A video of a performance at the Genting World Lion Dance Championship featuring the competition's only female participant has left people on social media in awe.
From Aug. 4 to 6, a Facebook page known as Liondancefreak uploaded performances of various performances at the competition.
Most of the videos attracted between 56,000 to about 170,000 views.
Female competitor wows viewers
However, the video showcasing the sole female competitor, who is from the U.S., attracted the most attention with over 2.2 million views.
In comparison, the video of the winning team from Singapore had about 289,000 views.
According to the video's caption, she is part of the team known as LionDanceMe, which was awarded a score of 8.95.
However, it did not identify who the two specific individuals performing were.
The video opens with her walking up on to the stilts to join her co-performer, while the audience roars in approval in the background.
Subsequently, she performs an impressive array of feats as the front half of the lion, such as balancing and jumping on both the stilts, as well as her co-performer.
Both of them then conclude their performance to a round of thunderous cheers and applause.
First team to have a female participant, raised over S$58,000 to compete
According to CBS News, LionDanceMe is a lion dance team based in San Francisco.
On Jul. 4, the team put up a Facebook post stating that they had raised a total of US$43,450 (S$58,400) to send a team of 10 to participate in the competition.
Malaysian media further reported that apart from having the first female performer at the competition, more than half of the drummers for the American team were also female.
Trained every day for the competition
When interviewed in June, the team's coach, Norman Lau, said eight people in the team are apprentices, according to local American media.
One of the apprentices, Ananda Tang-Lee, was quoted as saying that physical fitness is key as they train about four to five days every week.
According to Lau, the team's regime consists of waking up at 6am to go to the gym, then proceeding to lion dance practice.
The team will then train again at night by going for a run and hitting the gym again, he added.
Facebook posts by Lau in July further revealed that the team continued their training in Malaysia, and participated in performances with local Malaysian teams.
Top screenshots via Liondoncefreak/Facebook