Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia Dance Festival.

OVER the past few weeks, we practiced the dance on Tuesday and Friday nights at the Malaysia Tourist Information Centre (Matic) to learnt the steps of the various dances for the Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia Dance Festival.

Arrived at Dataran Merdeka at 7.30am.

Colourful Balloon in the air...

"Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia dance carnival was introduced by the Ministry of Tourism last year and many people from around the world witnessed it as our dancers performed this at the Malaysian Pavilion in the recent Shanghai World Expo 2010 where about seven million people visited our pavilion," said Dr Ng. Yen Yen

Opening Speech from Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of the Prime Minister.

The Dance Started!

Satu Malaysia Dance incorporated seven dances representing the country's multi-culturalism: Zapin, Chinese dance, Indian dance, Sewang, Sabahan dance, Sarawakian dance and Malaysian Siamese dance.

It incorporates the dances of different ethnic groups throughout Malaysia and comprises the Malaysia Truly Asia dance, Zapin Bunga Hutan(Malay), Ma Ching Fei (Chinese), Jambatan Tamparuli (Sabah),Pattupadaya (Indian), Puteri Santubong (Sarawak), Tarian Orang Kita(Sewang) and Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia (a mix of the seven dances). All were put together to define the 1Malaysia concept.

Attired in colourful T-shirts, the crowd danced in unision, collectively forming a beautiful mass movement. The dance carnival, held for the second time after its successful staging last year, has been recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest dance troupe ever assembled in this country.

Dataran Merdeka here was turned into a huge dance floor yesterday morning more than 15,000 people from all walks of life, including foreigners, took part in the Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia dance carnival organised by the Tourism Ministry.