The Straits Times | Anatomy of a lion dance
How is a lion dance move performed? And what does it take to do those high pole stunts that get audiences cheering?
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 This is Chueh Boon and Jerell.
00:14 And they're the Lion Dance duo who
00:16 won the Genshin World Lion Dance Championship last year,
00:19 breaking a 13-year reign by Malaysian teams.
00:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:27 But what exactly does it take to do those winning stunts while
00:30 clad in a lion costume?
00:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:34 In Lion Dance, we have what we call the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:41 which means the partners have to balance the lion head
00:45 on the lion tail's leg.
00:46 Then we have the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:48 which means the lion head have to sit on the lion tail's head.
00:52 These are the basic moves.
00:54 We can enhance it by doing maybe 180 or 360 degrees turn.
01:01 And all of this, they have to do while balancing on high poles
01:04 with a landing plate of only 30 centimeters across
01:08 and up to 2.5 meters off the ground.
01:13 Three hardest move.
01:13 One of it is doing a somersault, going down from the pole.
01:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:20 The lion tail will jump over the lion head.
01:24 And then continue to bring the lion head down to the floor
01:27 back to back.
01:29 The hard part for somersault is that we
01:31 have to make sure the lion tail lands
01:32 on the floor on the ground first before the lion head continues
01:36 the move.
01:36 Both of us doing is one thing, but carrying the lion itself
01:40 is like an object blocking.
01:42 So we have to jump over the lion.
01:46 Another hard move is what we call a spider.
01:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:53 Hanging my partner, which is the lion head, on the poles.
01:57 Normally for the hanging movement,
01:59 the lion tail tends to hurt the back easily.
02:03 Because the lion head itself is at least 40 to 50 kg.
02:06 So it's like carrying weight and then hanging on the pole.
02:09 It's difficult because if I don't have good balance,
02:12 I will fall in front.
02:14 Some difficulties that are more challenging
02:17 are the backwards movements.
02:22 For instance, we have to do a 1.4 meter backward movement
02:26 followed by sitting on the head.
02:28 The hard part for the backwards movement
02:30 is that we have to coordinate well on the timing
02:33 and then must have very good balance
02:35 because we can't see the poles.
02:38 The lion tail have to be very familiar with the footstep.
02:42 If not, once he misses, both of them will drop to the ground
02:46 to overcome the fear.
02:49 The longest time we took was maybe about around one week.
02:54 We have to do a consecutive movement
02:57 from flying across 1.8 meters and then
03:00 link to the somersault.
03:02 During training, there was a time
03:04 when I jumped over the partner, but he missed the step.
03:07 So both of us fell onto the ground.
03:09 Then I fractured my wrist.
03:11 As much as we want to avoid all these injuries,
03:14 but sometimes maybe because after work, we are both tired.
03:17 But the training still has to go on.
03:19 If we are not in good spirits,
03:21 then we might cause some mistakes.
03:24 But of course, we will try our best to protect each other.
03:28 If there's no trust, there's no us.
03:31 Ah...
03:33 I'm not touched.
03:36 Falls and breaking bones aside,
03:37 these guys have to make everything look effortless
03:40 and also tell a story.
03:44 When I'm in the lion's den,
03:46 I will act like a lion.
03:50 I want to make the audience happy
03:52 and watch our performance.
03:55 I want to blink my eyes and shake my butt
03:58 to make them happy.
04:01 There's a rope around his eyes and ears.
04:04 It's this line.
04:06 I pull it.
04:08 And his mouth is like this.
04:11 Sometimes, I will think of another movement.
04:16 Then I will look at my lion's head.
04:18 I don't want him to look at the outside.
04:22 I have to keep training, keep training, keep training.
04:24 I need muscle memory.
04:27 We are so committed to lion dance.
04:31 We seldom have time to meet our friends outside.
04:35 So I think we can classify these lion dancers as a family.
04:40 Second family.
04:41 I see them more than I see my mom.
04:43 (MUSIC)
04:48 (MUSIC)
04:53 (MUSIC)
04:58 (upbeat music)
05:01 [Music]