The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsUnderwater lion dance at Malaysian aquarium ahead of Lunar New Year
With fish and turtles swimming around them, divers performed an underwater lion dance in a Malaysian aquarium, in a fresh take on the traditional Lunar New Year performance.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Divers wearing a traditional lion costume (L) and a god of fortune costume (C) look on as a turtle (R) swims past at the Aquaria KLCC oceanarium in Kuala Lumpur on January 21, 2022, ahead of the Lunar New Year. (AFP/Arif Kartono)
W
ith fish and turtles swimming around them, divers performed an underwater lion dance in a Malaysian aquarium on Friday, in a fresh take on the traditional Lunar New Year performance.
Two people wearing a multi-coloured lion suit performed in one of the tanks at Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur, as musicians played cymbals and drums outside.
Turtles and colourful fish glided past the lion as it lumbered around in front of a rock formation.
"The underwater lion dance is something unique... here in the aquarium," Aquaria executive director Daryl Foong told reporters.
To undertake the tricky task, the divers get special training and use suits that are light enough for them to perform while underwater, he added.
Aquaria has put on the underwater dance several times in recent years.
Lion dances are traditionally performed in China and among ethnic Chinese communities all over the world to mark the Lunar New Year, which falls at the start of February this year.
In the traditional art form, two or more performers put on a colourful head and cloak, and try to mimic a lion's movements, accompanied by music.
Some believe that the dance can help ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
About a quarter of Muslim-majority Malaysia's 32 million inhabitants are ethnic Chinese.
More from The Weekender
Is AI really making us better workers?
AI can make our work faster and more polished. But by eliminating the struggle, mistakes and imperfections, it may also be eliminating some of the ways we learn and become better workers.
Travels in the land of Gen Z
To become a professor to Gen Z today is to take a disorienting journey to an exotic land. First of two parts.
More trains, more stations, but Greater Jakarta still isn’t connected
Jakarta now has more trains and stations. But getting to them from Depok, Bogor, Tangerang or Bekasi still means an ojek or a car ride.
