Dances with Lions

The International Lion Dance festival was held at Jakarta, and by some chance, I happened to be in the right place at the right time!

Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese and Indonesian cultures, in which performers mimic a lion’s movements in a lion costume. It has evolved from the martial arts of Wushu into a more artistic skill which takes into account the lion’s expression and the natural movements.

Most often lion dances are staged as a cultural performance or a stunt during competitions. It has evolved and developed into this modern form on stilts, where teams compete based on the best skilled and most lively “lion”, coupled with the most creative stunts, choreographed moves and acrobatic difficulty

There were 18 teams and I witnessed the agility and creativity of two of them, one being the home country, Indonesia.

Here is a sequence of their performance…

1. The duo that is going to perform test the stilts

2. The team says a prayer before stepping into the Lion costume

3. Getting into the costume

4. The audience wait with bated breaths…

and just to make it clear…

 

5. The Lion is ready for the leap

6. The musicians captivate the spectators and judges with heart-throbbing rhythmic and pulsating live instruments

7. And the lion dances…

… so, how was it?

9. A final salute to the audience

10. The judges doing their thing…

11. And the winner is………..

12. [The ‘I was there’ picture] 😉

Sightseeing in Singapore

The school was sending me for some official work to Singapore. The plan was to get there by 9:00 am, finish the paper work and then I had the whole day till my flight at 6:00 in the evening. Unfortunately, I was on a shoestring budget hence could not venture far! But the sights of Singapore in a 3 km radius were enough to remain etched in my mind forever.

Let me take you for the tour of the 6 hours I was in Singapore!

Here is the first sight straight from the taxi…

And this one is a kind of message to one of my students…. (Stephen, I hope you are proud)

Singapore, a city run by prefects quipped a comedian once… I vouch that he could not have said it better!

The red dot building – museum to all things traffic!

After the ‘official work’ was over, I was on my own, and found my way to Chinatown! Was hesitant to shoot in the streets at first, but when I saw so many people trigger happy, I was at my camera best!

Chinatown

The multidude of fridge magnets to choose from (I brought quite a few  too …)

Found a shop in Chinatown entirely dedicated to Tintin memorablia! 

This one is for Dad… that is supposed to be the world’s largest coin…

India is everywhere…

And now for those bizarre signs in a bustling city

Spent my evening at this plaza dedicated to the national flower of Singapore… the Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’

and captured some things familiar…

Here is the Vanda ‘Miss Joaquim’ against a backdrop of the magnificent Carlton

I could spend a day photographing the artwork along the streets.

Beginning with this bronze structure of the Vanda

This very abstract piece which describes itself as ‘Reaching’ symbolising the infinite possiblities of growth, the shores are limitless…

Or this one which had no description in sight…

And this is something I could not help shooting… Singapore is a car/bike lover’s paradise!

Spent some time in the quiet shade of a botanical garden…

and there it was time to count the cents remaining…. a reminder that I had to head home 😉

Singapore airport…

Well, I wished this would be my ride

… but instead had to be content with this one!