I Kid You Not: The art of Malay dance | Offstage

In this episode, Maisarah and Sharifah team up to talk about asli, while Aleesyah and Sarah give us an introduction to zapin. The four young dancers trace the origins of two out of five—other styles are inang, masri and joget—traditional Malay dance forms, which are all hundreds of years old. Zapin is a fast-paced dance that is heavily influenced by other cultures and was once only danced by men, while asli is a slow, graceful dance that originated from the Malay peninsula, typically accompanied by pantun (poems). The girls demonstrate basic techniques that cut across different traditional styles and explain the key differences in asli and zapin, finishing with a flourish—a performance of both styles of dance. More on Esplanade Offstage.