RESEARCH AND PRECEDENCE STUDIES

JUST DANCE

For my idea on "Preservation of Dance in Malaysia" I had to do a lot of deep research into the dance steps. This was a challenge since I am from Botswana,so the whole experience is new.  I meet up with the malay dance society of Multimedia University during their practicing hours. The group is called Sakti.
I got to see live performances of Joget,Inang and Zapin. Also I got to interview their dance instructor Nur Azalan who was very helpful.

From the interview I learnet that the Zapin dance is a more of a form of "play dance." This means the performance is done in a narrative way telling a story. This dance is done in pairs of male and female. A unique thing about this dance is the elegance and the swaying of hands. There is no physical contact of the men and women but that doesnt ditort the message at all,in fact it makes the dance even more enduring.
Joget is more of a courship dance of the male inticing the female. The steps are in a 8 and 16 step of the feet. As Mr Azalan explained the movement is in a swaying way. The hands,made into a fist, move up and down on the side at chest level. The introduction starts with an 8-count motion of the legs. The dance steps the left leg,then the right leg,extending to the side.

This motion is repeated 3 times. From here the dancer combines the swaying of the hands and the 8-count step of the feet moving forward. In this step the dancer moves forward and backwards as in a circle,repeating the motion.

The following step the dance starts if off with the back of their foot on the ground and the toes lifted up. They move forward doing the 8-16 count step and at this step they lift their foot as they move forward. 

   

REFERENCES

For my idea I want to focus more on the artistic movements of Inang, Joget and Zapin dance. I want these motions to be the highlight of my project. For the audience to appreciate with creative beautiful observation. The 1st idea I liked is Shadow Projection.

Why Shadow? From observation I have noticed when most dancers practice they tend to look at themselves a lot in mirrors( dance studios are usually filled with mirrors). Shadow is a reflection of an object made by light,more like an abstract reflection. It's not always a "what-you-see-is what-you-get" type of observation. Shadows are different according to time of day and light direction. Likewise in dance movements vary according to the music/rhythm. When looking at any dance most  movements are fast and flash right before your eyes. You don't get to grasp the message or what's happening in front of you long enough to capture the beauty of the dance/gestures.

Therefore I plan to do a Shadow installation art piece in order to "capture" or "freeze" the moment of the elegance and gracefulness of the combined Malaysian dances. The process would include pieces of mannequins,paper,wire or cables arranged  in such a way that they portray a step by step dance routine of Joget,Inang and Zapin dances. These will be portrayed in shadows. It would be like a tutorial of the dance movements using shadows,hence teaching the public about the dances in the frozen movements. I plan to bring LIGHT into dance movements that we tend to overlook and miss out on.

In dance a story is interpreted through the movements. One has to FEEL the music in order to bring out the creative moves and with shadows you have to LIGHT the object to reveal that shadow therefore I want to manipulate this theory into my installation.

During my research I came across some awesome works of how artists played creatively with shadows. For example:

 

Artist Larry Kagan uses wire : Shadow from wires

Shadow sculptures

Artist Olafur Eliasson : Shadow with Color

Shadow Sculpture

In a nutshell : SHADOW + LIGHT + DANCE + MUSIC = EMOTION!!

PRESERVATION OF DANCE IN MALAYSIAN CULTURE

My final choosen idea for my Final Year Project is "Dance Culture In Malaysia."

POSTER

During my research I came across the MMU dance society which specialize in Malay,Indian and Chinese dances. For my project the focus is on Malay race. 

PRECEDENCE STUDIES

ABOUT

Generally, Malay dances are divided into two main categories which are the “original” Malay dances and “adopted” Malay dances. The “original” Malay dances are indigenous to the Malay region, encompassing Sumatra, the Malay Peninsular, Singapore, the Riau Archipelago and Borneo, and its origins can be traced back to the early Malay civilizations. The “adopted” Malay dances are influenced by foreign cultures due to political and historical events. The various forms or styles of Malay dance are further categorized by its beats (rentak) and rhythm (irama).

JOGET: The Joget dance (also called the Ronggeng) was introduced to the Malays in Malacca during the early 16th century. Its origins may be traced back to two popular Portuguese folk dances and Middle East. It is  performed at cultural festivals, wedding celebrations and many other social functions.Joget is also known as the Rentak Lagu Dua which describes the interaction between couples in portraying a song with liveliness and cheerfulness.  It has 12 stages of dance steps depicting the love story of a couple from courtship till their wedding.

How its done? Joget follows the rythm of the music instruments. It is a 1 & 2 step by step dance. There is transference of weight to the 1 & 2 beats.

ZAPIN :  Zapin dance on Malay culture and arts started alongside the spread of the Islamic religion in the 15th century.The word “Zapin” itself means “feet movement." This dance and its music was introduced by Arab traders form Yemen. Zapin performances were popular among the royalty. The music for Zapin comes from traditional instruments, which includes the lute gambus), gypsy type bongos (marwas), small single-frame hand drums (rafa’i), accordion and violin.

How its done?  Zapin is a 8-16 count step dance with a sway of hand movements.The first part is called the taqsim or introduction. This is where the gambus is played in a solo manner as an opening of the performance. Simultaneously, the dancers enter the stage and perform the sembah or act of respect to the audience. As the performance progress, the dancers perform various steps and legwork movements. The second part is at the end of every quatrain or pantun, where the music and beating of the drums is played in a rapid beat manner known as tingkah or kopak while the dancers move in a jumping manner called the minta tahto. The third part is the end of the performance, which is known as the tahtim, whereby the dancers will perform the wainab movements to close the performance.

LEARN HERE

INANG: This dance moves at fast tempo set by the rebana, biola and gendang.

The Mak Inang song and dance originated during the period of the Malacca Sultanate. The song is said to have been composed by the order of Sultan Mahmud Shah possibly as a lullaby to help him go to sleep. 

The dance is very graceful and has all the qualities of a palace performance. This dance is also called Tarian Si Kembang Cina as it has a strong Chinese flavour in the music. Sometimes the dancers hold long scarves during the performance. 

How its done?