NOT quite your average lion dancer, 15-year-old Nuraini Adeya Yahya has trained and performed with the NamYang Lion Dance Centre in Singapore for the last two years.
According to reports in Mothership.SG, Nuraini has been fond of performing the art from a young age and has been intrigued by it.
She first considered joining a lion dance troupe at the age of six after seeing a performance at her tuition centre.
“I did not dare to ask a lion dance troupe if I could join, nor did I know how to go about asking as well," she said.
However, in 2021, while scrolling on Instagram, she came across a recruitment post from a local Singaporean troupe, NamYang Lion Dance Centre.
Nuraini decided to take the plunge and stepped into the world of lion dance.
Today, she is the only Malay and female troupe member in NamYang, as well as one of a select few who play the role of the lion head.
NamYang’s troupe leader, 49-year-old Peter Goh, said race and gender don’t matter in lion dance, and he didn’t have any second thoughts about accepting Nuraini, reported Mothership.SG.
However, since lion dance was mainly dominated by Chinese men, there was some initial objection from her friends and family.
Some of her Muslim friends called her a “betrayer”. They argued that involving herself in the art form was the equivalent of praying to the Chinese gods.
Eventually, Nuraini found her footing and both her family and friends saw how she thrived in lion dance, and their disapproval shifted to support.
Today, her father wholly approves of her passion and after observing her relationship with the craft over the two years, he now recognises that her troupe environment is “safer than he imagined”.
“I want to continue to prove to everyone that race and gender don't make a difference. If you set your mind to do it, just go for it.
“And if guys can do it, girls can do it, too. If not better," added Nuraini. - The Vibes, February 10, 2024
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