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The Matrix of Cultural Identities in Indian and Malay Dances
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Copyright Year | 2017 |
| Abstract | In 2001, soon after arriving in Singapore, I had the opportunity to work with Som Said's Sri Warisan Performing Arts group for a Buddhist production (The Fifth Lotus, Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society Performing Arts Company in collaboration with Hua Yan Buddhist Society, Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts Ltd and the Chinese Opera Institute, 27 May 2002, Victoria Theatre). I had envisaged the work The Fifth Lotus which highlighted the lives of the women who played an important role in Lord Buddha's life. In this production the different participating dance genres — Indian (Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathakali), Malay and Chinese opera/dance — would remain true to their own cultural traditions and aesthetic sensibilities within the given storyline. In the narrative where Buddha is searching for salvation and is disturbed by heavenly damsels or apsaras, I had invited Som Said (Malay dance exponent) to choreograph the role of the heavenly damsels for artistes of her group which could then be integrated into the narrative. The heavenly damsels consisted of a group of my students (Indian dancers from Mumbai, India, and local Singaporean Indian dancers), Chinese opera/dance artistes from Chua Soo Pong's Chinese Opera Institute and Som Said's Malay dance group. Som very gently took me aside and told me that her cultural ethos would not allow her to bow down to Buddha but she could choreograph in such a way that the heavenly damsels could show respect to Buddha through movement. With this settled between us, the production was staged successfully; but it set me thinking on Malay and Indian dances and the factors that affect both these styles in Singapore. While appearing similar, in certain areas such asadhering to traditional modes and cultural constructs in dance and similar factors affecting the growth of dance in both dance communities, on further study it appeared that there are interesting differences in the way the practitioners of this art differed in their approaches. In a similar instance years later, when I worked with Som Said's Malay dancers again led by her son Adel, I had a different experience. The project was a staging of the Ramayana (Rama Katha, Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society Performing in collaboration with Kanaka Sabha Performing Arts, Mumbai, Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts Ltd, 26 June 2009, Jubilee Hall) in which the Malay dance artistes who were playing the role of fisher folk in the dance enactment had to bow to Rama, the main protagonist of the epic Ramayana. But in this case there were no hitches as Ramayana was not only a story associated with the Hindu religion but was also part of the larger cultural ethos of Southeast Asia. |
| Related Links | https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/chapters/edit/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9781315661865-11&type=chapterpdf |
| Ending Page | 67 |
| Page Count | 17 |
| Starting Page | 51 |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781315661865-11 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| Publisher Date | 2017-09-19 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Book Name: Evolving Synergies Asian Studies Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society Som Said Performing Warisan Som Said Worked with Som |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Chapter |
