jhameia: ME! (Sparklez for Efferyvun!)
jhameia ([personal profile] jhameia) wrote2010-02-09 11:16 pm

Lion Dance!

I has lion dance pictures.

Occasion was, my family is buying a new house in Setia Eco Park, which is a new housing estate. Mostly big houses, bungalows we call them. So, new residents were invited to this dinner. We went because of free food. There was also a lion dance.

Lion dances are fairly popular around the Lunar New Year. Folks get troupes to perform in their homes as a way to usher in good luck. The more noise, the better. These are the normal noisemakers for a show:

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One big drum, and at least two cymbal players, and a gong ringer.

What happens during a lion dance is this: the lion dancers prance around any given space, generally acting like playful cats, if cats could muster the cheerful energy of dogs. (The lions I'm about to show you are ones based on lions, whereas there are others which are based more on the form of dogs. The latter ones aren't very popular here, and I never saw one until I watched an international lion dance competition.)

So, in the clubhouse/showroom where there're little models of the houses that are being built, these lions pranced around and looked cute:

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Lion: OHAI, WHAT THIS?

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Lions: We're the Bananas in Pajamas!

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(We had four yellow lions, and two red ones.)

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MOAR Bananas in Pajamas!

Sometime around now, I finally figured out what the best setting for the pictures would be:
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Just in time, because a couple of the yellow lions started doing really ADORABLE antics:
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Lion: Play play!

"Shake hand!"
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(PS, this is the most gosh darn adorable lion dance pic I have ever taken - not that I've taken many before - and I may make this an icon.)

"Sit!"
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"Whaaat? mm choi ngor, izzit?!"
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This went on for like, several several minutes. It finished with them going out and facing an archway in which firecrackers went off on. But I didn't get pics of those. So, I got a pic of the dancers and the costumes:

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We had another lion dance later in the evening, will post tomorrow if I have the time.

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