Lion Dance Troupe / Drum Ensemble

Nanyang Lion Dance Troupe is not only a lion dance and drum ensemble, but we also do dragon dance.

The main components of a lion dance performance are the drums, the cymbals, the gong and the lion, and a dragon dance performance uses a few other instruments along with the dragon and the pearl. Unlike most ccas where you specialise in a certain skill, we generally learn everything from the instruments to the lion.

During trainings, we practice and learn new sequences, as well as new moves. We also occasionally learn to throw sweets and oranges, peel oranges and pomelo and learn to form words with orange pieces.

In case you are wondering if we use those high poles you see in other lion dance performances, we don’t. Instead, some of the equipment we use include benches, buckets and sometimes tables.

We usually take part in the annual NTU Institutional lion dance competition and are the busiest during the Chinese New Year period, where we have our annual Chinese New Year performance in school and go out for external performances.

Here’s a fun fact: We get paid for our Chinese New Year performances and you can hire us!