Everything that Went Down During the 13th Genting World Lion Dance Championship

Lion dance is a sport unlike many others which we see today. Coming from traditional Chinese culture, this particular art-turned-sport has got thousands of years to back it up.

The Genting World Lion Dance Championship saw its 13th instalment in 2018 located right inside the Arena of Stars. With 36 lion dance troupes from all over the world, the event was truly magnificent in all its glory.

There were many moments which had the audience wowed while some moments left fans worried. All sorts of sport brings about a certain level of risk but lion dance is on a whole different level.

Imagine jumping from one pole to another, they’re all taller than you and much further apart than the average step.

Needless to say, there were many injuries involved over the weekend.

The three-day event started on Friday, July 20th, 2018 with the preliminary rounds.

Here’s a summary of Day 1:

Obviously, falling down will end up hurting anyone but it was a shocking moment when one of the Lian Feng Dragon & Lion Dance Troupe’s performers passed out after hitting his head against the pole.

Everyone held their breath as the poor guy was deemed unfit to continue and was carried out by a stretcher for emergency aid.

Then, Day 1 ended with yet another frightful fall from Vietnam Tian Eng Dragon & Lion Dance Center’s performers. Because of a twisted hand, they couldn’t continue either.

But if you thought the first day was bad, Day 2 involved even more missteps.

Here’s the summary of Day 2:

Day 2 was truly exciting as there were many amazing teams battling it out at a higher level of danger. However, that only meant more chances of mistakes, falls and injuries.

An honourable mention would have to go to the Che Yee Khor Moral Uplifting Society Lahad Datu team where one of the performers was injured in the left wrist prior to their turn. But he went on with the dance anyways.

#Sportsmanship

And it just so happened that there were exactly 10 teams with scores of 9 and above making it easy to choose the top 10 teams to go against the defending champions, Kung Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Association Muar.

Here’s the summary of the Day 3, finals:

Each team brought out their A-game but just like before, it was difficult to do such high-risk moves without making any mistake at all.

It was painful to watch marks be deducted from FOBI Kong Ha Hong and Pertubuhan Kebudayaan Kesenian Dan Kesukanan Tawau for their minor mistakes but it couldn’t be helped either.

It was also a landslide victory for the defending champions, Kung Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Association Muar, as they did something in-line with FIFA World Cup.

They themed their performance around football. The musicians donned black and white jerseys, they did war cries like how footballers would and even brought in a massive football prop for their performance!

If you want to watch professional lion dancers battling it out, you gotta wait til next year for the national championship happening in Genting as well.