'Tak ada Rotan, Akar pun Berguna'

 Sumazaw Dance with Annie @ALC   Yangon

Well, one of the many things which I have learnt while trailing my better half on his tour of duty is to be every ready at all times. Come what may, rain or shine - we have to always be on our toes. 

One such example was when we were posted to Yangon and I had to represent my country at one ALC coffee morning organized by the host country. We were not only requested to be present at the function  but also to perform a dance or any cultural performance depicting our nation. 

As my dear better half always said to me:  'M, you have two left legs, so you may not able to follow the steps of any dance ...' Hu hu hu :( and absolutely, I agreed with him. But, what would I do if at that crucial time we need to perform and to safe face our community and country? 

We were not able to bring in our professional cultural troupe from homeland, mainly of time and budget constraint, hence we have to make do with what we have in Yangon at that crucial time - the availability of the people, the music, the time to practice (only three days) and the costumes. 

I was able to coax and rope in Annie to join me to show case the performance at the Big Day. But, who would teach us the dance steps. Luckily, we have ZR who was willing to teach us some simple steps of Sumazaw Dance, from the State of Sabah (east Malaysia). For three days, we practiced the dance and memorized the steps. Indeed, it was not easy for me who has 'two left legs' yet, alhamdulilah it was manageable. Thanks to ZR who was very patience with me :))

Finally, when the big day arrived, both Annie and I proudly performed one of our Malaysian traditional dances in front of the spectators. We may not be the best or the so called professional dancers, but indeed we did make our beloved country proud with our performance. 

This is what I meant by 'Tak ada Rotan, Akar pun Berguna' meaning if we do not have the original or the best of the best, the second best would do. Most importantly we have to make do with what resources we have, and to give our very best in whatever we do!