Smoke curled through the night air in Vancouver’s Chinatown, lit by the flicker of incense sticks attached to the undulating of a 60-foot straw dragon.

When Leanne Yu first witnessed the fire dragon dance in 2021, she felt something stir deep inside her — a calling woven into the rhythm of drumbeats.

The traditional fire dragon dance comes from Hong Kong’s Tai Hang neighbourhood in the late 1880s. Held each year during the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival, it features a straw dragon soaked in water and covered in incense sticks, which are lit by community members for good luck.

Moved by the ritual, the 39-year-old joined the karate club that trains the fire dragon troupe, hoping to reconnect with a part of her Chinese heritage that had long felt out of reach.

This Saturday, Yu returns to th

See Full Page