Loong wears a face mask as he puts on the complete traditional lion dance costume for quality check on January 23, 2021, in Selangor, Malaysia. The lion dance industry is bracing for a bleak festive season as Lunar New Year approaches. Usually the busiest and most lucrative time for troupes across countries where there is a significant Chinese minority, Covid-19 restrictions in many places - such as Malaysia - have seen demand for lion dance costumes dry up, and for lion dance performances dwindle. Nonetheless, workshops that make costumes and troupes such as this one, which practices its art in a makeshift studio under a highway flyover, continue preparing for Chinese New Year - which will fall on February 12, ushering in the Year of the Ox.