LION DANCE

The last assignment in Malaysian Media and Culture course is a group assignment which requires choosing a Malaysian Traditional  Art Form.

We've formed a group with 6 fabulous members and the art form we had chosen was Lion Dance. We need to do a lot of researches and present it in the class.

It seem's like an easy task for university student but actually... NO!
Besides searching the history of Lion Dance, transformation, perception... The most important part was we need to persuade our lecturer, Dr. Carmen, why is Lion Dance belongs to a local traditional art form?

As Chinese, we knew that Lion Dance actually developed in China and it has a very long history. Why do we think that Lion Dance was a Malaysian Traditional Art Form?

In our opinion, Lion Dance has a long time frame established in Malaysia since British Colonial Era. The lion dance actually was brought by the Chinese from China who had been imported to Malaya to become the laborer. Lion Dance had been through many obstacles to survive in Malaysia. Thanks to our second Prime Minister, Tun Razak and the leaders of Lion Dance community who paid a lot of efforts to keep Lion Dance alive until nowadays society. Malaysian even won a title 'Country of Lion King' because of the excellent performances in many competitions. So, why we can't recognize Lion Dance as our Local Traditional Art Form?

My groupmates and I have paid a lot of efforts to complete this assignment.
*A BIG HUG for them*

First, thanks to our group leader, Rene for spending a lot of time to do the corrections for our academic report until needs to burn mid-night oil.

Brandon actually went to Rawang to interview Mr. Yip Mung Meng, the Head of Rawang MCA Youth Lion Dance Association. *thanks to Mr. Yip*

Vincent, Emily and Johnny borrowed the Lion Dance costume and try to clean and fix it.

 We actually borrowed the drum.

Thanks to Yi Ren, Chairman of WUSHU Club for lending the lion costume for us.

We decided to present one of a legend of Lion Dance in our presentation.

The Story: Once upon a time, there was a monster named 'NIAN' went to a village to eat the villagers during Chinese New Year. Suddenly, a lion appeared and scared Nian. The villagers realized that Nian actually scared of the lion and the sound of the drums. Hence, the viallagers will performed the Lion Dance in every Chinese New Year.

Rene: Narrator

Vincent and Johnny: Lion Dancers

Emily: NIAN monster

Brandon: Drummer

Me: Villager

Here is a video which will shows some part of our performance, hope you guys able to enjoy it.