A Serendipitous Encounter With Felicia

I started this blog in May 2008 partly to promote dancing in Malaysia and partly because I enjoy dancing and blogging. This blog has enabled me to make acquaintances with many dance enthusiasts from around the world. About sixty five percent of the visitors to my blog are from Malaysia and the remaining thirty five percent from overseas, mainly North America, Europe, Australia and South East Asia. Among the regular visitors from overseas are some Malaysians who are working or studying abroad. A few of them have informed me that they follow my blog to keep abreast of the dance scene in Malaysia. Through my blog I had the pleasure of getting to know Dr Felicia Yap, originally from Kuala Lumpur and now domiciled in England.

Felicia, who is a lecturer in history at Wolfson College in the University of Cambridge is an avid ballroom dancer. Sometime last year, Felicia emailed me to inform that she would be back in Malaysia for a holiday in December and enquired about the places in Kuala Lumpur she could go to for some ballroom dancing. I recommended her the Kuala Lumpur Dancers' Association (KLDA) which has a big dance hall at the Wisma OCM in Jalan Hang Jebat. Unfortunately I was unable to meet up with her at the KLDA then due to some pressing matters I had to attend to. After returning to England, Felicia emailed me to let me know me she had a great time dancing at the KLDA with her partner, Alexander Plekhanov, an economist with a European bank in London.

Sometime in July of this year, Felicia informed me that Alexander and she will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur on August 15 for a holiday and also to compete in the 7th Crystal Dancesport Championship 2009 to be held at the Shangrila Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on August 3oth. She said they will be going to the KLDA on August 16 for a practice session and whether I would be free to meet up with them that day. I did meet up with them this time and we had a cordial tete-a-tete. Felicia and Alexander (image) come across as a tall, matching and attractive dance couple. I kept them posted about the local dance scene, the activities organized by the KLDA, etc. whilst they told me about the dance happenings in the UK, the Blackpool Dance Festival and so on.

Felicia and Alexander have been dancing together since 2004 and they compete regularly in the UK and USA. Both were in the Cambridge Dancesport Team and which recently defeated the Oxford Dancesport Team in the universities' annual dance competition. Felicia and Alexander who were also voted the best couple in the competition are thinking of competing in the Amateur Ballroom event in the Blackpool Dance Festival next year. We at the KLDA were delighted when they performed for us a waltz followed by a foxtrot. We wish Felicia and Alexander all the best and hope they will visit us more often at the KLDA and compete in local dance competitions whenever they are back in Malaysia for a holiday.


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Aleksandr Zhiratkov & Irina Novozhilova To Conduct Workshop In Kuala Lumpur

Aleksandr Zhiratkov and Irina Novozhilova of Russia will be in Malaysia to conduct a workshop on ballroom dancing. Further information is as follows:-

Date: August 31 2009 (Monday)

Time: 3.30 to 5.30 pm (2 hours)

Venue: Kuala Lumpur Dancers' Association (KLDA)
Level 2, Indoor Sports Complex,
Wisma OCM,
Jalan Hang Jebat
50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tickets: RM150 (inclusive of refreshments) can be obtained at the door

For more details, please contact Janet Lim at 012-3233839

Aleksandr Zhiratkov and Irina Novozhilova have been dancing together in the Ballroom Professional category since 2008 and are registered as a couple in Hong Kong where they are ranked as number 1. They were semi-finalists in the Ballroom Professional event at the Blackpool Dance Festival held in England in May 2009. According to dancesportinfo.net, they are currently ranked number 15 in the world. Their best mark in their database is getting into number 2 in the Professional Rising Star Ballroom event in the 2009 Blackpool Dance Festival.

Best Wishes As Usual,

Dance Aficionado
Dancesport Malaysia

16th Penang International Ballroom Dancing Championship 2009

Malaysia Dancers Association (MDA) is organizing the 16th Penang International Ballroom Dancing Championship 2009. Further details are as follows:-

Date: November 28 2009 (Saturday)

Venue: Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang

Events: Ballroom - Standard & Latin ~ Open Professional (ADC Ranking), Asian Professional Rising Star, Open Amateur, Pre-Amateur, Novice, Senior Over 50, Senior Over 40, Ladies Event, Junior Under 16, Juvenile Under 12, Beginners, Open Pro-Amateur A, Open Pro-Amateur B, Medley Under 16, Salsa, Belly

Participation: Open To The World

The closing date for entries is October 20 2009

Tickets (inclusive of dinner): RM500, RM350, RM300, RM200


The Penang International Ballroom Dancing Championship which was inaugurated in 1994 is now into its 16th year of competition. It is one of the most looked-forward to events in the Malaysian dance calendar and attracts top dancers from all over the world. Last year's event drew some 600 competitors from 22 countries. The Ballroom Standard Open Professional title was won by the English couple of Warren Boyce and Christi Boyce. Lu Ning and Zhang Ding Fang from China took the Ballroom Latin Open Professional title. For more information regarding this competition, kindly contact Malaysian Dancers' Association (MDA) at telephone numbers: 6012-4713266, 604-2619547, fax numbers: 604-2619547, 604-2263807, or email: mdamy@streamyx.com. You can also check out their website at www.mda.com.my.

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"The Merchants Of Bollywood" Enchants

The Merchants of Bollywood - The Musical which premiered on July 14 2009 at the Istana Budaya (National Theatre) in Kuala Lumpur and which ran to packed houses for two weeks, held its last performance on July 26. Those who attended the finale included Her Majesty the Queen of Malaysia Tuanku Nur Zahirah, the Prime Minister's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Agriculture & Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Noh Omar and many other dignitaries.

The Merchants of Bollywood is produced by Mark Brady, directed by Toby Gough, with music by AR Rahman and choreographed by leading Bollywood choreographer, Vaibhavi Merchant. Known as the Queen of Romance in the industry, Vaibhavi is from the dynastic family around which the legend of The Merchants of Bollywood is woven. The show has been performed more than 600 times over the past 4 years to rave reviews in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa and Australia. This is the first time the musical is being staged in Asia. Besides Malaysians, the show also attracted tourists from Europe and the Middle East.

With a storyline revolving around the Merchant family, ambition, sacrifice and love, the musical showcased dances which ranged from Bollywood, Indian traditional, disco, hip hop, street and funk. The cast danced their way into the hearts of the audience with their eclectic routines, colourful costumes and enchanting performances. The audience were caught up with the music and many were seen dancing at their seats and in the aisles to the tunes of It's Time To Disco and Shava Shava just before the curtains came down. After the show, Datin Seri Rosmah went on stage to meet the cast and present bouquets to the lead members as a token of appreciation.

Namaste & Jai Ho,

Dance Aficionado
Dancesport Malaysia

Thriller Fever Sweeps The World!

Fans of Michael Jackson all over the world plan to celebrate what would have been his 51st birthday on Aug 29 by organizing Thriller dance performances as a tribute to the King of Pop. The fans will be doing the zombie dance and recreate the moves from his 1983 mega hit Thriller. Starting in Mexico, the performances will be held in Mexico City at the Zocalo, the city's main square which can reportedly hold up to 100,000 people. The organizers of this event in Mexico City hope to break the official Guiness World Record for simultaneous Thriller dancing set in May 2008 by 242 students in Virginia, USA. Celebrations in honour of Michael Jackson are expected to continue around the world and culminate in a Thrill The World 2009 event to be held on October 25. It would be frightful if this event were to be held on October 31, which is Halloween's Day, instead!

The Thrill The World 2009 event is set to begin at 0030 GMT on October 25 in several countries including Canada, USA, England, Israel , Singapore and Malaysia. This dance festival was started in 2006 by Ines Markeljevic of Canada, a dance choreographer and diehard fan of Michael Jackson. The first event which was held in Toronto attracted 62 dancing zombies and set a Guiness World Record for Thriller dancing. The following year, the event drew 1722 participants in 52 cities from around the world. Last year's event attracted 4179 dancers from 72 locations in 10 countries, namely Canada, USA, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia! However, according to the organizers, it is not recognized as the the largest by Guiness as it did not adhere to specific guidelines laid down by Guiness.

The organizers of Thrill The World 2009 hopes to unite the world through the joy of zombie dancing. Participants are encouraged to turn their local Thrill The World gatherings into fund-raising or charity events. Thrilltheworld.com already lists 74 registered dance locations for this year's event and are hoping to set a new Guiness World Record by drawing an astounding 270,000 dancing zombies worldwide! The Thrill The World 2009 event is set to begin at 8.30 am local time on October 25 in Malaysia and Singapore. Please however reconfirm the time and locations with the organizers. Speaking of world records, do you know what is the record for the world's largest simultaneous dancing? The current Guiness World Record is 197,569 elementary school students dancing the hokey-pokey in 681 locations across Canada on March 22 2002!

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