what is lion dance?

8.57pm

ni hao ni hao. today im just gonna put in some photos of lion dance taken at my cousin's grand opening of her cafe at a shopping mall in kuala lumpur. she had booked a lion dance troupe to perform outside her cafe.

basically, this lion dance is to bring in good luck and at the sametime to scare away evil spirits,of the particular shop, restaurant, mall, businesses etc. you can have this lion dance at any time of the year but more often than not, people engage lion dance for  chinese new year, big functions etc as its not very cheap to hire these guys.

sometimes people get a bit confused between the lion and dragon dance performance. actually, there is a slight difference between them. the lion dance is usually operated by 2 people hiding inside the lion costume and they have to mimic movements of a lion. whereas for the dragon dance, theres usually more than 6 people (as you know a dragon is a pretty long creature) operating it (with their faces seen )and they have to use long poles to hold up the dragon as they move around with it. thats basically it.

now for the lion dance performance, its usually accompanied by beating of drums, cymbals and gongs in sync with the lion's movements. the lion dancers need to be very agile and fit as they perform a lot of acrobatic moves. one person holds the head and the other the body of the lion. it is common for the lion dance troupes to be part of martial art schools.

my cousin and her family, put "hong bao" (red envelope with money inside) inside the lion's mouth and this is supposed to bring good luck and fortune to them and to their business and is also considered a form of donation to the martial art school where these lion dancers come from.

or some prefer to  hang from the ceiling a head of lettuce or some greens with the red envelope inside. the team will have to reach to "pick" the greens. usually the dancer in the body position is required to lift and support the head dancer so they together can reach the head of lettuce. they "eat" the money and spit out the greens, scattering the fresh leaves around to "spread" out the good luck and also to symbolize a "fresh start" for the new year. the dance ends with a scroll and message of good luck that unfolds from the lion's mouth and a burst of firecrackers to scare away the evil beings.

well there you have it. the gist of what lion dance is all about. now, here are some pictures for you to see. enjoy!!

thanks for stopping by and here's to a great 2013!!

ttfn


9.32pm