FUSE#5

Finding Soultari’s Lenggang: Walking Otherwise
obligated to stay and learn from one Guru for many years and the
move from one group to another is highly frowned upon. Thus, group
identities are usually associated with a particular master teacher and
in cases when the group has existed for many years, it is associated
with a prominent dance personality.
Due to the close-knit relationship of the community, it is no
wonder when a Malay dancer describes his/her activism in Malay
dance, he/she will refer first to its group identity and then the associated
master/personality. This specific group solidarity is most obvious
when the Malay dance community at large is involved in “collaborations”.
Collaboration for the community means being involved in one
full production with each group presenting their own work and they
are all strung together by a related theme. Although they are connected,
each will try to present a work which is representative of a group’s
ethos/identity/style.
Groups that are actively participating and contributing to the
scene today include, Sriwana, Perkumpulan Seni, Sri Warisan Som
Said Performing Arts Ltd, Era Dance Theatre, Atrika Dance Company,
Ayunda Lestari, Azpirasi Dance Group, Attrians, Kirana Seni, Artiste
Seni Budaya, Dian Dancers, Variasi Performing Arts, Artistari Gentari
and Mak Mak Menari. Also there are more recent collectives founded
by artists with Malay dance background but have chosen to work on
multi-, cross-, inter-disciplinary and cultural works such as Kaizen M.D.,
P7I:SMA and Bhumi Collective. However, there are also independent
artists whose backgrounds are from these groups but have chosen to
do independent work on their own.
3. Malay Cultural Affinity
There are Malay communities living in different modern nation-states
such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, southern
parts of Thailand and Philippines. This reality has allowed for the advent
of festivals and competitions that continue to commemorate and endorse
the pan-ethnic affinity but masks this agenda within the language
of modern nationalism which calls for the internationalisation of their
local (national) arts.
Some of these festivals and competitions, which have occurred
annually for about a decade or two, are now quite a brand in the region.
These events will feature groups from these countries and would usually
present works which conform to either one of the recognised Malay
music/dance genres. One such example is Singapore’s Muara Dance
Festival and Indonesia’s Dangkong Festival held in the Riau Islands. An
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