The IBAN dance from Borneo

Miri is where I live, only an hour's drive from this cosmopolitan city will bring you into the realities of what Malaysia has to offer, diverse traditions and cultures that make up this multi racial nation. Tourists from all over the world have visited Sarawak and they will always be shown or at least will be told of how the Dayaks live in the the interior of the state. If we live in concrete brick walls we called home, theirs are simple longhouses made of wood. The word longhouse has a special meaning to the Dayaks especially from an ethnic majority group, the Ibans. The Ibans are known for their culture of sharing in whatever they do, their culture and tradition goes back into history well before the era of the White Rajahs of Sarawak - the Brooke Dynasty and later the British Colonial Rule - a time when Sarawak was but a virgin jungle. Although today many Dayaks have migrated to the towns and cities to be in the mainstream of the economy, the majority still dwell in their longhouses as farmers. The following clip captures the Iban traditional Dance called the Ngajat.