Chinese traditional Lion Dance performed by Bangladeshi
professional players was introduced to Bangladesh for the first
time recently and warmly welcomed by the locals who have seen
it.
Liu Sanzhen, cultural counsellor of Chinese Embassy in
Bangladesh, is the first person who introduced the performance. Liu
said when interviewed by Xinhua on Sunday he had planned to
introduce the Lion Dance performance after taking office two years
ago.
With the help and cooperation from concerned departments in
China, two lion props were sent to Bangladesh in July 2006. The
first Lion Dance was performed in Dhaka University at the party for
celebration of Chinese Spring Festival last year.
Liu said there was no professional Lion Dance player at the
moment, so he and one coach from Bangladesh Martial Arts
Association performed the Lion Dance which had a strong response
from the audience. The leading English newspaper The Daily
Star reported the function and published several pictures
about the Lion Dance.
Liu said after the performance, he thought it was very necessary
to establish a professional Lion Dance team to express the essence
of the dance.
"I contacted with some departments in China, and finally we
invited coach from China Sports University Duan Xuewei to teach the
Lion Dance in Bangladesh," he said.
Duan came to Bangladesh in October last year. His students are
from Bangladesh Martial Arts Association. He gave several days of
systematic training. After Duan left, the players practiced the
Lion Dance following the VCD program.
Under Liu's proposal, Bangladesh Dragon-Lion Dance Association
was established on December 5, 2007. There are 16 Lion Dance
players now, out of them 4 are drummers and 12 are dancers in three
groups.
After several months of preparation, Bangladesh Lion Dance team
performed for the first time in a function to celebrate the Chinese
Spring Festival hosted by Bangladesh Martial Arts Assocation on
January 17, 2008 in southeastern Chittagong city. The audience gave
a big applause at the wonderful performance by Bangladeshi
professional Lion Dance players.
Since that, the Lion Dance team performed in several functions,
including the picnic party co-hosted by Bangladesh-China People's
Friendship Association and Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh to
celebrate the Spring Festival on Saturday.
Liu said they are looking for more chances to promote Chinese
traditional culture, especially the Lion Dance. He said they are
planning to introduce Dragon Dance after the Lion Dance gets a big
market in Bangladesh.
Lion Dance is Chinese traditional folk culture, it has a history
of 1900 years.
A total of 36 promotion events are planned for 2008.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)
