What is the name of the parade dance featuring a long serpentine figure?

The parade dance featuring a long serpentine figure is the dragon dance.

In this performance, a team of dancers carries a flexible dragon puppet on poles, moving it in rippling, wave-like patterns. The dragon’s body is built from linked sections, with a head at one end and a tail at the other. Its undulating motion imitates the imagined movements of a Chinese dragon.

Dragon dances are especially associated with Chinese New Year, when the dragon symbolizes power, dignity, wisdom, fertility and auspiciousness. It is traditionally regarded as a benevolent creature that can bring good fortune to a community. Many performances use drums, cymbals and gongs to create a dramatic rhythm and coordinate the dancers’ movements.

The dragon is often confused with the lion in another popular New Year performance. A lion dance uses a compact lion costume operated by usually two performers, while a dragon dance requires a larger team manipulating multiple body sections. Dragon lengths vary widely: the recommended traditional model is about 34 metres, while record-setting parade dragons have stretched for kilometres.