Colorful Lion Dance

Lion Dance is a part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. In Malaysia, we have been watching it for the past six years and every time we feel as if this is our first time.. Yesterday, at the neighborhood shopping complex, we watched one such performance and I captured it in my mobile video, so the quality is not great.

As per the Chinese belief, businesses invite lion dancers to usher good luck in the New Year and chase away evil spirits. Fresh vegetables and fruits are offered to the lion. This is called as choi chang.

The dancer who has adorned the lion's head tests if the produce is real or disguised crackers by performing few feline like steps and then deftly picks it up as if the lion is devouring the food.

The loud beats of gongs, symbols and drums and the attractive white and gold lions swirling in harmony is captivating.

Today, in Sri Kembangan we watched yet another troupe performing Lion Dance in front of the roadside shops. This is the first time we saw the Lions in pink, and they were performing like gymnasts and as the drum beats became louder, the performance was also reaching its peak.

As climax, it was amazing to watch a lion climbing on the pole held by fellow performers and taking the money garland offered from the first floor window!!!

When I was showing the video and photosto a local friend I came to know that the dance shown in the above video is of Southern Cantonese style, whereas the gymnastic type of dance is the Northern Kung-fu style. Whatever the style might be, it is just awesome to watch the performance. In fact, to capture the pink lion, I just double parked on the congested roadside...