OFFSTONE JUNE EDITION 2024

42 As the largest ethnic group in Malaysia, Malays possess a unique cultural identity. Malay traditional folk dances are influenced by various cultural practices, including formalizing gestures and storytelling. These dances encompass movements, costumes, music, and musical instrumentation, with each dance form characterized by its distinct musical elements. Over time, Malay folk dances have adapted to various situations, leading to new creations and contemporary genres. This adaptation helps maintain Malaysia’s traditional folk dances as a living cultural practice. Traditional folk dances in Malaysia have evolved through creative rearrangements, with choreographers balancing modern audience demands with the preservation of traditional identities. Consequently, traditional dances, which were once slow and repetitive, are now presented in more spectacular and energetic forms. Modern digital technology offers new solutions for preserving cultural heritage. Digital tools enable the digitization of valuable resources, making documentation of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage rapidly accessible online. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in its Charter for the Preservation of Digital Heritage adopted in 2003, recognizes that digital preservation benefits both present and future generations. Digital preservation enhances creativity, communication, and global knowledge sharing. Digital media has emerged as a platform for cultural heritage preservation, allowing access to digitized information. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have become integrated with the real environment, providing innovative ways to disseminate information. For instance, 3D applications in interactive VR, such as games and dance learning platforms, serve as teaching aids for learning dances. Motion capture (MoCap) technology is particularly effective in digitizing human movements. MoCap has gained popularity in preserving and disseminating art performances through recorded digitization. The high-quality data captured allows for complex analysis and improvisation of movements, including stylistic variations. MoCap technologies are essential for preserving dance performances, offering the unique capability to record live motion events and reconstruct performances from any viewpoint. Closing In summary, digital information plays an increasingly vital role in our culture, knowledge, and economy. Using digital technology to preserve cultural heritage is crucial for protecting our legacy across generations. Digital cultural heritage can be comprehensive and effective in safeguarding our valuable assets. Digital preservation ensures that contents or objects can be located, rendered, used, and understood in the future. The conservation and enhancement of intangible cultural heritage through digital technology are essential to prevent this irreplaceable source of social identity from fading, especially for the younger generation.