician, dance performer and teacher ‘Sifu’ Peter Low, E-PACS Lion and Dragon Dance Group is a community group offering training and performances across Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Run out of Low’s business premises, E-PACS supermarket in East Tāmaki, the group offers weekly lion dance training sessions and cultural performances including Southern Lion dance, Dragon dance and Chinese percussion at schools, restaurants, festivals, as well as private events such as weddings and fundraisers. Performers are a mix of children, young adults and, occasionally, older adults.
The school operates on a community model - while tuition and gear are not charged for, families are expected to assist with transport and logistics when there are performances. The training is conducted in person by Low with volunteer assistance from experienced ex-students. Uniforms and equipment are funded and maintained by Low. Although the group does not charge for many of their public performances if they are for schools or charity, payments from corporate and local body bookers are accepted and reinvested back into gear.
After immigrating to Aotearoa, Low started an ‘Oriental culture society’ in 1988 with Malaysian friends, some of whom were experienced lion dancers like Low. They started performing weekly at Auckland’s now-demolished Oriental Markets, near Britomart. Soon, a group started meeting there regularly for training, and it became part of weekend activities for many families. Later, this evolved into the present-day model.
Low states that he continues to teach the dance group to give local children from the Chinese diaspora the opportunity to learn about and feel pride in their culture. He intends to pass down the legacy that he was taught as a young boy growing up in poverty in Singapore: respect for elders, teachers and their craft; confidence and courage to attempt stunts; teamwork; and the core martial arts and Buddhist ideas that underpin the practice of Lion dance. The ones taught by Low, who is also Buddhist, are the Buddhist principles of deportment: stand like a tree, sit like a bell, walk like the wind, and sleep like a bow.
At the end of each training session, students line up to recite these lines, then move together into a set of kung fu stances, which culminate in them respecting each other and the teacher by bowing deeply. In this way, Low embeds the practice of respect, discipline and teamwork as a key part of lion dancing, linking through to deeper cultural tenets.
Every student is supported to master the core components of Lion Dance: percussion (drum, cymbal, and gong); paired Lion Dancing with mastery of basic acrobatic moves such as the two-person stack; and group formations such as dragon ball stick and cymbal.
Low speaks about how attitudes towards women doing lion dance are changing. In the past, women were believed to have different energy that was incompatible with the male-associated energy required for lion dancing (yin/yang), which meant they weren’t allowed in the lions. These days, some lion dancers claim that women lack the strength to perform the acrobatic moves associated with modern competitive lion dancing, but in recent years, women have begun to be part of competition-winning teams. Low supports girls and women participating in all areas of lion dance and believes that no restrictions should be placed on who can dance.
Low maintains links with other lion dance organisations nationally and in Tāmaki Makaurau; most of the other troupes are his former students, and they return to help teach and play percussion during the month of Chinese New Year performances, where the team can have up to three performances a day.
