Sunday, September 27, 2009

Dancing On Stilts - Penang International Lion Dance Competition '09

I caught this moment when the lion
seems to be saying 'hi' to the spectators.
A performer plotting his team's
strategy on top of the stilts.
The Taiwanese team members providing
the beat and rhythm to the lion dancers.

I had a chance to witness and document The International Lion Dance on Stilts Competition yesterday (26 Sep '09), organized by the Penang State government. Held at Komtar's Geodesic Dome, this event attracted teams from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. Our very own Malaysian teams comprised of three teams, including the world-famous Kun Seng Lion and Dragon Dance Association from Muar, Johor.

Well, these are some of the images; it was quite difficult to capture the shots being in a low-lit condition and of course, without the aid of flash. Looking back, the stilts were about 10 feet high in the air and it was quite a sight seeing the performers leaping from one to the other, all in one quick and precise cohesion between the two young performers manning the lion's head and back.
Some of the teams were poles apart (pun intended) in terms of grace and skills; one team fell three times from the stilts but the crowd were such a good sport and kept cheering them on each time they rose and continued their performance. At one point, the judge had to intervene and stop, sensing the performers were in trouble. True enough, one of the performers had a shoulder injury caused by the fall.
It's a tough sport and it makes me appreciate this art even more.

4 comments:

CK Lam said...

I miss out this event as I was in KL. Very nice shots, especially the 1st one.

shutterspeed said...

Thank you, CK :)

Kun Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Association said...

hi, hopefully you have shooting on our troupe, the Malaysia Kun Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Association and appreciate if you can share that with us as our collection.

Cheers,
Beh
www.kunsengkeng.org

shutterspeed said...

Hi Beh,
Yes, I do have some images on your troupe.
Could you just let me know what your e-mail address is or how we can further communicate?

Thanks!