Malaysian performing arts practice, like its context, is an exercise in contradiction. It is largely autonomous from government but never free of intervention either from the authorities themselves, or from conservative censorious segments of the public. It has a very specialized influence, with small audience penetration even though it is strongly community-based and engaged in the issues affecting Malaysian society. It is frequently multidisciplinary and cross-pollinating, but nearly always divided along linguistic and formal (theatre / dance / music) lines. The performing arts are often discussed as a whole, yet this is too much of a generalization to do justice to what is, in the end, diverse and exciting artistic inquiry: collectives of practitioners moving in all directions. An overview of contemporary performing arts in Malaysia, is hardly comprehensive. History provides a chronological account of flow of Malaysian performing arts from pre-Independence to the present day. Infrastructure and Support Systems, goes over exactly that audiences, spaces, funding and grants, existing programmed and festivals for a general sketch of the circumstances in which work is performed. Issues discussed, is referring miscellaneous issues facing the arts community today.
Based to West Malaysia’s history as a meeting point for exchange, the art-forms considered to be part of the peninsula’s indigenous cultural heritage have regional foundations: from Kelantan and Terengganu’s Wayang Kulit (Hindu-epic shadow puppet theatre with Javanese roots), to Negeri Sembilan’s Randai (martial arts-inflected arena theatre of Minangkabau origin). Even so, most have since evolved their own distinct, syncretic qualities for example, the dance theatre Mak Yong, practiced principally in Kelantan, maybe also be performed as ritual theatre part of the shamanistic Main Puteri healing rites.
While these forms, like Mak Yong, had ritualistic or ceremonial duties, they were nevertheless deeply seated in their communities, bringing together whole villages to participate in the spectacle, and often for days on end: these performances, in their traditional iterations, functioned more as fetes than discrete shows. The influx of immigrants from China and the Indian subcontinent brought new forms and methods of performance; classical Indian dance and Chinese percussion, for example, continue to have their boundaries pushed today.
The 1980s also saw the rise of Islamic revivalism; in the performance, this translated into the intelligentsia of Malay-language practice re-evaluating the relationship between their beliefs and art-making specifically, whether the trends in the performance (like Absurdist malay-language theatre) was nihilistic, godless, and therefore contrary to Islam. Many practitioners stopped working altogether. Academic Carmen Nge, in her survey of Malaysian theatre, writes that:
“A notable exception is Noordin Hassan, who continued to create plays such as 1400 and Jangan Bunuh Rama-Rama but with a more explicit Islamic and religious thrust. Government-sponsored theatre took on the mantle of encouraging drama with Islamic themes, hence the 1981 Prime Minister’s Department-sponsored playwriting competition on Islamic drama.”
This religiosity also gave rise to a sense of moral outrage; conservative authorities throughout the 1990s censored performances on the grounds of religious and moral indecency: productions of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” and Tennessee William’s “A Street Car Named Desire”, and Malaysian plays such as Dina Zaman’s “Pengganggur Terhormat” were among those who fought highly-publicized battles with censors for containing un-Islamic themes; the state governments of Kelantan and Terengganu, under the rule of PAS, the Malaysian Islamic Party, banned Mak Yong, Main Puteri, and Wayang Kulit in 1991 for the fact that these forms had pre-Islamic origins.
Malaysian performance practice is most exciting when engaged with its context. It is in theatre that this is most apparent: socio-political commentary is no stranger to the floorboards. Five Art Centre (founded by Krishen Jit, Marion D’Cruz and Chin San Sooi)’s interrogations of Malaysian-ness and Instant Cafe Theatre (founded by Jo Kukathas, Andrew Leci and Jit Murad and Zahim Albakri), political satire have entertained and challenged audiences; from Kee Thuan Chye’s “We Could Kill You Mr Birch” (1984), Shahimah Idris’s “From Teluk Intan To Table Mountain” (presented by KualiWorks), to Jit Murad’s “Gold, Rain and Hailstones” (most recently presented by Dramalab) and Ridzwan Othman’s “Flies and Foreigners” (2004, Instant Cafe Theatre), Malaysian plays have dealt with issues as diverse as the clash of East and West, Feminism, and the perception of migrant workers.
Multilingual work is rife: Mark Teh’s “Dua, Tiga Dalang Berlari” (2007), about the clash between two rival Wayang Kulit masters, featured a text delivered in Malay, Hokkien and English. The production of original texts has been helped along by initiatives such as Instant Caf Theatre’s First Works programme, a workshop for new playwrights. The Actors Studio and the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) both in encouraging the work of young up-and-comings, both individual and collective. The staging of existing performance texts happens quite frequently, but these tend to be foreign works from the English-language canon. Adaptations to the local context and straight reproductions happen frequently, to varying degrees of critical acclaim. One theatre company, Gardner & Wife, almost exclusively functions by bringing in foreign English-language pop-entertainment theatre productions.
Malaysia is internationally known for ground-breaking work in Indian classical dance, particularly in the traditions of Odissi and Bharata Natyam. Dominating this genre is Temple of Fine Arts(founded in 1981) and Sutra Dance Theatre(1983) the latter of which, started by renowned practitioner Ramli Ibrahim, hosted “Stirring Odissi”, a massive Odissi festival, just this year. These organizations have produced a fine number of dancers and choreographers, such as Umesh Shetty. Shetty’s work, in particular, belies the instinct for traditional dance practitioners to push boundaries: his dance-and-music work “Inside Out”(presented by Inner Space in 2004) infused classical Indian movement with modern sensibilities. Contemporary dance is no less exciting: pioneered by Marion D’Cruz and Dancers (“Urn Piece”) in the 1980s and 1990s, D’Cruz’s work currently continues to explore the potential poetry in the movement in untrained, non-dancer performers. Among other notable contemporary choreographers (these are frequently active performers themselves) include Judimar Hernandez, Gan Chih Pei, Azizi Sulaiman, Zulkifli Muhamad, Junainah Lojong, and Steve Goh. Contemporary dance’s most exciting coherent genre today is the Japanese form Butoh: represented by choreographers / performers Lena Ang (“PINK!” in 2008, presented by Taro Ensemble), and Lee Swee Keong (“Curse of the Forbidden Palace”, 2007). While discrete dance companies exist apart from Sutra and Temple of Fine Arts are groups such as Kwang Tung Dance Troupe, Dua Space Dance Theatre and Tandak Dance Theatre the Malaysian dance scene is fairly fluid, and practitioners tend to function as loose confederation of collaborating individuals. The MyDance Alliance, registered in 2001 as the local arm of the World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific, functions as a society aimed at fostering community.
A fairly strong tendency in contemporary performance practice is the striving towards more community outreach and engagement. The Taman Medan Community Arts Project (Five Arts, in 2002) and Rhythm in Bronze’s outreach programme in Prima Selayang (2007) both targeted low-income communities with socio-economic woes, in an attempt to encourage these populations to express themselves and therefore come to terms with their unique issues. In Penang, a collective of practitioners known as Arts Ed run Anak-anak Kota, a programme for school-age youth that introduces them to the heritage and history of Georgetown. Mark Teh brought his play about communists, “Baling (membaling)” to sports centres and colleges in an effort to connect a younger generation to alternate and forgotten histories. Young people are also a priority in programmes geared towards performance training and education. These began in earnest during the 1990s, with initiatives such as Five Arts Centre’s Teater Muda (begun by performing-arts-education advocate Janet Pillai), and the Actors Studio’s Academy, and aimed to foster interest in the performances and discover new talent. Success may be gauged by continuity. For example: former members of youth ensemble Akshen — which Five Arts took under their wing — now comprises the company’s second generation.
Most organisations now run such initiatives. The performances of children’s theatre companies such as The Jumping Jellybeans (run by Cinzia Ciaramicoli and Shantini Venugopal) always have a participatory component. Dance practitioners such as Mew Chang Tsing have spent years developing education regimens for young bodies; other organisations, such as Temple of Fine Arts, began as entities in service to their communities. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra has a youth ensemble, the Malaysian Youth Philharmonic Orchestra KLPac’s Sinfonietta , includes many under-20s talents.
A major issue in the Malaysian context is public support for the performing arts or, rather, its lack. Most institutions associated with what is now known as the Ministry of Culture, Arts, Heritage and National Unity, like the Istana Budaya, inherit the culture of apathetic bureaucracy that is endemic within the Malaysian government system. Appointed ministers serve their own party-political schema, rather than the serious evaluation about culture; from the top down, little thinking appears to have gone into the management of policy. (The Ministry’s newest proposal is an “Arts Village” in Kuala Lumpur, a mega-project with a multi-million-ringgit price tag and dubious practical use, since there appears to have been no consultation with the arts community at all.) The exercise of culture has never recovered from its pairing with tourism; the mindset remains, and initiatives by the state and federal bodies continue to push an economic agenda. It is pretty clear, however, that the Ministry’s direction continues to be a parochial interpretation of the National Cultural Policy’s prerogatives. When government funding benefits get to artists, it tends to flow to Malay practitioners and performances that purport ostensibly “Malay” culture and values though only a very narrow concept of Malay-Muslim that is championed; there is little space for self-examination, beyond an affirmation of nationalism and pious-ness.
A key to a wider performing arts practice and a wider audience is education: encouragements in the younger generation an interest in artistic pursuits. While performing arts organizations do their best to reach out, instruct, and disseminate information, the crucial space in which such work should occurs the school classroom is largely neglected. In fact, the Malaysian education system, with its emphasis on technical and scientific disciplines, has become reasons for its discouraging of the creative arts. Obviously, better strategies must be devised. Still, the consensus is that audience attendance is on the rise; there exists an urban youth demographic, sensitive to creative cultural activity. Fusing with modern strategies of dissemination, such as Internet networking mean that attention to the performing arts is on the increase.
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Ismail, Azman(2009) Teater Malaysia miskin penggiat dan khalayak, http://www.dbp.gov.my/lamandbp/main
Performance For Children 