麻豆传媒AV

The Gold Ridge Centre was resplendent in red and gold Sunday for its annual Chinese New Year celebration. My husband and I were the fortunate recipients of complimentary tickets from Carlos CorreaSilvera, marketing co-ordinator. We were looking forward to something different, intrigued by the chance to see the Toronto Lion Dancers.

I have to admit, I was among those, including the people at our table, who didn't know what the Chinese Lion Dance was about. We wouldn't have been surprised had a dragon dance been planned, because we'd seen those on television or YouTube. A quick bit of online research by one of our fellow guests determined it was indeed the lion, not the dragon, that featured strongly in the traditions of the Chinese New Year's Eve.

The show began with a series of drumming performances. One for good health, one for good fortune, which our host Sammy Cheng dedicated to the First Nations people in attendance, and one for good luck (we were at a casino, after all).

Anytime a drum shows up anywhere in our line of sight, my husband and I are all ears. We are fans of rhythms of all kinds. There is nothing so powerful as a drum beat.

The drumming was followed by an entertaining martial arts performance. It included displays of mastery using a seven-section whip chain and a three-section staff, flexible weapons common to Kung Fu, as well a compulsory form of tai chi that athletes would have had to master to compete in the 2008 Olympic games. One display was done as a dance, with two young women wielding swords. Another was a 100-year-old regional Kung Fu demonstration.

The final weapon display was of the rope dart, which Sammy described as the most dangerous weapon on the movie Kill Bill. At six meters, the rope dart is the longest of all traditional Chinese weapons. Sammy said, "It hurts three times more than being hit by a golf ball."

The show culminated in the ultimate display. Sammy told us the most important part for the Chinese New Year is the Lion Dance. He told us about the legend he grew up knowing.

"The lion is a trouble maker like our mayor Rob Ford, big trouble."

He said the lion made enough trouble that he was eventually locked up in heaven. Once a year, on New Year's Eve, he is allowed to come down and make trouble, frightening villagers and eating their farm animals.

"I remember as a little kid, we don't sleep, we stay up all night, wait for the lion to come."

Then they pounded on pots and pans and set off firecrackers to scare the lion away. The firecracker's red colour has become symbolic of New Year's Eve.

"That's why we are wearing red," he said.

At last two fabulously red lions presented themselves, operated be two people each. They danced and pranced, their tails wagged, their eyelids blinked, and one even lit up with LED lights. They performed balancing tricks with a chair and the audience was called up to interact with them. The operators' skills allowed them to disappear within the larger lions' personalities they projected. When the LED lion looked your way, it was easy to be mesmerized into wondering if he was thinking of pouncing-or purring.

There was only one disappointment all evening. The lions eventually returned from where they had come - to dance another day.