A large crowd of people, both old and young, were surrounding a
vacant plot on a historically famous street named Sint Oh Dan in
the Chinatown of Myanmar's Yangon Friday, blocking traffic flow
with sound of drum-beating emitting from the center of the
plot.
It was a scene that a series of lion dance competitions,
involving six amateur lion dancing groups of local Myanmar-Chinese,
were taking place and the contests have run for three consecutive
nights since Wednesday, the 4th day of the Chinese new year.
The southern-style lion dance competitions were part of the rare
activities of the Myanmar-Chinese in celebration of the traditional
Chinese new year, or Spring Festival, and?joined by dancing
groups of younger generations.
The competitions had to start only on the 4th day of the new
year as the participating groups were busy with their new year
house-to-house calls at residences of some dignitaries of the
Myanmar-Chinese community and some social associations for new year
blessing according to the traditional practice of spending the new
year days, competition organizer Zhou Baofu, a Guangdong native, told Xinhua.
An hour before the competitions formally started every evening
after sunset, separate dragon dance performances were first staged
by other amateur dragon dancing groups, winning a wave of
applause.
It was secondly followed by lion dance demonstration by older
generations. Their style and artistic technique were witnessed by
the crowd of audiences.
The organizer continued to tell Xinhua that it was the
second-year competitions of its kind. He anticipates that such lion
dance activities could be inherited generation by generation,
noting that by sponsoring such activities, it can give rise to
outstanding lion dancing teams to take part in international events
to win pride for both Myanmar and Myanmar-Chinese.
The three-day competitions include ground dancing and on-table
dancing, and the event is to a close on Saturday night with a
prize-presentation ceremony to be attached, which involves 10
prizes, six for lion dance contest and four for long dragon
demonstrations.
The six competing lion dancing groups are "Dragon Tiger", "Blue
Blood", "Dragon Head", "Red Lion", "Sky Dragon" and "The Lastdon"
while the four other long dragon groups are just for
demonstration.
After the scheduled prize-presentation ceremony, the two lion
dancing groups which win the first and second prize will repeat
their wonderful performances to the satisfaction of the audiences,
the organizer added.
Commenting on the activities, another local Myanmar-Chinese
resident of middle age also spoke to Xinhua with excitement and
delight, emphasizing that the activities are significant which not
only add to the atmosphere of the festival but also carry through
the Chinese culture and traditions.
(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2007)
