One small step for man and a giant step for ASWARA!

I borrow and paraphrase from Neil Armstrong, the words he uttered when he set foot on the moon on 20 July 1969, as 75 young men and women enroll for ASWARA’s first intake of degree program students on the 6 January 2008. Of these, 18 will pursue a Bachelor of Dance with Honours majoring in either performance or choreography, and the rest in Music, Theatre, Film and Writing. It is a historic day for ASWARA in particular, and for the arts in Malaysia in general. It is even more historic as I remember the total enrollment of merely 10 full-time students 8 years ago in the Dance Diploma program that has now swelled to 80 - how we have grown! While there is a deep sense of awe and satisfaction with the journey thus far and the growing numbers, there comes with it a great sense of responsibility as I look ahead to the delivery of fresh content and subsequently to the finished products of these programs. I ponder the industry and wonder how education and professionalism will develop in Malaysia to accommodate these talents or better still, how these talents can push the proverbial envelope further?  

A few of these 18 undergraduates such as Aris Kadir and Shafirul Azmi Suhaimi for example, already have a certain reputation within the industry, having won numerous Boh Cameronian Arts Awards, Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage Awards and the most recent Datin Seri Endon Award awarded by YTL, Yayasan Budi Penyayang and the KLPAC. Others such as Lee Wen Yan, Sharip Zainal Sagkif Shek, Fairuz Tauhid, Lakshman Balakrishnan and Mohd Akmal Ayob may not household names yet, but have performed in large-scale professional productions such as Tunku the Musical, Puteri Gunung Ledang the Musical and P.Ramlee the Musical and have their own following. Some of them have also already taken prominent roles in local television drama series such as Anak Pontianak and Mas Kahwin. It could have been much easier to rest on their laurels, put their careers on cruise-control and stay in their comfort zones. I am certain that it has not been a simple decision to leave that ‘glamour’ behind or at least temporarily set it aside, to humble oneself to being a student once more. It certainly cannot be easy to forfeit financial security to be simply a student of dance once again.  

The present state of dance (and possibly, the arts in general) in Malaysia is such that it is filled with a large proportion of very talented people who have ‘day jobs’ or perhaps are ‘fortunate’ enough not to need to work as fulltime performers. While they pursue their interests and hobbies to a very high level that warrants producers to charge tickets that go up to hundreds of ringgit, the truth is that the degree of skill is still far behind that of most of Broadway or the West End, American Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet or other world class performance companies and spaces. There are exceptions to this such as the multi-talented Sean Ghazi who took the lead in P. Ramlee the Musical. If we narrow the discussion to strictly ‘dance performers’ in ballet or contemporary dance, the examples are few and far between, and we have to first go back about 20 years in history to Catherine Yong, Andrew Pan and Ng Teck Voon who all danced in reputable companies, while recent examples are Vik Sivalingam who has directed musicals, pantomimes and plays, and is currently employed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, while David Lee has been working continuously in London. He presently teaches and choreographers for reputable schools like Mount View after appearing in countless West End musicals. Other dancers like Vijay Nair, Mavin Khoo, Rathimalar Govindarajoo or Gayathri Vadiveloo found work using their Indian dance training to compliment their contemporary dance technique while Anthony Meh, Aman Yap, Choo Tee Kuang, Loke Soh Kim, Jay Jen Loo, Jack Kek and Wong Ji Shyiong took their wares to Hong Kong and Taiwan working with Hong Kong Contemporary Dance Company, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and others.

Malaysia cannot afford to have this ‘talent drain’. If we are to entice the best to remain in this country, then it is necessary here and now, to develop the sense and level of competition that in turn elevates standards and professionalism of performing arts. I remember auditions in London, standing with 300-400 people vying for the same job and being dismissed even before dancing or singing. This was based purely on the requirements of the particular role – height, weight, colour before actually auditioning your talent! These cold and callous dismissals were perhaps inhuman, but it did make you strong, and it certainly made you work harder to be better performers. To illustrate my point further, in Malaysia dancers are getting work through word of mouth, with no auditions or interviews necessary and hence, there is no feeling of achievement of having won through to the roles and jobs. It can be that easy in Malaysia because the numbers are small. However, it is dangerous for the industry to breed this complacency as complacency will in turn breed mediocrity.

Many of these talents now enrolled in the undergraduate program are already acknowledged and sought-after in the industry. The question is then, what more can they learn over the next three years? One of the most exciting features of the Diploma in Dance has been the concerted effort to be inclusive of all Malaysian ethnicities in its curriculum. In three years, the students receive training in Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sabah and Sarawak dance forms. Those who have excelled at the diploma level include Liu Yong Sean, currently on scholarship at the Korean National University of Arts and Mohd Yunus Ismail. These students have achieved a high level of competence in both traditional and contemporary forms and in the eyes of many independent choreographers are the best examples of the kind of Malaysian artist we wish to produce. They have enthralled their teachers to dreaming bigger dreams for them. As such the Bachelor of Dance with Honours (Performance) intends to push each of its students to achieving the highest levels in any one particular discipline of their choice with the intention that these graduates will be considered young masters of the chosen form. For example, if Indian dance is the selected major, then the final graduation performance will be a version of the arangetram or solo recital. This ‘coming out’ performance will be the validation of their virtuosity and make them invaluable in the industry. Thus we will have a cross-cultural training system that is unparalleled not just in this region but in the world! Students who are pursuing a Bachelor of Dance with Honours (Choreography) will have the opportunity to work in collaboration, stage their work in different spaces, and cull their talents even further. They will be required to learn to write proposals for sponsorship and grants, market their work, understand stage management and be proficient in aspects of artistic design in terms of lights, sound, costume and sets. Thus the level of achievement in proficiency looks extremely promising. This is going to impact the industry although the success of any program depends on the mentality of the individual graduate who could be inspired by Malaysian icons such as Ramli Ibrahim and Faridah Merican or just slip into the oblivion of commercialism.

One of the main worries of any parent whose child desires a career in performing arts regards career prospects. However, much like life – there are no guarantees. There is no failsafe method to achieving success or a gilded passage to fame and fortune. By no means is the future of the young undergraduates of ASWARA secure, but it certainly holds promise. There is much work to be done and there is a need for more people to be doing it. However, as we look with hope into the future of performing arts education, it is appropriate that we acknowledge those who chartered this course many years ago. We pay tribute to officers of the Ministry of Culture of the early 1990s, Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, Hatta Azad Khan, Mohd. Ghouse Nasuruddin for their contribution to arts education, as well as the late Krishen Jit, Hanafi Imam, Zakaria Ariffin and Mohd Anis Md. Nor who set the blueprint for ASWARA when it opened in 1994. Thank you, great people and I can only hope that we do not disappoint you. Godspeed young talents and undergraduates of ASWARA!