A Breath of Lion Dance in Literature

It was kind of shocking when Dr. Edwin asked us to blog on traditional dance. I was totally clueless on what to write and what to do, since I'm not at all familiar with Malaysian traditional dance and how it would be related to literature in English.

"Procastination is the theif of time"
This old and familiar sayings really proved it's truth when I idled to give a deep thought on this blog. My friends, one by one, had finished their "mission impossible". So I was worried, what am I going to do? And while I'm scratching my head worrying about my own version of MI, suddenly a programme on TV gave me inspiration. =)

LION DANCE. The programme was a recap on the recent international lion dance competition at Genting Highland with critics to give opinions on every teams' dance movements. At that very moment I was in deep awe. Critics after critics, my head just couldn't stop nodding on the facts pointed in that programme.

"This team has failed to dance out the movements of lion, not natural enough, totally overdone"

"This team.. Hmm.. Very good in their posture and overall dance structure."

"No.. The actions are not skilled enough.. Too rough, there's no connection at all!!"

After the show, again I was laughing at my own ignorance. Lion dance is not merely a group of hyper-active boys dancing with a fake lion head and piece of glittery cloth behind their backs during new year and grand opening of a company. It is an art, dated back 5000 years ago. It has history, it is a hard-trained choreography that need a lot of effort and time. It is something not easy to learn, and not to be undermined.

So later I was searching for the connection of lion dance with the literature that I'm learning right now, particularly in plays and dramas. The first similarity that I can see in lion dance and literature is that both of these have structure. For literature, the structure would be the combination of elements in literature to made up a piece of literary work. For instance, plot structure, characters, settings and most importantly, the language. As for lion dance, it is a harmony of the choreography, skilled actions,music and the list goes on.

Secondly, in terms of dramas and plays, both of them needs a lot of hard works and practices before they can perform to the public. Props, costumes, stage direction/dancing choreography, al these needs to be wewll-prepared before it is carried out as an entertainment to its audience. However, lion dance is different from dramatic iterature because lion dance is mostly on entertainment purposes while literature like plays and dramas not only can serve as a form of entertainment but at the same time, able to prvoke audience's thoughts.

Last but not least,both of the subject discussed is no doubt contains beautiful aesthetic values. Both of them is a part of human history and a form of story-telling that gives out messages. Lion dance is a part of chinese tradition where it tells us about mythical animal thousands years ago, while literature reveals human cultures and values. Although literature, apparently is much more universal and "mind-provoking", lion dance must not be under-estimate as solely a kind oof entertainment. It is a form of art and human culture, and therefore must be treasured by all of us. ^_^