First published at: https://www.sinchew.com.my/news/20241016/nsl/6000486
Kuala Lumpur – 16th October 2024
She joined the lion dance troupe when she was 14 years old. When she first joined the troupe, many in her family questioned her, as a Muslim woman, why would she decide to join something that is of Chinese cultural origin.
For her, it has nothing to do with religion, the team participate in competition and lion dance is generally more of a sport.
Participated in more than thirty Lion Dance Competitions
Her name is Marianne, born in an Indian Muslim family. Under the arrangement of her parents, she has been receiving Chinese education since kindergarten, so she can speak fluent Mandarin. So far, she has participated in about 30 lion dance competitions of all sizes.
The 28-year-old said, when she was interviewed by Sin Chew Daily, that at first, her older brother, who was one year older than her, was introduced to lion dance activities under the guidance of friends.
“My elder brother studied in SJK(C), his friend brought him into the troupe, and that made me recognise lion dance”.
Amazed by the drum when watching her brother training
Marriane recalled, every time her brother went for lion dance training, she would be spectating outside the practice area, and gradually attracted to the sound of the lion dance drums, feeling that the entire lion dance activity was very cool.
“My brother asked me one day, since I’ve been watching him training, why not join directly as the troupe, as there were also girls in the lion dance troupe”.
She said, it was in Form 2, that she officially joined the Kuan Loke Lion Dance Troupe, mainly responsible for the part of 24 festive drums.
Family and Friends – From doubters to believers
Although there was some scepticism from family and friends when she first joined, like why would she want to join a Chinese cultural-based activity, but Marianne held the view that, as long as her parents did not object, she did not mind the sceptical views of her relatives and friends.
She did express that her family and friends had since understood more about the activity and started to acknowledge and support her choice as time goes by.
Husband supports participating in team competitions
Marianne, who is currently working in the field of qualitative analysis, said that during her high school years; after completing schoolwork, she attends a two-hour training with the lion dance troupe at night.
She said that her parents’ idea is that, as long as she can balance her studies, they will not interfere with her lion dance training.
After getting married, she continued her lion dance activities and would participate in competitions with the group making sure that her family and work schedules were compatible.
Until she gave birth to her eldest daughter, the master of the lion dance troupe asked if Marianne could participate in the competition with the troupe.
“I told my master that things are different now. With children, I need to take care of them and worry about not being able to fully devote myself to training and competitions”.
“It was my husband who encouraged me, saying that lion dance activities are my interest, and he can help take care of the children. I really want to thank my husband”. In addition to participating in competitions with the troupe, Marianne also obtained the qualification of team leader in 2019, which gave her another achievement in lion dance activities.
Richard Wee: Lion dance has now been incorporated into a form of national sports
After decades of development in our country, dragon and lion dance are no longer merely a Chinese cultural activity. With the cooperation of sports law lawyers and dragon and lion teams, dragon and lion sports were listed as national sports last year.
The sports law lawyer, Richard Wee stated during the interview with Sin Chew, in Malaysia, if an activity is to be listed as a national sport, it must be included under the Sports Development Act 1997 (“the Act”).
He added, if a sports activity is not codified and incorporated into the Act, then from the legal perspective, the sports activity is not a sporting event in Malaysia, and the said activity would then also be illegible to government tax exemptions for sports events.
After decades, dragon and lion sports have finally been listed as a national sport, which has a significant impact on the development of dragon and lion activities and will gain wider recognition in the sports industry. It will also help elevate the status of dragon and lion activities from traditional cultural practices to respected sports.
Richard added that he only found out that dragon and lion activities was not a national sporting event in 2019.
He said, at the time, there were dragon and lion sports groups and troupes approached him seeking legal advice, and since then, he has also started to pay attention to the development of dragon and lion activities and worked with the dragon and lion sports group to strive for this cultural activity to be listed as a national sport.
Cultural activities that seek to be incorporated face many challenges
For the past years, dragon and lion groups have attempted to persuade the government to list this cultural activity as a national sports event but have also faced many challenges throughout the process.
Richard Wee mentioned, we must let the government understand, that dragon and lion activities is not purely just a dance, it is a sport and requires certain acrobatic skills to be presented.
“People who don’t understand dragon and lion dance will feel as though, the presentation of dragon and lion activity is accompanied with “tong tong chiang”, thinking it is a traditional cultural activity, but in reality, dragon and lion dance requires a lot of technical skills, similar to sporting events”.
He said, with dragon and lion dance now listed as a national sport, the National Sports Institute and the National Sports Council can provide assistance for the development and financial affairs of dragon and lion activities.
He believes that the government can invest in dragon and lion dance, provide training for dragon and lion athletes, and enable them to maintain world-class performance in major competitions.
Investment into sporting hardware and infrastructure would assist in attracting foreign investments
Additionally, Richard mentioned that, if the government were to invest into the sporting hardware and infrastructure, it would then attract dragon and lion dance athletes from other countries to come to Malaysia for training and performances, which in turn will attract foreign investments.
Richard added that, under sports law, the development of lion dance would be more dynamic.
“The participants in dragon and lion dance as well as the training infrastructure, would gradually increase, as it is now eligible to receive annual government allocations for sporting development, and these allocations would come in handy when it comes to covering training cost, purchasing equipment, organising competitions and supporting athletes financially”.
He said that, with the inclusion of dragon and lion dance into a national sport, this only means the sport will continue to develop, improve and grow.
Albert Fong: National Competition attracts other races to get exposure
Seasoned lion dance activist and current Secretary General of Malaysia Lion Dance Federation (MLDF) Albert Fong opined that, the government’s decision to list lion dance as a national sport will aid the development of the cultural activity. Without this recognition, lion dance will forever be constrained to a mere Chinese-based cultural activity.
He added that, since the 90s, there were already signs that other races were interested in the sport.
“However, dragon and lion dance is usually performed in temples at that time, other races would not participate in dragon and lion performances due to religious issues”.
He said that it was not until later that the performance venues expanded to malls and national competitions were held, attracting more fellow Malaysians to come and watch the performances.
Teaching in Malay and English will help push the popularity of lion dance
Albert stated that, to help popularise lion dance among other races, it needs to acknowledge and overcome the linguistic challenge.
He shared that although some members are interested in dragon and lion activities, they hesitate due to language barriers, and many of the regulations for dragon and lion activities are mainly in Chinese.
But he said that compared to the early use of Chinese as the teaching medium, many coaches at dragon and lion dance now can also teach in Malay and English, and this aspect needs to be gradually promoted.
While there is no accurate data, it can be seen that increasingly, other races are joining the training of dragon and lion activities, and even participating in competitions abroad with the team.
He shared that, there was a scenario where a Malay primary school teacher invited him to set up a lion dance team in the school, where he would conduct the sessions in Malay and English, the participants in the bands consisted of roughly 70% Malays.
Albert further added that, Malaysia’s dragon and lion dance have developed to the whole world, and Malaysia can be said to be the centre of dragon and lion sports.
He said, in recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the arrival of foreign lion dance enthusiasts and participate in the dragon and lion competitions held here.
Republished on 12 November 2024