Dragon dancers, stilt walkers light up the night at Chingay 2018

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About 6,500 performers took part in this year's Chingay celebrations. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

SINGAPORE - The F1 Pit Building at Marina Bay was awash in brilliant hues as dragon dancers shared the stage with stilt walkers and festive drummers in the annual Chingay celebrations.

Not even the afternoon showers on Friday (Feb 23) could spoil the mood of the 100,000-strong audience, most of whom happily whipped out their mobile phones and cameras to capture the sights and sounds of the parade.

About 6,500 performers took part in this year's parade, the 46th since 1973.

For the first time, the parade made the 1.5km trek from the building to River Hongbao at Marina Bay Floating Platform, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching on board one of the nine floats.

Also at the festivities were Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu.

The 1½-hour celebrations kicked off with a contemporary dance by 580 performers, in elegant tulle dresses, from The School of Dance, TruDance, Sengkang Green Primary School and Dance Inspiration. They were followed by a ukulele troupe from the PAssionArts Ukulele Contingent.

Also taking part in the festivities were 400 performers from seven countries such as South Korea, Russia, and Japan parading and dancing in their traditional costumes.

Chingay 2018 will continue on Saturday (Feb 24) from 8pm with President Halimah Yacob as the guest of honour.

PM Lee Hsien Loong, Madam Ho Ching and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing arriving at Chingay on a float. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

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