Troupe members are no longer confined to the Chinese. There are now many Indian, Malay and Sikh participants showing off their skills to add a new vibrancy to the century-old performance.

In fact, inspired by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia initiative, the traditional lion dance has gone one step further by using Malaysian drums. These are the Malay rebana ubi and kompang; and the Indian manggelem vathiyum comprising the theyil and flute nadeswaram.

They have been brought together with Chinese drums and cymbals in a dynamic synchronisation to spur the lion on.

The new Malaysian-style lion dance is a successful breakthrough achieved by the award-winning Kun Seng Keng Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe from Muar, Johor.

The multi-racial evolution started in the 1980s when a group of Indians started trying their hands on lion dance with the encouragement of their Chinese friends.

Today, it is no longer a surprise to see multi-racial lion dance troupes performing from office to office and house to house.

Many elderly people, especially visitors from overseas, are amazed to see non-Chinese teenagers banging the drums and performing the lion dance in perfect partnership with their Chinese teammates.

“It is unbelievable. The Indians can perform the lion dance well” is the typical reaction among the elderly Chinese.

In fact, many must have been surprised when they saw the new troupe dancing to the beat of Malaysian drums, which made its debut this year.

The Kun Seng Keng and another similar organisation, Khuan Loke, which have been working tirelessly to promote the art in Malaysia, have many non-Chinese members performing even in international competitions.

There are not only boys but also girls doing the stunts and winning competition after competition.

Some of the members are professionals such as accountants, computer analysts, lawyers and engineers.

The Kun Seng Keng troupe has been winning world accolades since the 1990s. It has won 34 world championships and 40 national championships since it was set up.

Khuan Loke, another prize-winning troupe has been performing in Brunei, France, Germany, South Korea, Indonesia and China for both competition and cultural show.

Many team leaders are very proud of their multi-racial performers because they have shown creativity to the old art form.

“Even in the early 90s, it was difficult to recruit non-Chinese to join us, as people believed this was a Chinese tradition meant only for the Chinese while others thought it was a religious practice.

“However, in the late 90s and in the new century, people started getting to know more about the lion dance and the non-Chinese began to join us,” says Tan Chong Hing, 56, founder and team leader of Kun Seng Keng Lion & Dragon Dance Association.

He founded the Kun Seng Keng in 1988 when he was only 34 years old, his aim being to pass on the skills and knowledge of this Chinese tradition to future generations.

“I encourage our youths to do the lion dance because it is an activity that’s good for the mind and body,” Tan says.

Kun Seng Keng has about 60 members aged between 11 and 28 and about 20 of them are Malays. Tan says he is still trying to recruit more non-Chinese.

He explains that the lion dance is a spin-off from the Chinese martial arts and it builds the body and disciplines the mind.

“Being a lion dancer, one must have not only a healthy body but also be disciplined, focused and work as a team,” he says.

“No mistake can be allowed during the swift movements of a lion, especially moving on the stilts.”

According to legend, the lion dance originated centuries ago when a strange creature regularly appeared in a small village to forage through the farm land there.

After many years, the villagers became so fed up with it that they retaliated by making their own version of the beast - a fierce-looking and colourful lion head.

They got two men to manoeuvre the lion head while others followed by beating metal pots and pans to scare away the beast.

And so it is said that the commotion scared the beast which retreated to the mountains and was never seen again.

The villagers had a big celebration the next day, which was made the first day of the lunar New Year. The custom was then adopted to symbolise the cleansing of evil spirits and ushering in the good fortune of the new year.

These days, lion dances are also performed during opening or launching ceremonies of commercial complexes or big projects and other special functions.

Khuan Loke vice president and lion dance instructor Albert Fong, 35, says young people realise now that lion dancing is not only an international sport but also an opportunity to perform overseas.

Fong says he learned the lion dance from a famous coach called Master Siow Ho Phiew in the mid-1990s.

He took over as the coach of Khuan Loke when he was only 19 from his father Fong Tin Low, 62.

Fong, whose father founded the association in the early 1980s, says that in those days, they used to worry that the lion dance would die out eventually as not many people were keen to learn lion dancing then.

“More people, including non-Chinese, know how to appreciate lion dance now. The youths are eager to join us for overseas competitions,” says Fong, adding that Khuan Loke now has 150 members aged from six to 35.

They include nine Malays and five Indians. There are also four girls in the group.

Besides the lion dance, Khuan Loke also teaches and performs the dragon dance and 24-festive drums.

“We are very much a 1Malaysia team and we are proud to represent the country in competitions on the international stage,” he says.

Given the rising demand for lion dance performances during corporate events and special functions, lion dancing is also seen as a sort of “business” now.

A lion dance performance can cost from 1,000  ringgit (US$294) to 15,000 ringgit ($4,409).

MAS lion dance troupe team leader James Vijeypala says the main intention of its multi-racial Muhibbah troupe is to have this traditional culture passed on to the younger generations.

“We use the ang pow money to buy the necessary stuff like the lion heads and costume while the rest will be donated to charity,” he says.

Vijeypala, a former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) employee with the engineering department, says the MAS lion dance troupe has grown from a small group of 17 members when it was founded in 1985 to 40 now.

The members, including five girls, comprise engineers, pilots, cabin crew, contractors and MAS senior management staff.

“A key element in doing the lion dance is to discipline ourselves and cultivate an attitude of respect for others,” Vijeypala says, adding that it is also a good way for Malaysians to learn about Chinese culture.

In Malacca, the lion dance troupe from Montfort Youth Centre in Kampung Baru Ayer Salak has been a regular feature during Chinese New Year and special functions since it was set up in 2002.

Montfort Youth Centre director Brother Robin D says the team has 12 boys (four Indians) and he notes that the dance has helped to discipline the members and created the spirit of teamwork among them.

He says he is now trying hard to get a coach so that the boys will have better training on lion dancing techniques.