The hip-hoppin' head-turnin' Chinese lion dance of Singapore

The lion dance troupe must be grateful for the masks to hide their faces. YouTube video from uniquelysg

Weird? Wrong? Wonderful? What the heck? It's a whole spectrum of reactions we got when the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) upped the ante for tourism dollars by giving, in their own words, "tradition a revamp." The good folks at STB has a Lion Dance Troupe roaming the stretch of Orchard Road for the next few weeks during the Chinese New Year season, but with a modern twist -- they've added hip-hop dance moves and music to the age-old performance.

Traditionalists will probably be furiously writing forum letters to the dailies and youngsters will probably be grimacing at the attempt to "get with it," but judging from the faces in the video, most people are just plain amused. Will we see the CNY dragon dance doing some breakdancing next? Only time and the imagination of marketers will tell.