Dance take on East Malaysian legends

TWO legends of East Malaysia take centre stage in Aswara’s Dance Faculty’s Tandak Mengalai.

Presented as a dance drama, the show starts with Sabah’s legend of the Huminodun which is about a girl who is the child of the gods Kinoingan and Suminundu.

Huminodun means “to sacrifice”, and the legend has her sacrificing herself to the spirit of the earth to save mankind.

The second story is of two beautiful princesses of Sarawak who descend from the heavens to keep the peace and prosperity of two villages on earth.

Lust makes the siblings fight because each wants to win the heart of a handsome man. The story of the two siblings has become a sign of the existence of Mount Santubong and Mount Sejinjang.

The traditional dances of Sabah and Sarawak, from its communities including the Murut, Kadazan, Bajau, Rungus (Sabah) and from the Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Orang Ulu , among others (Sarawak), are choreographed by the faculty’s

TANDAK MENGALAI

WHEN Sept 7-9, 8.30pm

(3.30pm matinees on weekends) WHERE Experimental Theatre, Aswara, 464 Jalan Tun Ismail, KL

ADMISSION RM15 (students) to RM30.

CALL 03-2697 1777 or email to info@aswara.edu.my

lecturers and graduates.

Faculty head Mohd Yunus Ismail says the presentation of these legends will have a contemporary setting with new music composed by music director Sharip Zainal Shakif Sheikh.

He says each segment will see between five and six dances from each state. The entire ensemble is 50-strong, and includes performers from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, and Cultural Centre Universiti Malaya.

The dancers will be accompanied by music performed by one vocalist and 10 musicians on traditional instruments from Sabah and Sarawak as well as modern ones.

Yunus says each segment is about 30 minutes long. “It’s tough to deliver these legends in such a short duration. But we try to maintain the authenticity of each traditional dance that we will be performing.

“We invited two choreographers — from Lembaga Kebudayaan Negeri Sabah, Samsul Ismail and Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara, Sarawak, Amirullizam Hossen Hipni — to run workshops with the students for Tandak Mengalai.”

Yunus feels the show will offer a chance to view the ethnic dances like Kuda Pasu, DalingDaling, Adai-Adai, Mongigol, Mangunatip from Sabah and Ngajat Iban, Datun Julud, from Sarawak.

He feels these legends have interesting messages and values such as community, family and living harmoniously.