Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09 – Sarawak

Dayaks In the Land of Hornbills

This is the Sarawak segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Dayak & Iban- are these interchangeable terminologies? I wish I knew. It’s kind of complicated unless you are a Sarawakian. Even then, I bet you most of the Cats are confused themselves. To enlighten you a bit, the capital of Sarawak is named after in honour of the cat animal, Kuching– simply translated as the cat. And to make matter even more complicated the city so named does not even have anything to do with cat. That makes it one very confused city and state indeed, I suppose. Any Cat denizen would like to enlighten us on this?

Here Comes the King!

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09 – Negeri Sembilan

The State of Nine -the Minangkabau Country

This is the Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Negeri Sembilan – States Within A State-  quite simply means 9 states came  together to make up a state within the federated states of Malaysia.

Look, There's Superman!

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09 – Philippines

Tacloban Performing Art Group

( Leyte Dance Theatre)

This is the Philippines segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Action! Cut! Take Five! The Overall Prizewinner!

Undoubtedly, they were the darlings of the night. They won the most accolades from the the judges, but like I said before my heart went out to the Javanese dance ensemble in so far as the dance choreography and professionalism are concerned. If my memory serves me right, I believe the Tacloban group won in the following dance catergories.

.

1. Best Male Dancer

2. Best Dance Choreography

.

There may be  more but my memory is fading fast.

Olé !

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The Kazakhs

Kazakhstanis in Borneo

A Family Album at the Folklore Festival, Kota Kinabalu

All In The Family

 Philippines- the Bamboo Fest next

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09 – Singapore

Sriwarna – Singapore

That is one short & sweet name for a dance group.

This is the Singapore segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Singapura

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09- Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Group Riyadh

This is the Saudi Arabia segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

 I have a confession to make. I am not quite familiar with the Saudi folk dance and I am not quite sure what the dance presentation was about on the night concerned.  In the mean time, enjoy the Bamboo Cane dance ( the Mizmar?)

Saudi Arabia

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Beauty Fest And the Folklore Festival

Beauty Is In The Eye of  The Beholder

This is the Beauty “Contest” segement of the Folkdance Competition- July 7

Eureka!

 This may yet be another bright idea that the festival’s bright sparks can consider. A Folklore Beauty Contest to revolutionise the folkdance festival into something totally unrecognisable from its first incarnation. I must say it was a well conceived move having the beauty galore assembled in one place. Next year will definitely see more medallion men jostling for the show. Ticket prices will then skyrocket to price everyone else out of the market, just like what they did in Sarawak.

Beauty Festival

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09 – Kazakhstan

On Alti Kiz (sixteen girls) – Kazakhstan

This is the Kazakhstan segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Land of the Kazakh won the Best Costume category of the folk-dance competition. They were the celebrities of the night for the colourful and strikingly beautiful red costumes they put on on the night. It’s a sort of a cross between that of Russian and Mongolian traditional attires. And the dance contained a hint of Russian flavour in it as well.

I love the way they “kampai” to the audiences all night long. Would have loved to stay longer to kampai and doing a “Zorba the Greek”  with them, till the moo cows came home. But the judges fell in love with their costumes and that meant I was counted out in one go.

Welcome Home, Honey!

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Compettiton ’09 – Kalimantan

Majelis Adat Dayak Nasional- Kalimantan, Indonesia

This is the Indonesian Kalimantan segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Dayak refers to the indigenous people residing in the island of Borneo, especially in the regions of Sarawak and Kalimantan. Their dances are usually full of symbolism and can be considered to be a type of ritual dance, such as that ceremonial dance to express gratitude  for an abundant harvest.

The Dayak of Kalimantan is not to be confused with the Dayak of Sarawak. Although they do adorn similar traditional costumes at times and their customary practices and belief  do coincide in some respects, they are also quite dissimilar to each other in other respects. That’s my observation, in any case, but I am not an expert in ethnology. So my comments are what you would regard as a hearsay in the court of law. Call me an opinionated buffoon if you like. It doesn’t really bother me.

Dayak Belly Dance If I Am Not Mistaken

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Comptetition ’09- Java

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09- India

Punjab Folk Art Centre

This is the India segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

Bhangra, that lively & jolly folk dance originated from the Punjab region of India & Pakistan. It, without fail, always gets me going and in the mood for a Saturday Night Fever. The dance performed at the Fest somehow has that missing ingredient that I can’t quite  put my finger on it. Was it the music? Or, those super-charged bouncing and hopping dance movements? Not quite sure.

Bhangra, Hey, Hey, Hey!

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Sabah Int’l Folkdance Competition ’09- China

Zhan Jiang Song and Dance Ensemble-  Guang Dong, China

This is the China segment of the Folkdance Festival – July 7

And of course the usual ribbons (and fans) in a Chinese dance would go without saying.  Chinese dance has its own unique vocabulary, semantics, and syntactic structure that enable a dancer on stage to fully express his/her thoughts and feelings with ease and grace. The dance at the Fest was  the fast paced version of the Ribbon Dance from Guang Dong of China.

Ribbons of China

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Sabah International Folklore Festival 2009

A Festival or A Competition? Whatever!

Dance Competiton Festival?

It suddenly dawns on me Kota Kinabalu is in desperate need of a top-notch auditorium theatre cum convention centre if we are to have more top perfoming acts coming to the city. And the venue has got to be in or near the city centre boundary. As it is now, it is quite embarrassing to promote the city as a  music & cultural venue. How on earth are the visitors from outside KK to get to the outskirts of the city when KK public transport is not even something to rave about?

That’s the conundrum, I supoose, KK is facing. No popular demand, then no theatre. It’s the “chicken or the egg dilemma” all over again. I am neither for nor against the idea, mind you.

Dance Festival?

Oh yeah, the show was first promoted as a folkdance festival, then morphed into a dance competition. Make up your mind(s)! Don’t just make haphazard and ad hoc decision(s) on the fly. Typical & usual decision- making process I have come across numerous times. To Be Or Not To Be. Then, it suddenly becomes “whatever”.

Take a cue from Singapore!

There, I have let off my steam.

Dance Competition?

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