LionDanceMe has been giving performance opportunities in Las Vegas for the last 15 years. Each year, 20+ new recruits have the opportunity to participate in the Las Vegas trip, whether they are on the lion, dragon, or cymbal team.
People are chosen solely based on how they perform throughout each practice or performance from the beginning of the season. The dragon team had 2 different teams for 2 different hotels. There was a full boys and girls dragon team, in which the boys performed at Bellagio and the girls performed at Resorts World Hotel.
When I first heard about this experience, I didn’t really care if I made it to Las Vegas or not because I knew there was more opportunity for me to do something bigger, like performing lion routines duringChinese New Year, while the others go to Las Vegas. I wanted to do that instead, but I signed up for it for fun, not knowing I’d get in.
I was practicing 3 hours a day for 4 days a week with the inclusion of turkey camp and winter camp (specialized training over those breaks). With all that, I was chosen for the Las Vegas MGM 2025 team. I was shocked to hear this because I felt like others were more worthy, but
Being chosen for such a special team 3 months before Las Vegas, it comes to no surprise that I should’ve been working harder to perfect the routine. However, it quickly fell apart for me because of my work schedule, making me only practice only 2 days a week. I became worried about how I would let the team down because of my inactivity. However, I noticed that an extra person was needed for just the dragon parade/photo section instead of the whole routine. I decided to swap roles with that person to give the team more balance.
The day finally arrived for us to travel to Las Vegas. On the day of my flight, I headed to San Francisco International Airport immediately after school. When I headed to the check in spot, I was stopped as they didn’t believe that I was 18, but let me go since my birthday was recent.
When I arrived at Las Vegas for the first time, I was immediately stunned with all the neon and glowing lights around the buildings. It felt somewhat like a dream land to see so many neon colors that makes it look like an exciting city to live in. When I was driven to Bellagio to be briefed on what would happen on the following day, I kept seeing fast food restaurants after restaurants. Compared to San Francisco, I have to travel pretty far for these fast food restaurants. But at Last Vegas, all the restaurants were close to each other. I saw Raising Canes, McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Panda Express all combined together. I wanted to try out the food badly, but wasn’t able to due to the tight schedule.. By the time the briefing was done, it was already 12:30 am.
After everyone was done eating, I headed back to my room with my roommate and was amazed with how the room looked. It was very spacious and looked luxurious. I quickly did my bathroom routine and by that time we both finished, it was 2:30 AM. We needed to meet in the briefing room at 9 AM.
When I arrived in the room, I watched the others practice. I could only do so much since I was only on the photo/parade dragon part and decided to brush the lion’s fur to make it more clean. After everyone was done, it was 2:30 PM. We all had to wait a long time before going out since the performance was at 6:00 PM and our set up time was 4:00 PM. Between this time, we quickly rushed to lunch.
When it was time for our performance outside the hotel, I was set to go in first with the dragon team as we had to pose for a photo. Then, I swapped my dragon stick with the other people doing the routine since I wasn’t on it. After they were done, we swapped sticks again and headed into the hotel for the parade. It went on for around 30 minutes and I was just walking around and doing movements with the dragon. It felt great even though it wasn’t a major part. I felt glad to be doing something at least with the dragon.
After the performance, we headed into the dining room for dinner. Probably the best part of the day since I could finally relax and eat since I didn’t have to perform anymore, while the other people on the lion had another performance at 9:00 PM. The dinner was the same as lunch (Chipolate style) and I grabbed multiple portions.
After dinner, I had to quickly put everything away as it was already 9:30 PM. I had to travel to the van loading area which is pretty far and it was 11:00 PM by the time I was done.
By the time I was done, it was 12:30 AM and we flew back Sunday at 6:30 AM, but we had to meet outside the hotel by 5 AM. Many of us had almost to no sleep during the entirety of the trip.
I felt so tired in the morning and I’ve never randomly slept more in my life than that day. Our flight was also delayed by 40 minutes. When I sat down on the plane, I immediately fell asleep.
Looking back on the trip, I am grateful for such an experience to see Las Vegas for the first time. It was a special opportunity for me to express the art of lion dance and seeing the crowd cheer loud. I loved the food options in the dining hall, especially the chicken with sour cream. Despite having little sleep, the experience made up for it and I hope to do it again next year.
Images by: Isabella Yu and Kelot Wen
