Attire

In addition, the attires also play an important role in every performance of zapin. The attires will reflect the personality of dancer either it looks beautiful or dull. Zapin dancer includes man and women. Man and woman have different attire for this dance. 

Man :

- Wear 'songkok;

- Baju Melayu and 'kain samping'

- Wear 'capal'

Woman :

- Baju kurung

- Flower on head (sanggul) or headscarf

- Traditional necklace

- Kain 'samping'

- Wear 'capal'

Music equipments

Zapin dance will not be beautiful if it not followed by the sound of traditional music plays behind. Music equipment is closely related with zapin dance, and of course it will be more perfect. There are some traditional music tools which were played when zapin dance are performed. The traditional music tools include :

- gambus

- rebana

- gendang

- gebab

- marakas

Types of Zapin Dance

Basically, there are various types of zapin dance in Malaysia. It was different in name and type because the creator of it is originally from different district in Johor. Below is the list of zapin dances that are still exist and popular :

- Zapin Johor

- Zapin Pekajang

- Zapin Tenglu

- Zapin Pekan

- Zapin Lenga

- Zapin Tenglu 

All these types of zapin dances have their own steps, but still followed the characteristic that needed in zapin dance. It must be performed in a group of more than two persons and cannot be performed individually.

Background of Zapin Dance

Zapin dance is very popular in a state of Johor. The word zapin means the movement of legs from the word ‘al-Zafn’. Zapin is a Malay traditional dance that originally adapted from traditional culture of Arab-Parsi. It is most influenced by zapin Arab, but it has some characteristics that make zapin Melayu dance differ with zapin Arab dance. Based on the old history, Zapin dance was started as entertainment dance in a castle that brought by Hadramaut, Yaman Selatan  in a century of 13. Basically, many new Malay dances take zapin dance as its basic steps. Nowadays, zapin dance was performed in a formal or informal events such as wedding  ceremony, grand opening event and so on. 

Introduction

Generally, the country of Malaysia has many traditional things that make it unique in front of everyone eyes. It includes traditional food, traditional clothes, traditional homes and not forget traditional dance that I want to focus here. There are many types of traditional dances which were still exists and practiced by some of Malaysians include zapin, kuda kepang, makyong and joget. All the things related to traditional must be inherited and practiced by young generations to make sure those things will not become extinct in the future. I am very proud of Malaysia as it still keeps the culture and this makes Malaysia special rather than other countries.