KUCHING: Dragon and Lion dance troupes are going to have to take a break and probably lose their income during the upcoming Chinese New Year (CNY) as the traditional shows will not be allowed during the celebration due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Sarawak Elite Dragon and Lion Dance Association here is no exception.
For the association’s chief trainer Kelvin Ng, 40, the CNY celebration had always been a hectic time for him and he admitted that he had never celebrated CNY at home as he would always be busy with the lion dance performances.
This year, however, he and his team were ‘forced’ to rest and celebrate the CNY at home together with their families.
“It will be a complete rest for me. For the past 29 years, I had never been free like this. This is the first time.
“Usually, during the CNY celebration, I would wake up as early as 4am to prepare for our lion dance performance from house to house and other premises around Kuching until 9pm,” he told Bernama here.
Ng also admitted that they will be losing the lucrative income as they could not be performing during this CNY celebration.
“Without the income, our members have to contribute RM50 each to pay the rent for our training premises at Jalan Sungai Maong Tengah (in Kuching) and other expenses,” he said.
Thus, he hoped that the relevant authorities could help them to get the government to allow lion dance training and performances to take place again as soon as possible.
The Sarawak Elite Dragon and Lion Dance Association have more than 200 registered members. – Bernama
