Heritage Dance Team Wins Best Performance in Pesta Ko-K

Petaling Jaya - 30 students wowed the stage with Heritage Dances from Sabah and Sarawak and Traditional Folk Dance from Johor yesterday in Auditorium of University of Malaya Kompleks Perdana Siswa during Pesta Ko-K 2018. A perpetual trophy was awarded to this winning team.

The dances performed during the performance include Orang Ulu Sarawak’s Datun Julud Dance, Suluk people from Sabah’s Mengiluk Dance and Johor’s Kuda Kepang Dance.

One of the highlights of the performance is the different heritage dances performed on stage for the audience in one single performance. The audiences were able to experience and explore different heritage dances that we do not typically see in West Malaysia. The different and unique music and costumes also made the whole performance interesting.

The dance trainer, Rithaudin Abdul Kadir from Sandakan, Sabah, has a rich background of traditional dances. With 20 years of dancing experience, Rithaudin hopes to tell stories of traditional ethnicity within Malaysia through dances and performances.

The dance performances started with 30 students dressed in 3 different types of costumes: 10 in Datun Julud’s costume, 10 in Mengiluk’s costume and 10 in Kuda Kepang’s costume, dancing together on stage. After the introduction part of the performance, the students performed their designated dance, one after another, and ended with a combined closing.

The Datun Julud dance was performed by 10 students dressed in colourful sarong and an elaborate headdress, embellished with hornbill feathers. They held beautiful fans made out of feathers to represent the wings of hornbill. The students danced gracefully and gently, moving the fans up and down to depict the hornbill in flight.

The Mengiluk Dance was performed by another 10 students dressed in shiny costumes and a lot of accessories. The highlight of their performance was their long nails that moved gracefully to the catchy and fast-paced music.

The Kuda Kepang Dance was performed by the last 10 students dressed in bright-coloured costumes with hats. Each of them carried a two dimensional ‘horse’ made of pleated rattan. The students danced along with the rich traditional music played with indigenous instruments like gongs and angklungs.

Arshad Bakri, 23, a 3rd year Science student from Sabah said, “It is interesting how we are able to see so much energy in one performance. There is a feeling of home when I was watching the performance. The friendliness and the warmth brought out by the performers managed to grab the audience’s heart.”

According to Beh Yun Yee, 22, a dancer from the performance, she said that the team has been rehearsing once a week continuously for 4 weeks and they also have extra practices in the final two weeks.

“As a Chinese, I have experienced dancing Chinese dances. For my co-curricular activity, I’ve decided to try something different and learn about dances and cultures from other ethnicity, therefore I took this dance and I have never regretted it. It was a great experience,” says Beh.

Other performances in Pesta Ko-K 2018 include Chinese dance, Indian dance, Choir performance, Theatre performance and more.