This dance is my traditional dance. Be honestly,I proud to ibanese . The origin of this indigenous dance is not clearly known but it is believed to have been in existence along with the Iban tribe since the 16th Century. The Ngajat dance is believed to have been performed by warriors on their return from battles. Nowadays,this dance is performed to celebrate the most important harvest festival for my cultural ,called ‘Gawai’, to welcome important guests to the longhouses and so on. Not only for celebrate Gawai,this dance will perform by Ibanese during wedding and other ceremonies.
The male dancers wear large feathers as part of their headgear, hold an ornate and long shield in their hand with chains, beads and a loincloth called the ‘SIRAT’. The female dancers have an elaborate headdress, chains, beads and a ‘dress’ that reaches to below their knees with intricate weaving. Ngajat is not only the dance for the iban’s man,but also performed by the iban’s girls@ woman.
The dance is arranged straight lines and in a circle and does involve dramatic leaps and jumps performed by the male dancers.
Gongs and other ethnic percussion instruments such as the ‘enkeromong’, ‘bendai’, ‘canang’ and ‘dumbak or ketebong’ provide the music. The musicians may be either male or female.
The costume that the iban dancers wear is not only wearing for dancing , it also my traditional costume. In my culture,we have the competition (just like a games among ibanese) of the most beautiful iban girls and man by wearing this costume.
They wear this costume during that competition. This competition will be held when the Gawai festival is around the conner. The winner for the girl called KUMANG and for the guy called KELING. KUMANG means the beautiful,intelligent girls and knows NGAJAT DANCE very well. The Kumang should have this package to be crowned as the beauty queen and It goes the same to KELING. (Handsome,brave,intelligent and know ngajat dance well)
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