Galileo defended their Grand Champion title at the 4th Annual Inter-League High School Lion Dance Competition (ILHSLDC) hosted by LionDanceME (LDM) on May 3, 2025 at Portmouth’s Square. LDM hosted this in honor of AAPI heritage month by spreading Chinese culture. In this competition, there were 7 high schools participating, but had 5 total teams competing. These teams featured Washington x Wallenberg, Balboa x Burton, Lowell, Lincoln, and Galileo. Wallenberg and Burton were in teams with another school because they’ve always had the fewest members.
Galileo’s routine was based on Indiana Jones, which had 2 lions working with each other to help Indiana Jones find his treasure. They also had an alumni as their drummer. Each team needed a music routine (pure cymbals and drums), and a lion routine that needed a snake incorporated since it’s the year of the snake. Every team’s routine was at least 10 minutes long.
There was also a strong Galileo presence in the audience during this event as a number of alumni cheered for the school. Ethnic studies teacher, Mr. Delgado also came out to watch the team. The whole event lasted from 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM.
The winner will be determined by the judges’ vote as well as what school could get the most amount of “likes” across all social media platforms (Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook). The social media accounts for 40% for choosing the winner, while the judges’ votes account for 60%.
Schools will have 2 weeks (until May 17) to spread the message to vote for them and the winning team will receive egg tarts for the entire school. As of May 16, 2025, Galileo is in 2nd place with 1977 likes, behind Lowell with 3638 likes.
Club coordinator sophomore Jimmy X. said, “I felt very confident going into the tournament because our team worked extremely hard and was going to practice everyday. Despite some mistakes made during the performance, I’m still proud of the team regardless”. Club coordinator sophomore Jefferson L. added, “I felt sort of stressed because we had to switch up our routine last minute, regarding our lion pairings. However, it ended up working the way I wanted and I was very impressed with the team”.
Freshman tournament participant Jason C. said, “Despite it being my first time participating in a tournament, I felt pretty confident going into it. I have a strong team that supports me so there isn’t anything to worry about”.
