For the last few weeks, things have been hotting up in preparation for Lunar New Year. Twinkling lights have appeared down our access road. New Year-related placards and promotions are everywhere -- as are tigers, in all shapes and sizes. Our local supermarket has taken over most of the carpark to provide enough space for all the New Year gifts that must be bought. And it's also been showing videos of lion dances, with aisle-blocking results.

I'd never seen a lion dance before I came here. It's quite amazing stuff. Two dancers form the lion, taking on various positions according to the various movements the animal makes. Their dance takes place on small circular surfaces atop poles. These are of various heights, but they're all several feet above the ground. So, the degree of accuracy and athleticism required is extraordinary. But add to that the dancers' amazing ability to give the lion a character. You see him hesitating and looking a bit daunted at the challenge ahead of him. You see his haunches doing a little wiggle as he prepares to leap to the next pole (the selfsame action that our cat Sarah used to perform with great aplomb but in circumstances of much less risk). His face and body take on an incredible expressiveness.

Well, it was fun to watch on video, but I was rapt to stumble across a real live lion dance the other day in the atrium of the Centre Point Mall on Orchard Road. The best positions in the front row were already occupied, but a friendly local made room for me to get a good view. This lion demonstrated all the daring qualities of his colleague in the video. Standing above the arena, I was able to appreciate the distances involved in all the jumps, and the extraordinary feats that are required to move so fluidly between the poles. You can't help your heart ending up in your mouth as you watch the antics. And the expressiveness was again really endearing. This lion was equipped with the ability to make a kind of "huff" noise, at which his ears flew open as if venting his disgruntlement. Again, the dancers were able to pantomime the lion looking around for ways to go, hesitating, and making up his mind. Just gorgeous.

So let's hear it for Singapore's lion dancers -- this is sport and art in one amazing combination.