January/February
2013
One
of China’s most enjoyable New Year traditions is the Lion Dance designed to
scare away evil spirits so that good luck will follow.
For
more than thirty years David Fong and his family have performed this
traditional dance at their Bloomington restaurant. This year diners can enjoy
this good luck tradition Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 7, 8, and 9.
It
is a family affair for both the dancers and the diners. Each year families with
children are among the diners who fill David Fong’s for this New Year tradition
to enjoy the rhythmic, colorful twenty-minute program. Dancing to the beat of
the drum, cymbals and gong, the happy lion moves from table to table stopping
to tease the children and making sure evil has been sent away.
Performers
are always members of the Fong family sometimes including three generations.
Two will don the colorful lion costume and three will play the instruments.
Dating
back to the third century B.C., the Chinese lion dance is intended to impart a
happy, cheerful celebration for the New Year and for other special events. In
Northern China the lion is made up of several performers donning the colorful
almost dragon-like costume. In Southern China is composed of two dancers moving
quickly to the rhythms of the instruments. There are specified steps for the
movements and performers work in unison to perform them correctly. The banging
of the drum and the clanging of the cymbals and gong are designed to frighten
away evil spirits. This allows good luck to follow, hopefully, throughout the
New Year.
The
special New Year dinner is a family style menu including dishes not usually
available the rest of the year as well as the restaurant’s complete Chinese and
American offerings. Each diner receives a traditional New Year red envelope
holding a shiny penny and chocolate-dipped fortune cookies at the end of the
meal.
Dinner
starts at 6:00 p.m. with the Lion Dance at 7:00 p.m. The three nights are
usually sold out so reservations are essential. Call 952-888-9294, David Fong’s
Chinese Restaurant at 94th and Lyndale Avenue South in Bloomington.
There is plenty of free parking in their adjacent lot.
Buy online: Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875
