Sarawak Cultural Olympiad Team - 2018 Winter Olympic, Pyeongchang, South Korea

Apart from making a history of being the first time of sending and having a team competing the Winter Olympic, Malaysia also made another history during the 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, South Korea. We actually have another "team" sent to that Olympic but not to compete, more of performing at The Cultural Olympiad.

Warning! A lot of photos ahead.

According to IOC guides, The Cultural Olympiad is an interdisciplinary and multi-platform programme of culture, entertainment, and celebration that engage people of the host country and the world based on the Olympic values.

Traditionally, the Cultural Olympiad is an event that accompanied the Olympic in which the host country will held a lot of events that involves cultural performances, concerts and entertainment before, during and after the Olympic. It is to give the chance for the host country to showcase their culture to the whole world and for people to enjoy. It is also for them to celebrate the Olympic and to let spectators enjoyed what is it like being the the people of the host country and experienced their cultures.

This year, during the 2018 Winter Olympic, some other countries were invited to perform in the events for this Cultural Olympiad and one of them is the team from Sarawak that represent our country, Malaysia. They were performing in two occasions and places, one was at the Gangneung Festival park and another one was at Gangneung Art Centre which was located in front of the Olympic Park.

The Sarawak team arrived at Gangneung Art Center for the show.

A group of 18 dancers from Sarawak was there and they performed a multicultural and multiracial dances that reflect the culture and the people of Sarawak as well as Malaysia in general. Although most parts of the performance were about Sarawak's cultural diversity, through this performance they literally brought the whole Malaysia to the Cultural Olympiad and to the whole world as well. For your information, Sarawak is a state in Malaysia located in the island of Borneo and it has over 40 different ethnics living together in harmony.

They performed various dances showcasing the medley of traditional dances of six main ethnics in Sarawak and they're wearing various costumes from various races in Sarawak and generally in Malaysia

As I mentioned in my previous post about my experience going to the Winter Olympic for the first time, I was there due to two main reasons, one is of course because of the Winter Olympic itself and another reason is because of this team from Sarawak was performing at the Cultural Olympiad. I was lucky enough to be able to take their photos, thanks to my wife who was the head of the delegation for this team. I managed to watch their performance at the Gangneung Art Center.

More photos of the performance. Very colorful isn't it? Well, that's how we in Sarawak is like, more than 40 ethnics with distinct languages and cultures, living together in harmony.

You can read the post about my experience at the 2018 Winter Olympic here: https://steemit.com/travel/@rodznocturne/i-made-a-history-winter-olympic-2018-in-pyeongchang-south-korea

I felt so proud that Malaysia sent a team to compete in the Winter Olympic for the first time. That alone is a big history made for the country as a whole. But I also felt proud that Sarawak was representing Malaysia for the Cultural Olympiad. That, is a double history made in one world class event and nothing made me feel great and the proudest! I was lucky I was there and it was the best decision I've made to go to that Winter Olympic. I even made a history for my own personal life. You can read it in my post from the link I stated above.

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Anyway, it was an awesome and great experience as I managed to strike off many things from my wish list and fulfilled some of my dreams. I wish I can stay longer there and watch many more sport events in that Winter Olympic but due to some limitations and constraint, I only managed to be there for few days.

Here are some "behind the scene" photos of Sarawak dance team for the Cultural Olympiad:

The rehearsal few hours before the show. These people worked really hard and they performed perfectly well!

The preparations done in the room backstage. Some of those costumes took quite some times to put on.

The dancers prepare to greet and meet the spectators and other dancers from other countries at the lobby after the show.

Let me tell you a little bit about this costume. This costume is called "Ngepan", one of the prides of my ethnic called the Ibans. We are the biggest ethnic in Sarawak. This costume take quite a long time to put on and according to those who ever wore it, it's very heavy. It consist of many components and each of them have their own name. While this costume for woman looks very sophisticated, the one for the man is much more simple. Beautiful isn't it?

Now, I probably have to plan a trip for Summer Olympic 2020 in Japan because that, will complete my experience to go to both Olympics. It will surely be another history for my life. In God's willing, hopefully I will be able to go :)