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Lee dives in to save temple dance tradition
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LEE Hsien-ning, a diver from Penghu County in Taiwan, has become a star ... but with his feet firmly on dry land.
At the opening ceremony of the Penghu Autumn Festival in Magong City, Lee, 42, carried a large temple umbrella and danced like he was playing with a flag.
His performance, during the festival’s opening event, proved popular with locals and visitors alike. The bright, colorful temple umbrella, which is often decorated with images of phoenixes and dragons, is a regular feature of temple fairs.
Temple statues must be shaded by a temple umbrella whenever they are moved and, over time, the ritual developed into a type of dance.
When people from southern mainland provinces first settled in Penghu hundreds of years ago, they brought with them their religion and established dozens of temples. The residents of Penghu developed their own dance ritual that incorporated martial arts in the performance.
Because their work is connected with gods or goddesses, temple umbrella dancers are highly respected and it’s not difficult to recruit new members.
However, in recent years, as people moved outside the county to work in big cities like Taipei, it has become apparent that there is a shortage of dancers, casting a shadow over the future of the tradition.
To preserve the art, the local government initiated an educational program encouraging residents to take up the craft, and secured funding of NT$3 million (US$96,000) from the Taiwan authorities in 2012 and 2013.
Lee was one of the first to benefit from the program.
He learned the art of temple umbrella dancing from local elders and then took up the baton and became an instructor to pass on the art to the younger generations.
“I have more than 100 students,” Lee said. “I want to share the pleasure I find in this tradition.”
Lee’s interest indicates that there is a new generation of dancers willing to keep the art alive, according to Yen Mei-li, head of the Performance Art Division of the county’s Cultural Affairs Bureau.
Performing with Lee at the opening ceremony were several elementary students, including his 12-year-old daughter.
In addition, the county has also boosted cultural exchanges with dancers from other parts of China.
In 2011, a team of temple umbrella dancers from Penghu performed at a festival in Quanzhou, a city in the southeastern province of Fujian, according to the bureau, which added that another team participated in a cultural event in the Macau Special Administrative Region last year.
Lee is upbeat about the future of the art. “I hope there will be more occasions for me to perform on the mainland.”
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