OFFSTONE JUNE EDITION 2024

41 COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE: CULTURAL DANCES PRESERVATION AND HOW IT COMMUNICATES IN THE DIGITAL AGE By: Dr. Norsimaa Mustaffa & Dr. Kartini Kamaruzzaman norsimaamustaffa@usim.edu.my & kartinikamaruzzaman@usim.edu.my The first author is a lecturer in the New Media Communication Program at the Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). She received her PhD from Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI). Her research primarily focuses on multimedia design, digital cultural heritage, animation, visual communication, and new media. ABSTRACT The fragility of Malay cultural dances underscores the need to protect this intangible cultural identity. Dance has likely been the slowest art form to adopt technology, partly because existing tools do not adequately address the preservation of intangible performance contexts, such as visualizing dance performances. This article explores digital technology applications that assist in preserving cultural heritage and examines how these technologies facilitate communication in the digital age, ensuring that they are inherited and referenced by the younger generation. Introduction Intangible cultural heritage is fragile as it depends on the continuity of environmental conditions. According to the text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003, the categories of intangible cultural heritage include (1) performing arts, (2) oral traditions and expressions, (3) social practices, rituals, and festive events, knowledge and (4) practices related to nature and the universe, and (5) traditional craftsmanship. Malaysia's UNESCO Country Strategy (2018-2021), established during the Eighth Malaysia Plan, supports national unity and integration by promoting the development of cultural heritage and empowering communities to enhance national identity.