Promoting Kota Belud through dances

7 May 2024

By AVV

KOTA BELUD: Bayu Cultural Association, or better known as Windbreeze Cultural Association, has been chosen to represent Malaysia in an international competition known as "2024 Maikawa, The First World Group Dance Competition".

This association is well known for its dancers who seemed to be well-trained in a powerful form of expression that allows individuals to communicate emotions, thoughts, and stories through movement, gestures, and facial expressions. It provides a platform for self-expression, storytelling, and non-verbal communication.

However, this time, they were not just ordinary participants. The chairman of the Bayu Cultural Arts Association, Mohd Hairul Nazmie, also known as Syah Nazmie from Kota Belud, was invited and honoured to be one of the judges in the competition.

The selection of Mohd Hairul Nazmie as a jury in this competition was a recognition and respect for his artistic abilities and skills that were comparable to foreign countries. It was also a source of pride for Kota Belud and Malaysia as a whole.

Apart from Malaysia, there were also professional judges from countries such as Russia, Taiwan, Italy, Armenia, the United States, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and also from the host country, China. The presence of this international jury provided various perspectives and different evaluations in the competition.

“This competition involved nearly 4000 dancers of various ages from 20 countries around the world. They competed in various types of dances such as National and Traditional Dances, Modern / Contemporary Dance and Ballroom Dances, including Cha Cha, Tango, Waltz, Rumba, Quick Step among others,” he said adding that this time round, he performed solo, showing the international audience the creative moves of the Bajau Samah people of Kota Belud.

“I showed them the move of Limbai and Kuda Pasu,” he said.

Through this involvement, Windbreeze Cultural Association had the opportunity to promote art and culture from Malaysia, especially the traditional culture of Sabah, and culture of the Bajau people.

“We used the cultural exchange programme during the competition to introduce the uniqueness of our culture to participants from other countries,” he said, adding that this involvement was an important step in promoting cultural diversity and expanding understanding between countries in the world of art and culture.

This group has 25 members and is spread all over Kota Belud with some out of Kota Belud, Syah said, adding that he will be looking into forming a cooperative to look at the welfare of the members as well as to finance their further ventures into the international arena of dances.

“I am not very knowledgeable about cooperatives but I will ask the relevant authorities for more information,” he said.

On Windbreeze Cultural Association, he said it was founded in 2012 based in Kg.

Taungusi, Kota Belud, Sabah. It was initially known as Windbreeze Dance Company. The group had been actively involved and participating in various local and international festivals around the world.

WindBreeze mainly trained and performed traditional and folklore dances such as Sabah Traditional / Folk dance, Malay folk dances, Indian Classical dance Bharatanatyam, Contemporary / Modern, Jazz, Ballroom and Commercial dances. Their dancers were trained to play traditional Musical instruments such as the Kulintangan, Gong and Gendang among others.