SINGAPORE — A Singapore lion dancer recently went viral as the latest "cute guy on TikTok" after featuring in a video posted by a lion dance troupe here.

Mr Nicolas Goh, 20, told TODAY that the video of him was taken during a lion dance performance at the grand opening of menswear store Goldlion at VivoCity mall on Dec 3.

In the 23-second video posted on Dec 18 by NamYang Lion Dance Centre, Mr Goh can be seen controlling the head of the lion and smiling briefly at the camera as he catches his breath in between dance moves.

The video has been rapidly gaining traction over the past few days, with hordes of netizens gathering in the comments to tag their friends and fawn over the young dancer.

As of Friday (Dec 29) afternoon, it has received 880,800 views, 133,300 likes, 430 comments and 13,000 saves.

'I FELL IN LOVE', SAID NETIZENS

The top comment on the video read: "I think I fell in love for 23 seconds."

"One millisecond is all it took to steal my heart," responded another user.

Multiple viewers also declared that they had "folded", referring to a slang common on TikTok which denotes "catching feelings" or falling for someone.

"Y'all, find this man," begged another top comment.

Indeed, Mr Goh seems to have attracted attention even from foreign netizens, with many commenting in different languages such as Thai, Bahasa, French and Russian.

Tagging a friend, one TikTok user wrote in Norwegian: "Can we go to Asia?!!????!???!!!"

Similarly, another told a friend in Italian: "Let's go see the dragon NOW."

Many also made references to fictional characters such as Gaming, an upcoming playable character in popular role-playing game Genshin Impact whom fans have termed "lion dance boy" for his lion dance — known in-game as "Wushou Dance" — background and animations.

Others pointed out his visual resemblance to Guy from DreamWorks' 2013 animated film The Croods and Tadashi from Walt Disney's 2014 animated film Big Hero 6, as well as K-pop idol Han Ji Sung from the boy band Stray Kids.

DANCER 'THANKFUL' FOR THE LOVE

Mr Goh told TODAY on Thursday: "I was shocked when I found out the video was gaining traction.

"You know, because videos that we actually take time to film and edit don't do so well, but this kind of unexpected content does best sometimes."

He added that he was "flattered" as he felt that it was the appeal of lion dance and the camera angle that "made (him) look better".

"But I'm thankful to have received so much 'love' from them," he said. "I smiled when I read some of them.

"It's funny because I don't know why they're comparing me with cartoon (characters such as Guy and Tadashi)."

He was also thankful for the video's virality as the troupe had initially gotten on TikTok in order to promote the traditional art of lion dance, which he admitted is "not very common among younger people".

NamYang Lion Dance Centre now has 92,000 followers on the video-sharing platform.

Mr Goh, who currently studies Mass Communication at Republic Polytechnic and has been freelancing for Mediacorp's social media marketing department since October, was first exposed to the art through his father, who practised it when he was younger.

Mr Goh's maternal grandfather also used to do lion dance, but "more on (the) martial arts side", he shared.

The student first got interested in lion dance when he was just four or five years old and started learning how to play the drums at six.

In another video posted on NamYang's TikTok account last year, he is shown practising lion dance drumming at the age of six in 2009, then again at the age of 18 in 2021.

"My father opened the (NamYang) troupe back in 2016 and he was also very active back then so I'd usually follow him during performances," he explained. "The stunts and how they portray the 'emotions' and movements of the lion is probably what attracted me (most).

"For me, I don't like playing computer games, et cetera, so I'd rather spend time on lion dance."

'PASSION AND COMMITMENT' GREATEST CHALLENGE

Despite Mr Goh's active involvement in the NamYang troupe, which holds a number of performances every month, he does not intend to pursue lion dance full-time in future.

As he put it: "I feel lion dance should just remain as a hobby. Because I'm afraid (that) if I were to make it full-time, it (would) be like a 'need-to-do' for me. Then I (would) most probably not enjoy it as much."

To him, the greatest challenge in pursuing lion dance is not the physical training, but rather one's "passion and commitment".

He explained: "If you do not have both, it's quite difficult to pursue this form of art because it requires a lot of training. And if you lack passion, (it's) very difficult for you to learn, or rather you will just take a longer time to do so.

"Right now, I see many that tell me they are interested, but when I (ask) them to come (to) training every Friday, most of them are lazy to come and this is where I feel commitment plays a part. If you're lazy, it will be difficult for (you) catch up.

"Being passionate about this form of art is very important because that's what gives me the motivation to keep going. I set a goal and I make sure to achieve it by then because only then can I see that I'm making progress."

As for aspiring lion dancers, Mr Goh pointed out that it's very important to find "a suitable troupe that you like and a group of people you can vibe with".

Because one will typically be in the troupe for a long period of time and meet the members often because of performances and events, one should find a troupe "that can make you feel like you're going to your second home every time there's an event", he said.