Dance Ceremonies
The following passage is an account of a characteristic Malay dance, the Joget:
—
“Malays are not dancers, but they pay professional performers to dance for their
amusement, and consider that ‘the better part’ is with those who watch, at their
ease, the exertions of a small class, whose members are not held in the highest
respect. The spectacle usually provided is strangely wanting in attraction: a
couple of women shuffling their feet and swaying their hands in gestures that are
practically devoid of grace or even variety—that is the Malay dance—and it is
accompanied by the beating of native drums, the striking together of two short
sticks held in either hand, and the occasional boom of a metal gong. The
entertainment has an undoubted fascination for Malays, but it generally forms
part of a theatrical performance, and for Western spectators it is immeasurably
dull.^150
“In one of the Malay States, however, Păhang, it has for years been the custom
for the ruler and one or two of his near relatives to keep trained dancing girls,
who perform what is called the ‘Jôget’—a real dance with an accompaniment of
something like real music, though the orchestral instruments are very rude
indeed.
“The dancers, bûdak jôget, belong to the Raja’s household, they may even be
attached to him by a closer tie; they perform seldom, only for the amusement of
their lord and his friends, and the public are not admitted. Years ago I saw such a
dance,^151 and though peculiar to Păhang, as far as the Malay States are