Dance has always played a part in each and everyones life especially in my life.

In Malaysia, dance can be categorized into several types which are traditional dance and modern dance. Traditional dance includes court-classical dances, folk dances, ethnic-tribe dances, and dances from ethnic communities such as Chinese, Indian, and Portuguese. Being a former British colony, modern dance which includes ballet and contemporary dance is also thriving. Contemporary dance in Malaysia is not restricted to Western modern and contemporary dance, but includes contemporary Malaysian dances that include Chinese, Indian, Malay, and ethnic issues. My best friend has always been the word dance itself. Ive learn to dance since a very young age. Even though I did not get my formal lessons but my yearning for dance was incompatible. Being an Indian dancing Malay traditional dance may look awkward and having thoughts that, by choosing dancing as our career doesnt promises a luxury life, but many have proved that this traditional mind set can be broken. A successful dancer has once said, When you have passion for dance, it will come to you gradually and I truly believe in this words. With that deep passion of dance, I began my intriguing journey in secondary school. I joined various non-governmental organizations to learn more about the world of dance. With the help of friends and teachers, I got to know many professional dancers and learnt various traditional dances from them. I was actively involved in the club activities organized by the organizations that I joined. While most people sleep on Sunday morning, I woke up early in the morning to go for my practices. As I was developing myself to become a dancer, I also realized that my passion and yearning for dance was growing large day by day. With several friends in school who has the same passion as mine, we began to perform for our school events. As we dont have a choreographer, I begin to choreograph for the performances based on my knowledge on dance. At the same time I also began to develop myself into a good dancer and realized what I need to achieve to be a good dancer. As a challenge to ourselves, we began to join competitions and performed at other events outside school. With my own initiative, I joined my friends from the club to perform at different events and level. I slowly made my way to joining my friends to perform at national level events. This enable me to know various successful dancers and explore more about dancing because I was told that to learn dancing is not a oneday learning process. Theres neither birth and nor death for dance. As I was deeply immersed with my passion I was challenged with many obstacles that I had to go through. Among them was the objection from my family towards my passion in dancing. My parents did not really like me dancing as they felt that I was being lacked off in studies and most of the time I was not in the house because I was busy with my performances and practices. So, they stopped me from joining those clubs and organization. Besides, the principal of my school at that moment feels that being the only all

boys school in the state ,it is not right for boys to dance traditional dance as he feels its more feminine and so he banned us from dancing. So I can only join my friends from the organizations I joined. As I couldnt face the obstacles, almost a year I did not dance at all till I decide to shift to another school where dancing is widely accepted. Since I did not dance almost for a year my body wasnt flexible as it used to be, so it took quite a long time for me to get back on the track. There were times where I was about to give up, but then I look back at my life that since Ive not achieved anything in my life, and on that day I said to myself that no matter what I do, I will be a successful dancer one day. From that day onwards, each time I perform, I perform as if Im performing for my life. I had the opportunity to perform in front of various VIPs including the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Yang di-Pertuan Agong and for so many times as well. My School was also awarded the national level most active culture and arts club. If the education department needs dancers for any event, they would definitely select my school as we are the best and famous dance team in Pahang State. I was even praised by the Dean of the Dance Faculty of ASWARA, Joseph Gonzalez and he said that I should have join ASWARA but I refused and said that I will fulfill my parents wish first which is to become a teacher and then Ill continue my passion cause I know that I will not forget my best friend, dance. Not only that, Mr. Joseph Gonzales once has said that dance chooses you, you don't choose dance. As my dancing skills improve, I also begin to learn other dances as well because I realized that dancing is a very wide field. Ive been learning from Cha-cha to the Arabian belly dance and I hope to learn all the dances in the world. In future I would like to be a well known choreographer and a professional dancer. I hope that my journey wouldnt just end like that. To me, dance is everything. It's a stress relief, creative outlet, the love of my life. It's my passion. When I do it, I'm happy. When I don't do it, I'm depressed. Dance is absolutely my life. I love it more than anything in this world. It brings me joy and a sense of accomplishment. My life revolves around dance. It's all I think about first thing in the morning and right before I go to bed. Dance is the only way for me to reach to the outer world. Dance might be an exercise certain people and maybe just a hobby to some, but dance is always a form of art that expresses peoples feeling for me.