PETALING JAYA: Wong Kit Yaw, a choreographer, dance educator and dance director in Malaysia, receives the Aswara 2022 Award – Anugerah Adiguru for his contribution in Malaysian Chinese dance.

Wong, 65, from Perak, is the first Chinese Malaysian to have won the award from Aswara, the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage of Malaysia.

Having spent close to 40 years in teaching dance and designing dance, Wong’s localized dance depicts the characteristics of Malaysia despite the fact the dance has originated from China.

Since 2000, Wong has been a dance instructor with Aswara and has continued to teach at Aswara after his retirement in 2018.

He started to dance while he was a Standard Two pupil. He later joined the dance troupe of the youth wing of Selangor Hokkien Association after completing his secondary school education in Kuala Lumpur.

He also took up Indian classical dance and joined the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore to learn more about dancing.

He returned to Malaysia in 1988 to become a choreographer for children’s dances Kik Kik Kok Kok, Oh! Sarong and others.

He sees local Chinese dances different from those in China, just like the Malaysian Chinese literature and Mainland Chinese literature are very different in styles and contents even though the same Chinese language is used.

“I will continue to promote Malaysian Chinese dances,” he said, adding that the award is significant to those involved in performing arts in Malaysia.