The most engrossing dance; that would be zapin!

As far as I am concern, the dance is famous in the southern part of Malaysia, Johor. During the yesteryears, I only watched the zapin performance in the television. It is entertaining and engrossed me at the same time. Fortunately, last two years, I have this golden chance to watch the zapin performance live. I was stunned for the whole performance; at the very start to the very end.
For its engrossing and fast movement, it does catch my eye. The combination of the melodious melody (by the traditional music ensemble which are gambus, rebana or drum) with the delightful movement resulted the impressive effect for me to watch the show with enduring obsession, which I believe to others as well.
What is so special about this dance? Well, I would say the movement and the rules that had been set in this dance. In terms of movement, they move uniformly and very fast indeed. In addition, I like the “lifting” part; where at first, the ladies lift up their right knee with the hands bend to the knee level and come the men from the back row do the same action. I found out that this is the best part of zapin.
With regards to the rules, in zapin, only the right hand is allowed to move while the left hand is not moving since it has to do a special task. The edge of “sampin” that the performers wear is being rolled (with its special technique) in the left hand and to be hold firmly. So, the left hand remain unmoved but holding the rolled-edge of “sampin’ during the performance. It might have its significance which I don’t know.
The most interesting thing about this dance is that, now, the government of Johor is putting so much effort in popularize this dance by the participations of the children aged below 12. Hopefully this traditional could be preserved with its authentic identity and values that it brings along as the precious cultural heritage of Malaysia.