Report by George Chan - NZ
36 teams came from all around Malaysia to compete for the change to
represent Malaysia
in Genting 2002. Of these teams, 8 were from
Johore(incl. 3 teams from KSK), 7 from Selangor(incl. 3 teams from
Kuan
Loke), 6 from Sabah, 4 teams from Negeri Sembilan, 3 each from Kuala Lumpur
& Penang, 2 from Perak, and one
each from Pahang & Kelantan(apologies to
those who are not familiar with Malaysian state). The competition lasted
for 4 days and is the longest competition ever. The competition as a whole
went smoothly.
Many new teams entered
the competition for the first time and their
inexperience to the rules showed, eg, 2 teams had watchers holding
onto the
poles during competition. But all of them are well prepared and has trained
long & hard. Most teams seemed
to be testing the water, and I think the next
nationals will be more hotly contested. Not many teams fell, and only 2
could not continue after falls.
The big news was of course KSK team C not competing, though the dancers were
in
team A music team. The other surprise was KSK team A changed from Fut
Shan to Hok Shan head, (when they were considered
one of the best Fut Shan
dancers around) Their routine was very similar to team C. Though the stunts
were less
difficult but it was very surprising that team A could even
manage this, as the head dancer is 29 yrs old. The lion
they used was also
different: it was laser gold on black(ie. Black head with gold stripes, and
the bottom cloth of
the tail is black with gold scales, and is sponsored
by Carlsberg beer, definitely the most striking of the whole competition.
Khuan
Loke fielded 3 teams, and had the bad luck of being the first team to
perform at the pre-lims and finals. Their young
team showed very good
promise and it was a great pity that they did not made it into the finals.
Khuan Loke main team
(B), is Albert & Dicky. Their routine was similar to
their Genting 2000 World Champ performance except improving and
adding to
their difficulties/stunts.
Another surprise is the emergence of Kwok Ngai, a team form from the old
Meng
Kwok lion dance team.
The teams in the finals were: the 3 KSK team, Khuan Loke B, Kwok Ngai, 2 Nam
Wahs, Maha Bodhi,
Yik Nam & Cing Mo Sabah. Most team went all out, and they
were more falls.
Khuan Loke again was the first team
to compete in the finals. Albert & Dicky
gave a great show, but they did not risk more difficult stunts. Still, it
was a great flawless performance. (9.18)
KSK team A was flawless, and though losing some advantage(the form) for
using a unfamiliar lion(Hok San) they more than made up that by the improved
stunts. (9.20).
KSK team B was
a junior team, and though their form was still raw, was very
willing (brave) to use very difficult stunts. But all this
risk caused a
major fall. KSK team D was also a junior team, and their form was better
than team B. Their stunts was
much better than their pre-lim performance,
and was mounting a real challenge to KSK A & Khuan Loke until they
fell. If
they did not fall they had a very good chance of being the champion.
Kwok Ngai team is a new team but
with very experience dancers. Their
performance was polished and had a new stunt which involved the lion running
very
fast on the last few poles to get the green. It was well practiced,
fast & simple, and was enough to impress
the judges to give them the edge to
get them the 3rd place. (9.08)
Nam Wah C & B used their typical set up,
which has the lion leaping a 7 foot
gap between the poles. Their performance was also well polished, but
unfortunately lack anything new to really impress the judges. Nam Wah C
had the same point as Kok Ngai, and Genting was gracious
enough to give them both
3rd place, and cancelling the 4th place. (9.08)
Yik Nam, a team from Sabah, did some good stunts with a strong tail
dancer
and a light head dancer. They got 5th. Maha Bodhi (my team) from Sabah,
began badly, and then had a mishap
on a part of the poles. They were going
to fall, and the head threw the lion head awaiting to fall, but then the tail
managed to pull him back, and they did'nt fall. Still the lion head left the
dancers for a moment, and they were penalised for it. It was the first time
for all the judges to see such a thing! Ching Mo Sabah also had a good
performance but had a small mishap too.
In conclusion, even without KSK C participating,
the standard of this
competition was definitely higher than the last one. Due to the number of
new & young teams
entering this year, the coming Malaysian Nationals in
2003 may see even higher standard.
There however will
not be a commercial VCD as only Genting videoed it for
their record. There are a few people who videoed it for themselves
