Dikir Barat & Dance practices

Dikir Barat is a famous cultural performance which is specially originated from Kelantan. Since, we are in Kelantan so we had a marvelous chance to learn this magnificent norm here. A former music lecturer from IPKB itself, Encik Ghani was assigned to be our educator for this traditional dance, Dikir Barat. The lesson begun in February 2008.



After finishing a few lessons from him, we were so ready to perform one Dikir Barat during Budi Bahasa Budaya Kita campaign. We have been practicing for about 3 weeks before the performance. We have taught a lot of new stuffs, as well the certain stuffs that we never knew before.

Next, we have to perform another Dikir Barat in IPTI during TESL Camp. We choose Dikir Barat as it is very famous in Kelantan and it represents Kelantan tradition and culture. As for dance, after few sessions of practice and discussion we finally decided to pick two types of dance which are ‘Menora’ or also known as ‘Tarian Menghadap Balai’ and also ‘Wau Bulan Dance’. Every week we had three times of practice for dance which is on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon for two hours each session and also two times practice for Dikir Barat at night.



So far, we have practice lots of steps from the dancing class. It looks quite simple and easy at first but when we tried, it is very difficult especially when we have to learn two types of dances at the same time, but after all it was fun and enjoyable. We have to use both mental and physical strength and ability in order to dance well. We felt very lucky to have the chance to learn and experience this. It was not easy to have this kind of opportunity, for us to learn other culture and custom. It is very valuable and like elders said; luck won’t easily come to you, it is you who should find it and grab it.