Outside HCMC International Exhibition & Convention Centre

Before we stepped into the exhibition centre, we were welcomed by the lion dance troupe. I was quite surprised to see lion dance troupe in Vietnam as I thought that I could only see it in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Some of the differences are they not only do the normal lion dance which we usually see, they also performed special acts (acrobatics) like performing lion dance on top of a thin red pole and doing some dangerous acts at the top of the pole. Besides that, the lion dancers also performed jumping over the fire and some drums performance. It was more exciting than the ones I saw in Singapore.


There are many forms of traditional Vietnamese dance; dance as performed in Vietnamese theatre and opera, dances performed at festivals, and royal dances of the imperial court. Depicted by engravings found on Dong Son drums, dance has been an integral part of Vietnamese culture since ancient times.


Lion dance is one of the traditional dances in Vietnam. It was imported from China into Vietnamese culture and is usually performed at traditional festivals such as Tết (Lunar New Year) and Tết trung thu (Mid-Autumn Festival), and also during other occasions such as the opening of a new business. As we can see at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the people also used lion dance for it as it symbolizes an auspicious sign (“ji li” in Chinese). Just like the Chinese, Vietnamese believed that lion dance is highly symbolic, supposedly used to ward off evil spirits.

The Vietnamese have developed their own distinct style where there are an abundance of styles and the lion dances are typically accompanied by martial arts and acrobatics just like we saw outside the exhibition centre.




Below is a short video clip where they perform jumping through a fire ring. Enjoy!