Southampton's dragon dancers celebrate Chinese New Year

Dragon dancers in Hampshire have celebrated the start of the Chinese New Year - with 2024 representing the year of the dragon.

Michael Ng, from the Chinese Association of Southampton, said the dragon dance was more important when marking the start of a dragon year.

"We have more dragons for the dragon year," he said, adding: "It's a joyous celebration."

And it is not just for those with Chinese heritage.

"The Chinese culture is influenced by every culture in the past," he said.

"So, celebrating Chinese new year in this country - and every country - the dragon dance is open for everybody.

"Here, we have an invitation for all the residents in Southampton. Our five dragons are being held not only by Chinese people but everyone - we always welcome people to come and experience the Chinese culture."

The dance on Saturday, performed in Southampton's Guildhall and West Quay, involved 10 people and "a lot of tricks", Mr Ng told the BBC.

"It requires teamwork, you have to follow the person in the front and the person at the back must move more slowly, you learn to dance as a team not individually."

Tricks include performing a wave, moving in a circle, bowing and a figure eight.

"It's a bit like Christmas," said Mr Ng, continuing: "All the family come back together the day before and have a big meal, ready for the next day."

Sarah Puddicombe joined her first dragon dance in 2023.

"Last year was my first chance at having a real go," she said.

"It was amazing - the crowd, the atmosphere - it was great but it's physically demanding."

But she said she wasn't nervous, explaining: "We were joined by firefighters from Southampton, local residents, young kids, we all mucked in."

The difficulties of the dance are "keeping pace with the person in front of you and physical strength in your arms - it [the pole] gets quite heavy after a while", said Ms Puddicombe.

BBC South's Sophia Seth took part in Saturday's performance and said it was a "great experience", adding: "It was pretty tough to learn with the tricks you need to do, the team make it look easy."

Jess, 16, has been taking part in the Southampton dragon dance for nearly four years and said she likes how the group "work as a team and move the dragon in unison".

"But it's tough," she agreed. "The dragon is very heavy and when we have to move from one side to the other, you have to switch your arms really quickly - it can get quite tiring - and you have to make sure you're quick so you don't drop your pole or whack someone with it."

Jess said thankfully that was not something she had done.

"It's really interesting to learn about other people's cultures and meet new, kind and interesting people, it's just been a really nice experience," she added.

Xiao Mei is one of the newer members, joining the Chinese Association of Southampton's dragon dance last year.

She said: "The professionals make it look very easy", adding: "The practice and effort we put in makes it look effortless but it's really quite challenging.

"Holding a pole up looks quite easy but when you've been doing it for four or five minutes, it starts to get quite heavy but, as long as everyone is in sync, it flows really nicely."

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