Basically, I didn’t know much about this royal dance but I learn that this dance is very unique and considered quite controversial in the state of east coast of Malaysia from which it comes from, Kelantan. During our last class, our lecturer discusses with us a scene from a play called In The Name Of Love by Ramli Ibrahim. That scene was about an elderly woman sharing her view and her first hand experience as a former dancer of Mak Yong.
I am intrigued by her local Malay dialect; it is just like a fresh breath of air that I really welcome after our discussion over a scene from two plays by two major playwrights, Macbeth by William Shakespeare and A Night Out by Harold Pinter. It’s really nice to study on the local play that is culturally familiar to you and could easily relate to.
The dance is actually some kind of traditional musical theatre. in the past the dance can only be watch by the royals and the aristocrats. but nowadays, the dance can be watch by anyone who are interested in the dance.
These actors and actresses of this dance recite their lines in Kelantanese. i used to think that mak yong is just an ordinary dance but my Kelantanese friends told me otherwise. They told me that the dance contains some old rituals that idolizing the spirits... in other words, the dancers are worshipping the spirits but at the same time, their faith is Islam.
Therefore, you can see that something is not quite right... I think this is the main reason why the state's government of Kelantan banned the mak yong dance, and totally can understand that... under Islamic rule, it is wrong to worship anything other than Allah...
As the saying goes...there must be a reason behind every actions that we made...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment