Happy Newlyweds
Happy Newlyweds
Contemporary wedding blessings
Selamat Pengantin Baru (Happy Newlyweds) is a contemporary dance performance by P7:1SMA that interrogates the rituals and politics of blessing within the Malay wedding tradition. Drawing from the gestures and choreographies often performed to honour newlyweds, the work reimagines the function of traditional wedding dances, which are frequently staged for important events and people, as both a cultural spectacle and a symbolic reinforcement of communal values. This performance confronts how dance becomes a tool of social performance, transmitting ideals of propriety, beauty, and hierarchy under the guise of celebration.
The work unpacks the authority embedded in the act of giving blessings. Who gets to bless whom? What does it mean to perform joy, grace, or obedience in front of an audience? And what happens when these codified gestures are displaced from their ceremonial function? Selamat Pengantin Baru challenges the role of tradition not just as preservation, but as power, asking whether cultural practices at weddings serve intimacy or uphold social order.
Presented at
Esplanade da:ns Festival, Singapore, 2021
Credits
Choreography - Norhaizad Adam
Performers - Norhaizad Adam, Hasyimah Harith, Ismail Jemaah, Syimah Sabtu, Jonit On, Kow Xiao Jun, Syarifuddin, Syafiq Halid, Azrin Abdullah
Sound design - Syafiq Halid, Azrin Abdullah
Lighting design - Adrian Tan
Set design - Norhaizad Adam
Visual design - KayKay Nizam
Costume design - Badarudin Hassan
Costume design - Badarudin Hassan
Producer - Cui Yin
Stage manager - Shining Goh