Zapin

In this particular blog, i am gonna write a review on a traditional dance that i have witnessed before. Obviously, it must be something that i have seen before, then only i can write a review on it,isnt it so?

Verily, i am not a person who is so into this traditional dance or anything like that. It's not like i am not being patriotic or what. It's just that i am not so crazy about it. I know it's important that we tresure this heritage for our future generation. So, i too feel obliged to play my tiny part in preserving this precious heritage. Hehehehe. It sound so corny and cheesy!!!

Speaking of traditional dance, i knew a couple of them such as Mak Yong, Lion Dance, Indian Dance, and many others. But the one i am quite familiar with is Zapin. That is only because I have tried it before and i honestly find it kind of interesting. Although it was only the basics moves that i have learned but at least i have some knowledge of it.

It was back in 2007 when i was at IPTI where almost all my classmates and i were sort of "forced" to take part in this Zapin dance. Let's not go deeper into why we were forced or what the zapin dance was held for. The main thing here is the zapin dance itself. Basically, i have not much knowledge of zpain dance but as i browsed thorugh the internet, sources have it that Zapin was introduced by Arab, Muslim missionaries from the Middle East in the fourteenth century. It is undeniably famous and popular in the state of Johor and there is no surprise why we were 'forced'to do the dance back at IPTI, JB. In the old days, only males were allowed to perform but nowadays, female dancers are included. It used to be performed solely for religious ceremonies but through the years it has become a form of traditional entertainment, so the participation of female dancers are allowed. The dancers usually perform in pairs and are accompanied by a traditional music instruments which i have no idea what the names are.

There are basically different types of Zapin but the famous and popular one has to be Zapin Melayu Johor. when we were asked to take part in the performance, I was kind of reluctant to go and perform the dance at first. But, as the process of learning, practising that took days went along, i found it fun and interesting.

Practising under the friggin' hot sun,bare footed on a muddy grass. can it get any worse than that?

This is so much better, practice in an air-conditioned hall

Showing some patriotisme there,hehehehe

Getting ready for the big show

It was time to show some moves. Can you spot me?

Imagine how awful it was dancing under the freakin' hot sun. I got tanned lines on my forehead and i definitely lost my street value for quite some times,haha.

Happy and proud faces after the show.

Basically, zapin is not so difficult to be learned. All you need is some willingness and passion to learn because steps in zapin dance are mostly repetitive with only some different styles. I remember how terrible the intensive practice for zapin dance i had but it all paid off. I enjoyed the whole journey of learning and performing zapin though there were some bad memories as well and i think my frieinds have the same feelings too. I like the cooperationa nd teamwork that we had during that time. However, what matter the most is the knowledge that i ahve gained about zapin. It is definitely gonna something that i will treasure in my life. At least, when someone were to ask me about traditional dance, i am more than proud to say that i have done one of it which is zapin.