Sam Lara, a fashion coach for a Houston Walmart store, first saw a lion dance at a fundraising event a few years ago.

It was MD Anderson's Boot Walk to End Cancer, an annual event that often attracts thousands of participants from dozens of countries.

"When I went to that walk, I realized that the lion dances were there. I'd seen the performers' T-shirts that had their phone number, so I took a picture of it," said Lara.

That's how Lara ended up contacting and meeting Shi Xing Hao, the master of Houston Shaolin Kung Fu Academy, and realized that they are not far from each other.

Lion dances come to Walmart

The Walmart store that Lara works at is located merely a couple of miles from Houston Chinatown where, in Lara's words, there is "nothing but stores".

Southwest Houston is a diverse community with large portions of Hispanics, and African and Asian Americans, said Lara.

Walmart remodeled the entire store in 2024, and a grand opening ceremony was scheduled in October that year. Lara arranged lion dances for this special occasion because "it brings good energy" and "it'd be nice for the community."

"The community received it very well. For people whose cultures are not part of it, it was something new, something they hadn't seen," said Lara. "The lion dances were loud and exciting. The energy felt so good, it's just something very different that you don't see in many places."

On that occasion, Lara learned from Shi that lion dances are a big part of the Chinese or Lunar New Year celebration, which usually happens in February. He quickly decided to invite Shi's lion dance team to perform at Walmart for this special occasion in 2025.

The lion dances have been held inside the store, said Lara. The merchandise was pushed back to clear more space for the lions to run around because "they're very active. There's a lot of jumping and flipping."

"Our Asian associates and customers were very happy seeing that we had brought part of their culture to the store," Lara said. "We have arranged lion dances for this year's Lunar New Year too."

Lara particularly enjoyed the first lion dance he organized for the grand opening.

"At the end of the dance, (Shi) came and gave me a lettuce. He said that lettuce brought good fortune. I was very flattered because it was the first time it happened to me and it was given to just one specific person," said Lara. "That was such a nice gesture."

According to Shi, lettuce's pronunciation in Chinese is similar to "get rich". This is one of many symbolic meanings of this ancient Chinese tradition.

A long tradition

Lion dances have become an important Chinese tradition that dates back more than a thousand years, said Shi.

"Chinese New Year is in the time of the winter going into the spring. This was the season when people often got sick easily. In ancient times, people thought that there existed some negative energy punishing us. Viewed as an auspicious animal, lion dances were developed to chase away the evil spirit or monster Nian," explained Shi.

In China, there are two major styles of lion dances. The southern style is heavily rooted in martial arts stances while the northern style is more acrobatic and playful, often involving lions balancing on giant balls or navigating tiered platforms.

For each style, there are different schools in terms of how the lions look or how the drums are played, and the southern style includes two major schools: Foshan and Heshan, said Shi. "It's like a tree; from the root many branches have developed."

In the US, most lion dances are southern style from Guangdong province, including Shi's lion dance team, which favors the Foshan school.