Sometimes browsing sistic could bring surprising & unexpected results. Here is one of them. I found myself drawn to & hence purchasing tickets for the RWS International Lion Dance Competition. The blurb says the event will showcase internationally renowned lion dance troupes. Hey why not right ?
Every year without fail when we were kids, my father, being the businessman that he was, would invite a lion dance troupe to our house to perform & to do the Cai Qing (translated to mean plucking the green). A Chinese belief that it will help the business do well. I love to watch Lion Dance & nowadays apart from Chinese New Year & the occasional shop opening, it's hard to see them in action.
There were 2 days of competition. Semi finals on one day & finals on the other. I figured I'll get tickets for the finals & see the best in action. From 15 groups (not exactly international, they came from China, Macau, Taiwan & even one from Australia), it was down to final 8.
Being the novice that we were, we didn't exactly choose the right seats - it was free seating. We were looking at the performance from this angle as you can see from the above picture. The problem is that you actually don't see how wide the poles go nor how far apart they are. It was only when we view from the big screen that we could see the difference & appreciate the difficulties in doing stunts on them.
This was one of the Singapore lions that unfortunately fell midway through the performance. But they gamely picked themselves up & continued but needless to say had points deducted for the misstep.
By the time we left, this Taiwanese lion was leading the pack. Yup we left at break time cos the noise was getting too much for the Girl & since we weren't supporting any particular group (apart from Singapore), after watching 4 groups perform, that was enough.
It was an interesting experience - quite unlike our usual shows at the Esplanade. 
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