A San Francisco lion dance troupe with more than five decades of history just brought home fresh hardware from Texas. Leung's White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association won the Traditional category at the 2026 USA Lion Dance National Championships, while the group's Team Red claimed the High Pole category at the same event.
The results come from the official competition organizers, who held the tournament at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie, Texas, according to liondanceusa.com. The site specifically credited the San Francisco squad for its championship performance in the Traditional category, and separately named Team Red as the champion of the High Pole division — a discipline that has lion dancers leaping between elevated poles to simulate the animal's movement across rugged terrain.
It is the latest chapter for a club that has been part of San Francisco's Chinatown fabric since 1971. The organization describes itself as a seven-time USA national champion, per DoTheBay, which has been promoting the group's 55th anniversary celebrations this year.
A Team That Travels the World
Leung's White Crane says its roots in international competition run deep. On its own website, the group states that its team has traveled the globe to compete in lion dance tournaments since 1992, and that it has represented the United States at the International World Championships for the past 15 years, according to the organization's own account on its site.
The team's published list of achievements backs up that international résumé. The troupe cites a first-place finish at the Hawaii Lion Kings International Lion Dance Competition, a Western title at the Genting World Liondance Competition, a second-place finish at the Hong Kong International Lion Dance Competition, and third- and fourth-place finishes at the San Francisco International Lion Dance Competition, the group notes on its achievements page.
Bay Area's Broader Lion Dance Scene
San Francisco's lion dance community has drawn national attention beyond this latest championship. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that Lion Dance ME, a separate Bay Area troupe, was recognized as the best lion dance team in the West at the 2023 Genting World Lion Dance Championship in Malaysia. That same competition saw Lion Dance ME member Jayde Wong become the first female lion dancer to win a title at the event, the Chronicle reported.
The sport's global scale was on display earlier this year at the MGM Cup international championship, which drew 25 elite teams and more than 270 athletes from 14 countries and regions, according to a release from MGM China Holdings. That tournament featured 36 matches across four competition categories and attracted nearly 4 million online and offline views over two days, the release stated. Foshan Nanhai Huangfeihong Zhonglian Cable Lion Dragon & Martial Art Association successfully defended its Lion King title there for a second consecutive year, per the same release.
Back home, Leung's White Crane's latest national titles add to a legacy that has made San Francisco a recognizable name in competitive lion dance, as noted by KRON4. The group's 55th anniversary festivities this year have already put a spotlight on the decades of practice behind the drums, poles, and choreography that keep bringing the team back to podiums across the country and beyond.
