Pham carries torch of ancient traditions through bonds

Yaamini Jois CHS9 Editor @yjois12

Coppell freshman Taylor

Pham dons the intricately decorated red and yellow lân costume as she gets ready to perform. Onlookers in traditional attire huddle around excitedly in the crisp, smoke-filled air around bright red paper — both remnants of the firecrackers — and colorful props.

Born to two longtime leaders of the Pháp Quang Temple in Grand Prairie, Pham has been actively involved with youth groups and volunteering for the temple since a young age.

“Taylor has always been a great student inside and outside of our youth group,” temple leader Hien Minh Nguyen said.

“She’s always stepped up to represent her group, even oth- ers would shy away from responsibilities. She’s always been a step above the rest.”

In 2021, Pham joined the lion dancing group at the temple. Lion dancing demands often physically-tolling and hard-tomaster stunts from those who undertake it, and as such has been a typically male-dominated activity. On the contrary, the Pháp Quang troupe comprises mainly younger girls.

“I’m proud to say that our girls have the mentality of, ‘anything you can do, I can do better,” Nguyen said. “Starting with the group of lion dancers two groups behind Taylor’s, the girls have done almost everything the boys would typically do.”

All performers can pick which role and routine they take in the show, and each routine tells the story of the playful, mischievous lion getting into mishaps or adventures. The lion is a powerful mythical figure, and lion dancing is an important part of the new year season in blessing the community and stores.

“I chose to perform the bench routine because it was the most interesting to me,”

Pham said. “Last year, I was a beginner and learned most of the basics. This year, I’m more involved with a routine and I’ve gotten closer to my team.”

Taylor’s routine unfolded the tale of two lions trying to get flowers out of a pot while struggling to travel through an obstacle, represented by the tall red benches. Her role as a tail demanded strength and precision, supporting the head in stunts to make the lion jump and walk.

“The tails have to communicate effectively with the head, every movement that a head makes needs to be detailed,” said Taylor’s father Ken Pham, who is also a temple leader. “One foot cannot be out and the other foot in, they always have to be in sync.”

To celebrate Lunar New Year on Jan. 22, the troupe dedicated up to 10 hours every weekend in the months leading up to the performance to stay in shape and master each routine with trainers, starting as early as September. Perfecting the bench routine as a tail required Taylor to maintain physical strength throughout the year.

“I had to work a lot to get stronger so I was able to lift up my partner on the benches and crates,” Taylor said. “I also had to work on my form and posture so it looked better in the lion.”

Additionally, the troupe performed their first full routine since the pandemic this year, which presented challenges of its own.

“Just getting back into the groove of things was tough, and we had to stay conscious of ev-

Three Decades Of Service To Coppell

eryone’s health through their work,” Nguyen said. “We had to balance our practices with the dancers’ other extracurricular activities as well. She jumping in and picking back up on the routine shows you the creativity and hard work on-the-spot of [Taylor and her partner].”

On Lunar New Year, Taylor found herself at the center of festivities in Asia Times Square.

To the leaders of the temple, seeing dancers like Taylor take on responsibilities to keep traditions alive and tie the larger community together is an invaluable experience to everyone involved in celebrating, audiences included.

“[The dancers] feel such a sense of accomplishment when they elicit an emotion in the audience,” Nguyen said. “It’s a joy to give back to the community. They feel responsibility when they provide [this experience] to their community and know how to become more than just the paper, paint and cloth they put on. They’ve joined a unique membership here, and as I tell them, they’ve had to earn the right to put on the lion.”

To Taylor, lion dancing has become an integral part of her life and a performance that she’ll undertake wholeheartedly each year.

“Lion dancing is an outlet for me to get away from any problems,” Taylor said. “Every Saturday and Sunday when I go back, I forget what the rest of my world is like: I just focus on doing what I love with the people I love, and that’s truly refreshing for me.”