BRAGA (Portugal) : Ahmad Mikhail Damsal Bin Abdul Hakim, a student from SM Lok Yuk (CF) Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, bagged Silver Medal during the Dance World Cup 2023, here recently.
Dance World Cup is the world class competition that has the largest all-genre international dance competition, also known as the Olympic of Dance for children and young adults age 4 to 25.
Every year, Dance World Cup brings in more than 50 countries with more than 7,500 qualified dancers participating at a selected venue in Europe for the World Finals.
This year, Dance World Cup was held in Braga, Portugal, from 30th June to 8th July 2023.
During the 9 days event, 22 well known international judges were invited to judge the competitions held in the genres of Ballet, Modern, Contemporary, Lyrical, Jazz, Tap, Song and Dance, Street/Hip Hop and National & Folklore.
The World Finals is held in different countries yearly, and dancers perform on world class stages and theaters.
Mikhail Damsal, a young dancer who hail from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, is a no stranger to the Sabah’s performing art scene.
He started showing his prowess in dance at a very young age of 9 years old and has been actively involved in Sabah’s dance performing arts scenario since 2018.
He represented his School, Sabah and Malaysia in several National and International dance competitions and won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in Solo or Group Categories.
Mikhail is also one of the prominent dancer of Kumpulan Bimbingan Seni Cemerlang (KBSC) Negeri Sabah under Jabatan Kebudayaan Dan Kesenian Negara, and GENTARI of SM Lok Yuk Kota Kinabalu (CF).
During the Dance World Cup 2023 competition, Mikhail participated in the National & Folklore Category with his unique dance called Mag’Igal.
His dance portrayed the character of the Sea Prince Warrior who dance mimicking the movement of the sea eagle, a dance of the Suluk tribe that is famous in the East Coast of Sabah.
“I would like to thank Cikgu Jaffar Hj Kumah (GENTARI Teacher), Abang Achap (Choreographer from Ala Panggung), Puan Lourdes M Batin (Pengetua), Cikgu Vasugi Nallathamby (Penolong Kanan Kokurikulum), Cikgu Juliana Yuni, Cikgu Violet Sebastian and Kak Melonnie Chung for the strong support and motivation throughout my journey at DWC 2023. Thank you Cikgu Jaffar for accompanying me to Portugal and willingly to pay for our flight tickets first; Cikgu Juliana, Cikgu Violet and Kak Mel for sowing my costume even till early dawn of my departure. And most of all, I want to say thank you to my mother, Puan Normala Othman, who sacrificed a lot looking for sponsors for my trip and my brother Danial Othman who advised me to take the challenge. They have been my strongest fan and motivator.” said Mikhail Damsal.
“I want to express my highest gratitude to all our sponsors who have helped us in every ways possible to make this happened; Chief Minister of Sabah, YAB Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji bin Noor, Ministry of Sports and Youth Sabah, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah, Ministry of Finance Sabah, Yayasan Sabah Group, Sabah Tourism Board, Lembaga Pengelola Sekolah and PIBG of SM Lok Yuk (CF) Kota Kinabalu, Borneo Gears Sdn Bhd, Borneo Oil Berhad, Daily Express dan individuals who have been supporting Mika and his passion since day one.” said Puan Normala, mother of Mikhail.
“We are still looking for additional sponsors to cover the cost of flight tickets that we owe to his teacher by using his credit card to purchase the tickets. The trip was expensive due to the high currency exchange, but this did not stop Mikhail from wanting to go and make Malaysia proud. Syukur Alhamdulillah it was worthy” add Normala.
Despite the only Malaysian representative for 2023 World Finals, long journey of 34 hours in flight and transits, and lack of fund to begin the journey with, Mikhail won the second place bringing back Silver Medal for Malaysia, defeating 40 other contestants from more than 10 countries in his categories.
His exceptional technique, stage performance and skills, coupled with his determination and dream has paid off handsomely.
