The dancers effortlessly move with grace. Feet gliding through openings in the bamboo drums then leaving as quick as they came with a snap.
On February 20th, Freshman Mary Mawi and her fellow dancers performed a traditional Burmese Filipino folk dance at Netrix Hall high school in an assembly to celebrate all cultures. By participating, she brought with her the culture and diversity which she values so much.This excellent opportunity and performance allows all of them to share their culture and special traditions with their peers and spectators.
“I had a lot of fun and just learning Filipino culture and then just embracing my own culture, Burmese culture,” Mawi said. “It was just a great experience.”
A blending of different cultures, this dance appeals to a large audience and brings a rich history.
“Bamboo dance is a folk dance, shared by different ethnic groups of Asia like the Philippines, the Chin people of Myanmar, the Mizo people of India, and so much more,” Dancer and lead organizer San Lek Lun said. “But every group has a different interpretation behind bamboo dance, which is what makes bamboo dance so diverse and important.”
For them, this is more than just a dance at a high school. There is great meaning and much to share that performing it is able to bring to life.
“In Zomi tradition, bamboo dance symbolizes harmony and peace with nature and humans and is performed at many big Zomi events to honor the tradition that our past ancestors have passed down to us to share and celebrate,” Lun said.
“There was one performance for bamboo dancing, however, this one performance included two different bamboo dance techniques which included Tinkling and Zomi traditional bamboo dance,” Lun said.
In total, there were eight performers with four girls being the dancers and four boys being the bamboo hitters. To organize such a group and acquire necessary materials, much preparation had to be done leading up to performance day.
“Independently, the planning of this performance took me about two months to prepare and gather people. However, in total, it took about five months to practice and decide on clothing and the necessary materials,” San Lek Lun said.
To perform such an intricate dance, lots of practice was the only way to ensure a successful dance. Especially since the majority of performers had never executed such a dance before.
“It was hard when first starting out,” Drummer Joseph Thang said. “You had to be careful of not hitting your own fingers together as well as the dancers feet while trying to stay on beat with the music,”
With much time, practice, and perseverance, everything was performed smoothly and safely.
“I actually figured pretty much all of it out during our practices, which really helped us learn our own part as well as working with each other,” Drummer Callum McCoy said.
Aside from being a beautiful way to share one’s culture, this dance practice time brought these performers closer together, creating new friendships along the way.
“I wanted to participate in the dance because I felt it was a perfect opportunity to get a new experience as well as meet new people and try something really unique that I haven’t done before,” McCoy said.
For those with little experience, they were able to support and help each other for greater success.
“Layla and San Lek just really helped me a lot and they really guided us all through everything so props to them,” Mawi said.
“My learning experience with bamboo dance was amazing and a little frustrating at first because of trying to get the timing right but as time went on I got the timing right and the technique perfectly and overall a fun experience,” Drummer Zephaniah Jarmon said.
As teenagers, organizing their performance independently all to spotlight their culture is inspiring. Intentionally showing how proud they are of their heritage.
“I think just showing people just a glimpse of how beautiful and great our culture can be it’s such a great thing to me,” Mawi said. “Sharing it and embracing it honestly I think was really important to me.”
