KUCHING: An 8-year-old has danced his way into the Malaysian contingent for the 27th World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA 2024) in Long Beach, California, in the US.
The championship will be held from July 1 to 5.
The pint-sized Sarawakian boy, Dion Das Louis, secured his place in the national team by winning the gold at the Malaysia Championship of Performing Arts grand final in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 27.
Dion's winning performance was his renditionof the traditional Dayak Iban "Ngajat" where he assumed the character of a little bird and danced to a music that has elements of the movements of Borneo's two majestic birds - the "Ruai" or the Great Malayan Argus pheasant and the " Kenyalang" or the hornbill.
His father, Louis Lansam, said his son's dance was choreographed to mimic the movement of the hornbill when it flew over the tree tops and the Ruai as it spread out its colourful plumage on the forest floor.
That dance had since earned him the moniker "Little Borneo Birdie".
Louis told Deputy Premier Douglas Uggah the feathers of the two birds will be prominent on the traditional costume Dion will wear at the championship.
He was accompanied by his wife Edina Lanying and Dion.
Louis said Dion, a year two pupil at SK Green Road here, has a natural talent for the Ngajat.
"I guess he inherited it from his my father (Dion's maternal grandfather) who was a well known Ngajat dancer from Nanga Entabai in Pakan, Sarikei," Edina said.
Pakan is a small rural town some 148km from here.
She said her father was often invited to perform at "big functions" here.
Both Louis and Edina will accompany their son to the championships.
Uggah said it is very heartening to note that a small boy like Dion is participating in a world class championship.
"We are very happy that a youngster from our communitycan make it to the world stage," he added.