Zapin, Buah Cempedak and Joget

When I thought that I would leave the dancing scene forever, I danced again last two weeks for an event at my workplace.

Oh.. how I miss practicing with those girls.. Delfina, Mega, Liyana, Azura, Vanitha and Nadiah. I miss Lisya too, our dance choregrapher who were not be able to dance with us as she was out of the country, Saya yang menurut perintah, Berkhidmat untuk negara, as you call it.

I joined the Dance Club of my residential college, Kolej Kenanga when I was in UiTM. We performed for most of our college events and sometimes for dinners by other faculties too. It's a shame that I lost all the photos and videos when my laptop crashed. No backup whatsoever. I wish I had a YouTube account at that time. I wish I was smart enough to upload it online so that at least I would have a backup by now :(

I got the opportunity to perform again when I was in Lancaster University. It was for Lancaster University International Evening, an annual event for the international students of the university to showcase their culture and to mingle with each other. We don't have the typical "Malaysian Night" at Lancaster as the Malaysian community was very small. So when we had the opportunity to perform, we were more than happy to show to the people in Lancaster of what Malaysia is or Malaysians are like. I am lucky this time around because Fazrul recorded the performance and uploaded it in YouTube yeay!!

The whole concept of our performance was by none other the President of Malaysian Society at that time, Rgen! He was such a genius to come up with the idea of having both elements of acting and dancing for a 15 minutes performance. He was like the producer of our little show. I just love the fact that all of us, the Malaysian undergraduates of Lancaster University were also involved in the show.
 
I am not good dancer, but somehow I managed to choreograph the steps for the Joget. We danced in pair for the Joget and I thought for the guys, the best dancer was Don (who also played the Sultan) and the funniest was Epy (light green Baju Melayu)! Az, my senior choreographed the steps for the Zapin. The play was loosely inspired by the legendary story of Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang. Our performance became the highlight of the evening as we were the only group that had a play and some joget lambak at the end of it.

 

The Undergraduates of Lancaster University Malaysian Students Society

So here are the performance...


Part I (The Arrival of the Sultan and Zapin)

Part II (Sultan, Dang Anum & Laksmana Bentan)

Part III (Joget Pahang and Joget Lambak)

p/s If you want to have some good laugh, go watch min 1:21 of Part II and you will see a ridiculously-clad pregnant woman with high-pitched voice doing her act :D


*credit to Fazrul Haizam and Haliyana Khalid for the videos and photos