Steven ChenEarly this morning, a twenty-five member dragon dance troupe from the Yahya Awal dragon dance troupe, Johor Bahru, flew en-route to Hong Kong to compete in the third bi-annual International Luminous Dragon Dance Competition which will be held on January 7th.
The Yahya Awal dragon dance troupe edged out 22 other competing dragon dance troupes to be the champion in the national dragon dance competition which was held last year and is representing Malaysia for the international competition in Hong Kong.
There will be a total of eleven teams competing representing Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, New Zealand, United Kingdom.
Last evening just before the troupe’s final rehearsal, 26-years-old coach, Poh Soon Han told Komunitikini’s citizen journalist that the troupe whose members age between 15-21 have been practicing rigorously for the international championship since April last year.
When asked about the judging criteria, Poh said, the maximum points awarded to a competing troupe is ten points.
Elaborating further, he said, the competition judges will look for the degree of difficulty of the dragon dance maneuvers which carries a maximum of five points, three points for timing and synchronization to drumbeats and dragon maneuvers and finally two points for troupe members’ costumes and the dragon design.
In concluding the interview, Poh said, bearing any unforeseen circumstances, he is confident that the championship is within the troupe’s grasp.
Komunitikini was also told that the famous Muar, Johor, Kun Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Association is also representing Malaysia in the same competition under the lion dance category.
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