I don't know, I think Taiwan's lion showed more raw strength and more cohesiveness in corporal expression. It may be that standards set by Malaysian lion dance culture culture, which have a greater tendency to draw inspiration from northern lion dance, may be influencing exactly what gets judged in the competition here. I would think dancers would be expected to bring out the heart and soul of the /southern/ lion. KSK team E's lion often feels like like a really dainty Northern lion dance in its execution. Sure, it's all aesthetically pleasing from the standpoint of western sports and dance like gymnastics and ballet, but it doesn't really show the power and emotional breadth of the southern lion as other cultures from other countries have come to interpret it.
Feels like a speedrun and that the lion's personality is not well developed. The objective of high pole competition should not just be who goes the fastest and performs the most stunts. Modern high pole teams focus little on the lion's expression, emotions, and telling a story, with cannot be developed effectively in a 'blitz' routine. I didn't really get much of a story out of this, except of course the westernized soccer theme which was lowkey cringey and inappropriate. Lion dance is not supposed to be a gymnastics sport and I'm worried these contests are now taking the tradition in that direction...
