KOTA KINABALU: Dance teams from 12 countries took part in the two-day International Folk Dance Competition which ended last night at the Tun Ahmad Raffae Auditorium of Tun Mustapha Tower in Likas.
The 9th Sabah International Folklore Festival (SIFF) made a comeback as it was not featured last year.
South Korea, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Russia, India, Ghana, Egypt, Indonesia and Kazakhstan featured their respective unique folk dances and wooed the crowd on the first day of competition on Friday night.
The competition began with the first contestant from South Korea with its team from the Honam Sanjo Chum Research Center.
Bangladesh presented its Nitto Rong Org, a well-known team in their country, followed by the Dance Troupe of Tarlac State University Performing Arts representing the Philippines which came in third in 2012.
Sri Lanka also sent a colourful team from Ranranga Dance Academy for the competition, followed by Russia and India with teams from ROS and Charu Castle Foundation respectively.
Ghana amused the audiences that night with its team from NKRABEA Dance Ensemble’s foot-tapping and body-jigging folk dance, followed by another unforgettable team from Egypt, the El Sharkeia Folk Troupe showing its famous spinning skills.
Indonesia’s team from the Sanggar Kesenian Aceh Universitas Gadjah Mada was adorable with petite girls syncronizing every hand movement in a seated position while singing live.
The crowd were also excited to see the last team competing that night, the Exemplary Choreographic Ensemble ‘Sholpan’ from Kazakhstan, with its famous tall and beautiful ladies dancing the country’s folk dance which resembled the beauty and movement of swans.
Among the audince were guest of honour, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, who is Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment cum the organizing committee chairman of SIFF.
Day two of the competition continued last night while the winner of the competition will be determined by twelve juries from the respective countries, and three guest judges.
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