The Dance Pilgrim

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

Photo: Courtesy of KL DanceWorks On 9 and 10 January 2010, Istana Budaya was the hub of ballet in Malaysia. In a programme organised by KL Danceworks Production and Ena Ballet Studio, and presented by KNM Group Bhd with Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd as the main sponsor, it provided a glorious evening of ballet that will remain with fans for a very long time. The evening was a double-bill beginning with Paquita . This classical repertoire was first choreographed by Joseph Mazilier with music by Edouard Deldevez for the Paris Opera Ballet. However, in 1847, it was staged for the Imperial Ballet in Russia by19 th century maestro Marius Petipa with addttional music by Ludwig Minkus, and has enjoyed a present-day rejuvenation through the new choreography by Natalia Makarova, the legendary Prima Ballerina of the Kirov Ballet, before she defected to the west and worked with the American Ballet Theatre and England's The Royal Ballet and more. This production for Malaysia feature