Chau Luen Athletics is Vancouver’s premier lion dance and dragon dance team, as well as one of the most well-respected kung fu clubs in BC. The club provides memorable and energetic lion dance and dragon dance performances for businesses, weddings, and most importantly, community events, showcasing traditional Chinese culture in an exciting way. In addition to providing lion and dragon dance performances, Chau Luen Athletics is also an award-winning martial arts school that teaches Choy Lee Fut style kung fu. Anyone who wishes to learn kung fu, lion dance, or dragon dance is encouraged to sign up; there are no restrictions on age, gender, race, religion, or background. The club provides free trial classes to allow students to start learning traditional kung fu and lion dance from day one. From there, they are welcome to perform with the club in front of local businesses and at community events as they progress along their martial arts journey.
How are you supporting local businesses?
The Chau Luen Athletic Club purchases performance supplies and food from small, local vendors only, mainly in Vancouver’s Chinatown. These include independent grocers like Carley BBQ and Tin Lee Market and specialty stores like Po Kong Buddhist. They also purchase food from bakeries like Sun Fresh Bakery and Zhao Mah Bakery, as well as miscellaneous supplies from ABC Store Dollar & Gifts. To get around to performances, Chau Luen has a partnership with the BC carsharing company Modo, allowing the tremendous amount of equipment (even a full-sized 18-meter long dragon puppet!) to fit in as few vehicles as possible, reducing both environmental impact and street congestion.
What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Chau Luen Athletics is known as one of, if not the most community-minded lion dance teams in Vancouver, performing at numerous local events. These include blessing businesses in multiple commercial districts including the Mount Pleasant BIA, and showcasing traditional Chinese art in free-to-watch performances, such as the Chinatown Spring Festival Parade and the City of Burnaby’s Canada Day celebrations. Chau Luen Athletics also makes visits to schools, local businesses, and senior homes, demonstrating lion dance, kung fu, and most importantly, closely engaging with the community with free lion dance and kung fu workshops. The intent of these is to attract audiences in a way that’s more memorable than just watching a performance. By providing hands-on workshops where they can feel and experience the magic of lion dancing, it brings the community even closer together and encourages others to join in spreading multiculturalism in an entertaining way.
In terms of environmental practices, Chau Luen Athletics makes extensive use of Modo to move equipment and performers around. Carpooling and consolidating performance supplies into fewer vehicles reduces our carbon emissions, especially if we are required to travel long distances or have to navigate gridlock to get to one of our downtown performances.
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