Swatari & Eid @Dewan Perdana FELDA

Last Sunday evening I was at Dewan Perdana FELDA attending a graduation ceremony of Swatari Dance School an annex of Pak Ngah Production owned by my celebrity friend Datuk Suhaimi Mohd Zain. Since it is still Shawal we also had an Eid dinner. In Malaysia Eid is celebrated for the whole month. Here are the family members of the students:

Food may not be the highlight of the evening but I would not miss out on traditional Malay food. There was no real rush because it is free-flow throughout the evening and everybody took their time and enjoying the show.

Though Eid is in its third week but it is nice to see the traditional ketupat, lemang and rendang being served. My tummy probably got tired of it but my eyes still like to have a feast. It is reassuring that I am in Malaysia and it is still Eid.

Though the dress code that evening was Malay traditional but there is always a guy who missed on crucial information. There he is my friend Syed Hassan in his maroon jacket and dark polo shirt together with his family and the famous Pak Ngah or officially called Datuk Suhaimi Mohd Zain.

Majority of the Swatari students are young children. They learn the many disciplines of Malay traditional dance and also get the chance to travel overseas for some cultural exchange. They may not be sharp with their moves but Swatari stresses much on discipline.

There is also a group of Japanese students who studied Malay traditional dance under Swatari. They stayed in Kuala Lumpur for two years. With their full Malay traditional dress I didn't realized that they were Japanese initially. Their movements were graceful and it is hard to believe that they spend two years just to learn Malay traditional dance.

The Swatari group visited Japan mid this year and they were well taken care off. The children enjoyed themselves and learned much from the trip.Here is the top Japanese official receiving a token from Pak Ngah for her dedication and the hospitalilty.

Here is the young teen group displaying their flare in Zapin style and a mix of Silat. It is quite breathtaking to see they flipped and turned in mid-air and yet moved gracefully to the Zapin music. Incidentally the music was remixed by me with new rhythm arrangemnent of Arabic Darbuka and Indian Tabla. The piece actually was part of the music lesson I conducted at Pak Ngah Production last year. Nobody told me that they were going to use it for the show. They also brought the music to Japan. The Japanese seemed to like it very much.

The Swatari students who have graduated could joined the Swatari professional group if they are good enough. The Swatari group won a Gold Award for the best performance at the Asian Youth Arts Festival this year in China. They really deserved it for their dedication and hard work. For this group of young students their future in Malay traditional dance is about to begin.