Back at January 26th this year ,
I went to watch a Lion Dance Competition at Chinatown hosted by the lion dance troupe called '南仙'(Nam Sieng) ! I don't usually watch Lion dance competitions especially when I was younger , I've got complete NO interest for it at all . Not only that , I even avoided watching lion dance because of how loud the drums and music could get .
However ever since I got together
with my current boyfriend Kaiming , we discussed a lot about Lion Dance , watched related videos on that , talked about the stories behind traditional lion dance , interpreting the possible stories behind performances and simple lion dance moves . Slowly , I gained interests for lion dance . I mean , I was so amused and fascinated that every performance lion dancers does has a meaning to it , and every move they make describes their lion . From then on , I started watching more lion dance videos such as the drunk lions , the playful ones and the aggressive ones . Of course , I am definitely not a professional .
On Jan 26th ,
both my brother and my boyfriend was there performing at Chinatown . However they're both from different troupes ( if you've read my past blog posts ) . On that day , my boyfriend didn't perform in the name of his troupe though , he performed in behalf of another . While my brother , of course still represents his own troupe , Nam Sieng .
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| Boyfriend and I ♥ |
I tried so fucking hard to get into
the competition grounds without purchasing the tickets ! I got in eventually after much waiting wtf . I wasn't able to get seats so I had to stay in the area where the rests of the lion dance troupe are resting at . Tickets were sold at $10 that day if I hadn't remember wrongly . I felt so embarrassed that I may have became a form of disturbance that day since I had to stay in their area when I'm not 'their people' or in any way related to lion dance or the competition itself .
Did I mention that I also saw
Alandrea with her sister that day :D ?
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| Yes we were cam-whoring while waiting for the competition to start :D |
Each round of performance by each
group took about 10 minutes or so and I had to wait for quite some time till it's my boyfriend's turn ! Yeap if my boyfriend's there to perform as the lion's tail , then of course my bestie would be there as the lion's head ! So I was so elated that day to have them around my side including my bro ♥
It was soon their turn , but P/S :
I'm not a professional so I didn't get beautiful pictures of them especially when I'm at an angle where I can't really get good shots . But still enjoy HAHA
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| Bestie getting up to the pole to check if the poles are stable and alright for them to do stunts on it . |
Getting ready ....
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| Lion dance isn't complete without the music rhythm produced by the team . |
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| Over here it shows the lion checking out the poles ~ |
After they finished the performance ,
the media came to interview them and I was in shock . Hahaha look at how Kaiming stands and reacts to the media . He looks so afraid ! As if a kid facing his teacher isn't it ?
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| Media interviewing Kaiming and EngChuan . |
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| LOL Alandrea and her sister photo bombing them at the back . |
After which , it was
soon Nam Sieng's turn and I decided to go to another side of the competition ground to snap photos hahaha .
I was so proud of both my brother , Kaiming and bestie that day .
Though neither of them won the competition , they gave their best and put up the best show for everyone ! Lion dancers deserves respect , their hard work should be acknowledged . Do you know they dedicate A LOT of their time into training everyday ? Just for that 10 minutes performance for the audience and most of the time , all they wanted was to hear the audience's claps and praises .
Both my brother and my boyfriend
had bruises and scars permanently because of their training . They put in a lot of effort all the time just to perfect a 10 minutes performance . And most people just give up , whereas they are the ones who stayed with the troupe for years . You know , without much determination , they wouldn't succeed either . It's just like the Chinese saying , "台上一分钟，台下十年功。" Basically it means a perfect performance on stage for a minute is as good as training and working hard behind the scenes for 10 good years to achieve it . A good performance by lion dancers doesn't just succeed without efforts put in . It can't be faked .
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| With Kaiming ♥♥ |
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| Bestie ! :D |
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| ♥ |
I didn't had the chance to take photos with my brother though .
I hope you enjoyed this post and know that there's still a lot of interesting facts behind lion dance !