What do Black Hawk and Hong Kong have in common? They both held Dragon Dances recently to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 30, 2023.

Black Hawk’s Dragon Dance was orchestrated by Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu based out of Boulder, Colorado. Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu is a 501(c) (3) non-profit association offering a comprehensive system of traditional martial arts practices intended to cultivate the defense skills, health, character, and spiritual development of its students.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, AKA the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is traditionally held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September/ early October of the Gregorian calendar. On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of autumn.

The Lodge Casino hosted the event, which took place in the Dakota Lot on Main Street in Black Hawk at 5:30 p.m. The procession began inside the casino with what’s known as the Lion Dance.

Kung Fu students wore giant lion heads to commemorate an ancient legend: many generations ago, a strange creature appeared in Guan Dong. To ward it off, residents constructed facsimiles of the animal, and in teams wearing the costumes, roamed around the area accompanied by drums, cymbals, and a gong.

The skill presented in the performance of the Lion Dance is a direct indication of the level of skill of the practitioners’ Kung Fu. Within the structure of the performance, the students learn and strengthen their stances, improve coordination, and enhance both their cardiovascular and strength conditioning.

After the lions moved through the Lodge Casino, the procession marched to the Dakota Lot where the Lion heads were swapped for a 70-foot long, silk dragon body. The dragon is believed to be the only one of its kind in the state, said Sifu Howie Solow, head of the organization.

Solow said the group books about fifty lion performances per year, in some cases performing flips and stunts that reach as high as 16 feet.

According to Chinese tradition, the Dragon’s strength incites deep respect and fear. It is for that reason that fishermen anointed the Dragon as a controlling head of the seas, built temples to worship it, and asked for its blessings to keep the waters and winds calm.

Solow noted that at any one time there are at least nine people operating the dragon, which is specifically a sea dragon. The blue ball, symbolizing a pearl, is called a “teaser” since the dragon follows it during the dance.

A flag demonstration was performed during an intermission, with a solo skilled artist twisting and spinning the flag.

The Dragon wound its way through the lot until finally coiling in upon itself, as the pearl was raised above and below its surface in an undulating motion.

Finally the dance ended with a large flag demonstration, just before it started to sprinkle.

The group is preparing for their dances in 2024, beginning in February for the Chinese New Year. Solow said the group performed 28 times in a three-week period during the last Chinese New Year. Their next performance will be on February 10 at the Far East Center in Denver, weather permitting.

To find out more, check out their website at https://www.shaolinhungmei.org/.