Dancing pride: Daniel Van

The blue lion from Phổ Hiền Lion Dance Troupe sits on a trick stand during a performance on Feb. 17, 2018 at Chinatown Food Market in Kansas City, Missouri. Dancers Daniel Van and Kieu Duong used the blue lion for all of their performances during the 2018 Lunar New Year.

Daniel Van, 25, looks down the path to see when he should lead the lion dance troupe to its next obstacle stage on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, Missouri. Van started dancing with Phổ Hiền Lion Dance Troupe in 2012. He was one of the three leaders who rebuilt the team from less than 10 members to its current success of 30 to 40 members.

Leader Daniel Van, gray-sleeved on right, places his hand on the drum as the entire team chants "Lion Dance P.H." before a major performance on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, Missouri. Since moving to Missouri for school, the Hawaiian native discovered lion dancing through Gia Đình Phật Tử Phổ Hiền (GDPT) Phổ Hiền, a buddhist youth group. At first, Van was forced to attend youth group by his older brother, but he found his place amongst leaders and lions over time. "They're basically my second family," Van said.

Keeping a close eye on his teammates, Phổ Hiền lion dancer Daniel Van opens the lion's mouth to see whether the silver-lion stunt duo lands its new move on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 at 888 International Market in Kansas City. The "varsity team" members come up with new arobatic stunts every year. Van's stunt partner, Kieu Duong, is his tail that lifts him up when the pair does dance tricks. The team practices eight hours or more a week starting in October going into the Lunar New Year season.

Phổ Hiền lion dancer Jessica Pham applies Salonpas Pain Relief pads onto Daniel Van's lowerback right after a major performance on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, Missouri. As part of the varsity stunt team, Van did a large amount of aerobatic stunts that strained his back during dancing. The dancer said he enjoys doing tough, risky stunts and often tries to keep dancing even when he is incredibly tired or sore. Van later on sprained his ankle doing a stunt at the casino, but continued dancing at the next location that night.

Daniel Van lies on the floor resting after injuring himself doing a stunt during a performance on Feb. 17, 2018 at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, Missouri. "There's always time where we fail a stunt. An example is Ameristar. On our first performce, we messed up with some people not noticing, but we knew. We're so frustrastrated that we didn't get that, so we kept going at it. We can understand eachother like that. The younger kids and older adults were telling us to stop practicing, to save our energy. But we understood eachother and that we wanted to practice to get it down," Van said. "This is our pride, and we want to keep that pride in what we do with perfectionism."

A Vietnamese-American and Honolulu native, Van first joined Gia Đình Phật Tử Phổ Hiền, a Vietnamese Buddhist youth group, when he moved to Kansas City for college. He grew up in Buddhist youth group in Hawaii and had an older brother who pushed him to join GĐPT. It was through the youth group that he became one of the re-founders of the lion dance troupe, which started up again with only seven members. Van and three other members rebuilt the team from the ground up with little to no training. There, he quickly discovered a family through mentoring younger members. Every year, the Van and the troupe train to dance for major occasions at temples and around the Asian community. For Van, it’s a tradition turned passion that motivates him to continue dancing.

Dancing Pride: Daniel Van

Dancing pride: Daniel Van