M’sian Students Win Gold Medal By Performing Sabahan Traditional Dance In International Competition

Wow, this is amazing! 

Yet again, Malaysians have made us proud by bagging the first prize in a dance competition in Portugal. According to Bernama, primary school students managed to snatch the gold with a Sabahan traditional dance named “Nambuyunan” for the duet/trio national and folklore category at the Dance World Cup 2019 in Braga, Portugal.

The winning performance was performed by Sekolah Kebangsaan Stella Maris students Ahmad Mikhail Damsal, Muhammad Fakhrul Afif dan Oscar Neil, who are all aged 10 to 12 years old. FYI, the competition took place from 29th June to 6th July 2019. 

The group’s dance choreographer, Abi Asyraf Afi Aji Lee, said that Nambuyunan incorporates bird feathers into the dance. The 29-year-old choreographer was quoted as saying,

“There were three dances performed in the competition, namely the Murut dance, the creatively-formed Sumazau and the Brunei dance. Each category has two entries.”

Fun fact: Nambuyunan means “crazy engraving” in the Murut tribe language. 

Source: bernama

Other than that, Abi revealed that the students managed to also to win the first and fourth place for the national and folklore solo categories. The names of the students who performed well in the solo category are mentioned below:

• Muhammad Fakhrul won a gold medal and “Most Outstanding Boy” by performing the dance, “Awang Alak Betatar”.
• Santiani Benjamin, 12, came in fourth after performing a traditional dance named, “Kinomulok”. 

Prior to this, Fakhrul only managed to get the 11th place in 2018 when he joined the competition last year. Fakhrul shared that the team remained focused, and they listened carefully to their coach’s every instruction even though they were up against 61 other countries from all around the world.

Well, we thank the dance troupe for making Malaysia proud on an international stage, and we wish them all the best for their future. Congrats, guys!

Also read: 20yo M’sian Wins International Squash Tournament in Australia After Beating Japanese Player