Chinese New Year Lion Dances in KK

Chinese New Year in Kota Kinabalu! It seemed to be even noisier this year - wonderful fireworks and lots of trucks driving around town full of lion and dragon troupes.
Before the start of New Year itself - which is a two week event! - there is a Lion, Unicorn and Dragon festival in KK. It's a wonderful opportunity to see the skill of these young men as they prance and jump and rear up and seem to nearly fall off the poles they leap over. It's quite an amazing display of talent and strength. You can see the poles in some of the pictures in the collage above. They're quite high and are tested carefully by the lion dancers before they begin to make sure they are stable. Some groups even have members sitting around the bottom of the poles to keep the whole structure steady.

The heads of the lions are beautiful to see and the dancer inside can give a lot of character to his lion by the way he moves the ears and eyelids, as well as the tilt of the head and the position of the leg.

Amazing how the lions can be both cute and powerful - the dances are so gymnastic!

Truckloads of lions and sometimes dragons drive around KK during the two weeks of Chinese New Year, visiting temples, homes and business places. They bless the altars, produce scrolls from their mouths that contain best wishes for the year to come, and amaze and delight with their antics on the poles! You can really hear people ooh! and aah! as they watch the amazing techniques that the skilled pair of lion dancers has.

When a new lion's head has been made and is ready to be worn in a dance, someone with status is invited to draw in the centre of each eye - giving life to the head. Quite an inspiring idea. Perhaps one that would make you think twice if you were invited to do this!

These pictures were taken by Helen Morgan and Yap Cheen Boon at the Lion, Unicorn and Dragon Dance Exhibition in KK earlier in February. There are also a couple that I took at other places.

If you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at: ron@astsabah.com or jude@astsabah.com