(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Talented cultural performers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) will take centre stage at Katara € the Cultural Village starting tomorrow to showcase their rich cultural heritage.
Malaysian Ambassador Ahmad Jazri Mohamed Johar told Gulf Times that visitors will witness a unique and colourful Asean Festival, which runs until Saturday.
"We will be bringing 22 professional troupes from the Department of Culture and Arts of Malaysia to perform cultural dances and showcase our traditional costumes on stage," he explained.
Performances will include set of dances comprising the cultures of Malays, Chinese, Indian, Sabah and Serawak.
Johar noted that the Department of Culture and Arts of Malaysia takes charge of cultural presentations, drama, and events carried out by full time performers. It also organises various theatre plays in Malaysia.
Twentyeight Indonesian performers will also join the shows set from 6pm to 10pm.
Other Asean member countries such as the Philippines will bring some of its most talented performers from Manila who will display a series of cultural dances.
Members of the research-based folk dance group 'Kaloob Philippine Music and Dance Ministry' had performed in Lefkas International Folklore Festival in Lefkada, Greece in 2012. They also performed at the Earthdancers Festival in Athens.
"While highly fascinating - breathtaking even, Kaloob performances are more powerful because you know that what you're watching is authentic, centuries-old and fast fading from our collective memory," the group said on its website. "Probably nowhere in the world is cultural anthropological research more beautiful."
Kaloob added that it pays attention to every detail, discovering the meanings of each body movement, even the smallest gestures and the minutest twitch, or the significance of drones and patterns of melodies of music in their indigenous setting.
The Asean festival will also feature a set of Thai traditional dances which include Dance of the Four Regions, Srivijaya Dance, and Serng Kratip Dance.
Dance of the Four Regions, a creation of Thailand's Fine Arts Department, is a combination of short dance, representative of each of the four geographical regions in Thailand (northern, southern, northeast and central).
Srivijaya is the second in a set of five archaeological dances conceived by Dhanit Yupho, director general of the Fine Arts Department, in 1967.
The Srivijaya period extended from the eight to the 13th centuries and its influence expanded from Indonesia to cover the southern part of Thailand.
The choreography is based on images on the great stupa of Borobudo in Central Java and other artefacts of the Srivijaya period. The melody was also composed in Javanese style.
Serng Kratip hails from the northeastern part of Thailand, also known as Isaan. It depicts the fun-loving nature of the Isaan people and reflects the life of the people in an agriculture-based society who dance to entertain themselves during the harvest season.
The dance shows the gestures and movements of female dancers while they are carrying food to their men folk working in the field. Each dancer, therefore, has a typical sticky rice basket made of bamboo, known as Kratip, fastened to her waist.
The festival will also feature two singers from Brunei Darussalam's capital. Local talents of Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam will also perform at the festival.
Johar, also the vice chairman of the Asean Committee in Doha, said they will also feature various Malaysian products and handicraft such as batik, silk materials, shirts, and shoals.
Asean member countries will also hold tourism promotion activities at the festival to showcase the beauty of respective countries.
"There will be plenty of things that would be available to the public during this festival," said Johar.
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