Ulik Mayang

The other traditional dance that i have chose to write about is the Ulik Mayang dance. The reason is because I have always been curious about what exactly Ulik Mayang is? If its a form of dance, then why do people talked about ghost stories associated with the 7 spirit of the Ulik Mayang princesses? So I got on the net and this is what I found out. Ulik Mayang dance in its traditional version, is a worship dance. It is originated from Terengganu. In this dance, the dancers use 'mayang pinang' (strings of arecanut's flowers or known as palm ford). While dancing, the 'mayang pinang' will be shaked until the person holding it feels that the 'mayang pinang' alives or moves by itself then it is given to another dancer!!! The dance was once performed to worship the spirit of the sea ( the 7spirit of the sea princesses). The dancing always begins with a person who is suffering from illness either when he catches fish, in the paddy field or any other daily activities in the society. The patient will then healed by a bomoh, a traditional Malay doctor in the traditional way. Seven actors beautifully dressed represent the 7 princesses who come to visit the patient when the bomoh is treating him. Kemayan will be burnt together with chanting of pantun and dancing through the whole performance. However, nowadays the beliefs of spirits has vanished and the dance is performed just for fun.Although Tarian Ulek Mayang was once a folk ritual ceremonial in the Malay society, with its gentle and graceful movement, it has become one of the beautiful traditional dancing in Terengganu culture. Some of these dances remain part of the agenda during certain occasion or ceremony, such as in a wedding or in a formal official function during which the complete set of music instrument will be used and the entire story of the dance will be carefully performed. I think that this is a unique dance.

Mak Yong

If it were not for this task (blog writing about Mak Yong), I would never know about Mak Yong dance the way I do now. Before this, all I know about Mak Yong is that it is a form of dance that was originated in Kelantan. But after doing some research about it in the internet, i got to know more about Mak Yong dance. I found out that, Mak yong is actually originated in Patani (southern Thailand) and spread into Kelantan, Malaysia. After reading all the information about Mak Yong, I think that this dance must be really unique and interesting. Why else that even UNESCO would proclaimed the Mak Yong as one of the 'old heritage' in the Oral and Intangible Heritage and Humanity category in 2005! Mak Yong dance was considered as a 'masterpiece' in performing arts. Programmes were being planned on how they could preserve this valuable performing arts. One of it is through international cultural conference in which all of the masterpiece proclaimed performing arts will be performed so people from all over the world could see it. But the irony is that, while the foreigners giving Mak Yong the most highly recognition of any performing arts could possibly get, sadly, Mak Yong didn't get the same treatment from us, the local, Malaysians. Well, maybe not all Malaysians. I know there are people out there who work hard to preserve this ancient heritage.
I remember we were also asked by Dr. edwin to find out the reason of why this dance was banned in Kelantan by the state government in 1991. So, according to the article that I read in the internet, it is because there are some elements that was associated with the dance that is against Islam. since then, mak yong dance was banned from being performed publicly. However, nowadays Mak Yong is actually still being performed in Kelantan though it was performed in a smaller group and only being performed during special occasion for instance for tourist viewing. Even though I never see the dance in real life, I hope someday I'll get to see it. And to those people who worked hard to keep the existance of this precious performing arts, I wish you all the best.