The Dance Pilgrim

From 25 April-2 May 2009, the ASWARA dancers were in the Philippines for the 1 st International Dance XChange Workshop and Festival 2009. This event was organized in conjunction with International Dance Day, which was instituted by UNESCO in 1982 and falls on 29 April each year. This event was organized by the National Committee for Dance, which is a division of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) and is similar to the Ministry of Culture and Arts here in Malaysia. The entourage of ASWARA consisted of four male dancers and five female dancers who were students of the Year Two Diploma Programme, and myself as the Head of Delegation. This was a trip of many firsts. This was my first visit to the Philippines and I was naturally filled with anticipation, both about the country and the actual festival. I did not know what to expect as the scope and intensity of the festival were not mentioned in the letter of invitation. As always, I called on my ‘go with the flow' me

The Slave Princess in Kota Kinabalu Teo May Jean; Photo: James Quah The production of The Slave Princess was staged on 28-29 August 2009 at the Tun Raffae Auditorium Yayasan Sabah and was organized by The Dance Society of Malaysia, the Rotary Club of Tanjung Aru, The Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu (SPArKS) and SRJK Chung Hwa KK and Living Hope Malaysia. The performance was staged as a fund-raising performance for SRJK Chung Hwa Building Fund, Jireh Home, and PACOS Trust. The production of The Slave Princess choreographed by Lee Yupin, was last staged at the Istana Budaya in November 2007 with Bryan Chan and Ellyn Chew and Suhaili Ahmad Kamil as the leads but this East Malaysia production featured a new and younger cast. Prior to this, there was a 1999 staging which was danced by Too Cyndee and Umesh Shetty which indicates that it is a production that has the ability to showcase the talents and provide a platform for the best ballet dancers in Malaysia of a particula