Zapin Acah: Workshop by Destar Limar UPSI

Zapin Acah is a creative dance work grown out of Zapin Parit Mastar, and this two-hour session takes it apart. Destar Limar UPSI, over from Malaysia, lead a workshop that sits in a Muara Festival series where invited overseas groups unpack what they perform on the main stage — the choreographic process behind it, its cultural background, its movement vocabulary. Live demonstrations are part of it.

The work itself has partners approaching, retreating and changing direction in response to one another, teasing exchanges built into the movement. In the studio you work with motifs taken from Zapin Parit Mastar and look at how changes in direction, distance and space shape the interaction between two dancers, and how playful teasing reads through action and reaction — without losing the character of the original form.

It runs Sat 14 Nov 2026, 11am to 1pm, at Esplanade Annexe Studio, and it is free. The session is conducted in Malay and open to ages 6 and above.