The Korean Dance Connection

By Joseph Gonzales

The links between the Dance Faculty of ASWARA, Malaysia and South Korea are getting stronger with the latest invitation of Shariful Azmi Suhaimi to the 5^th Daegu Korean Traditional Dance Festival and Workshops that took place between 18^th and 25^th May 2009. This festival was held at the Daegu Dong-gu Culture and Sports Center that seats 1200 audience and subsequently at universities in Seoul and Daegu City. The festival features performances and workshops from across Korea and Shafirul was the sole international participant.

Aside from performances at this festival, Shafirul was required to teach several workshops of ‘Terinai’ and ‘Silat’. ‘Terinai’ is a beautiful court dance from Perlis that describes a marriage ritual through dance and is most rarely performed anymore. ASWARA was very fortunate to have the services of Dr. Zamin Haron also known professionally as Chandrabhanu to teach this dance over a period of 2 years to students including Shafirul. This young artist and 2003 nominee for Best New Artist at the Cameronian Arts Awards, now has the task of teaching it as part of the compulsory module on traditional Malay court dance to the Diploma students. ‘Silat’ is a Malay martial art form that also forms the core of the ASWARA curriculum and is a legacy from the late Anuar Abdul Wahab who passed away suddenly after serving as lecturer for 15 years at ASWARA.   

Shafirul taught at these workshops to full-time dance students at three universities, namely the Daegu University of Art, Sejong University and Korean National University of Arts. This is a milestone for him as a young artist. “This has been the best experience of my life. Although I have performed internationally with cultural groups and with ASWARA, this is unforgettable because I was invited as a solo artist and it was an amazing opportunity for me to learn. What made me strong and special was my traditional dance knowledge that I was able to combine with my contemporary dance training.” As part of the cultural exchange of this program, Shafirul was also taken to attend performances including “Soul, Sunflower” at the The National Theater of Korea performed by The National Dance Company of Korea and “Shall We…” by the Daegu City Modern Dance Company. The attendance was overwhelming and the applause to these performances was astounding, observed Shafirul.

ASWARA already has Liu Yong Sean and Lee Wen Yan pursuing dance degrees while Maz Irwan is a final-year Film student on full Art Major Award Scholarships at the Korean National University of Arts. In 2008, freelance dancer Thou Chun spent 4 months on an artist collaboration exchange between Asia, Europe and Africa, while the 2009 reciepient is former Sutra Dance Theatre dancer January Low. With Shafirul’s participation at this festival and another upcoming invitation to another ASWARA star Aris Kadir in June for the ‘World Masters Dance Festival’, indicates a growing presence in Korea of Malaysian artists especially dancers. The South Korean government is investing sizeable funds in developing the art forms and creating extremely effective means to promote their culture through education and artist exchange programs. The fact the Malaysian artists are receiving these awards is testimony to the improving standards of dance training and performance in Malaysia. At the same time, Malaysia can learn from these models and use these experiences to further promote the various dance genres on an international platform. Indonesian forms of Javanese, Sumatran and Balinese dance and music are on-going courses in several universities in United States.   

“I was very impressed with the love the Koreans have for their culture and the standard of their performances. I hope to find more opportunities such as this to spread the knowledge of traditional Malaysian dance. I am grateful to all my teachers especially Gan Chih Pei and Kim Yong Chul from Korea, for providing me with this chance of a lifetime.” says Shafirul with a rueful smile.