Attractive Lion - Unicorn - Dragon Competition in Nha Trang City

The 29th Nha Trang City Lion and Dragon Dance Competition featured 16 teams from various communes and wards across the city. With spectacular, captivating, and visually stunning performances, the competition brought a joyful and enthusiastic atmosphere to Nha Trang, welcoming the upcoming Lunar New Year of the Snake 2025.

The concluding New Year's greeting from a team competing in the four-lion dance.

In recent days, April 2nd Square (Nha Trang City) has been bustling with activity thanks to the 29th Nha Trang City Lion Dance Competition - "Celebrating the Party and the Spring Festival" of the Year of the Snake 2025. According to observations, on the opening night (January 13th), hundreds of spectators, including Nha Trang residents and tourists, gathered around the competition stage early to watch the lion dance teams perform. Ms. Vo Thi Anh Nguyet (Vinh Hai Ward) said: "Every year, whenever we hear about the lion dance competition, my daughter and I always come to watch. Seeing the lion dance evokes a lively Tet atmosphere, making people feel nostalgic and emotional."

The lion dancers performed graceful leg kicks and head-shaking movements.

For locals, and especially for Vietnamese people who have been away from home for a long time, returning to their homeland for Tet (Lunar New Year) for the first time, like Ms. Bui Thi Viet Ha (living in Germany), enjoying the lively atmosphere and the captivating, beautiful, and unique lion and dragon dances is truly an unforgettable experience. “It’s been over 40 years, and this is the first time I’ve come back to Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa for Tet. During my time here, I’ve seen my homeland change, the streets are bustling, and the joyful Tet atmosphere fills my heart with an indescribable feeling. This is also the first time in all these years that I’ve seen lion and dragon dances during Tet; childhood memories come flooding back.”

A lion dance performance by a competing team, standing on an iron pole.

According to Mr. Nguyen Chanh Thuc, Director of the Nha Trang City Culture, Information and Sports Center, the competition is a traditional activity of the city, held annually, marking the beginning of a series of cultural, artistic, and sports events celebrating the Party and the Lunar New Year in Nha Trang. It is also an opportunity for lion dance teams and clubs in the area to interact, learn from each other, strengthen solidarity, and preserve and promote national cultural traditions. Through this, it contributes to meeting the needs of locals and tourists for enjoying traditional folk culture and art during the Tet holiday. This year's competition features 16 teams competing, performing continuously with 35 acts over three days (from January 13th to 15th). The teams compete in four categories: Four-season lion dance, earth-treasure dance, plum blossom dance, and lion dance. According to a member of the judging panel, this year's competition was well- organized, and the professional quality of the teams' performances was quite good.

A large crowd of Nha Trang residents and tourists cheered on the competing and performing teams.

This year, teams with similar performances were scheduled to compete first. Specifically, on January 13th and 14th, all 27 performances from the lion dance, four-lion dance, and earth-treasure dance teams were scheduled to perform first. On the final day of competition (January 15th), eight teams competing in the plum blossom pole dance category competed against each other. According to Mr. Nguyen Chanh Thuc, the reason the organizers arranged it this way was to create a highlight for the competition. For lion dance performances, the plum blossom pole lion dance is the most difficult and dangerous. To perform this visually stunning performance, the athletes must have a strong martial arts background (traditional Vietnamese martial arts) and rigorous training. Therefore, on the final day of the competition, the flying, running, and jumping movements of the lions on the plum blossom poles (approximately 4-6 meters high) were spectacular displays the city offered to its residents and tourists.