The dragon dance is performed by a skilled team whose job is to bring the motionless body to life. The dragon itself is a long serpent shaped body on poles, assembled by joining the series of hoops on each section and attaching the ornamental head and tail pieces at the ends.
Dragons can range in length from around 25 to 35 meters for the more acrobatic models. Parade and ceremonial styles range up to 50 to 70 meters, since part of the myth of the dragon is that the longer the creature, the more luck it will bring.
The correct combination and proper timing of the different parts of the dragon are very important to make a successful dance. Any mistakes made by even some of the performers would spoil the whole performance. To be very successful in the dance, the head of the Dragon must be able to co-operate with the body in combination with the timing of the drum. For larger ceremonial and parade style dragons, the head can weigh as much as almost 32 lbs. The dragon tail also has an important role to play as it will have to keep in time with head movements. The fifth section is considered to be the middle portion and the performers must be very alert as the body movements change from time to time.
The dragon moves in a wave-like pattern achieved by the coordinated swinging of each section in succession. Whilst this swinging constitutes the basic movement of the dragon, executing more complex formations is only limited by a team’s creativity. The patterns and tricks that are performed generally involve running into spiraled formations to make the dragon body turn and twist on itself. This causes performers to jump over or through the dragon’s body sections, adding to the visual display. Other advanced maneuvers include various corkscrew-like rotating tricks and more acrobatic moves where the performers stand on each other’s legs and shoulders to increase the height of the dragon’s movements.
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