Malaysia’s National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara) is employing advanced motion capture and 3D scanning technologies to preserve the country’s traditional dances, as part of an initiative known as the Digital Heritage Sandbox (DHX). The project, launched under the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry, aims to digitize intangible cultural heritage to ensure these art forms remain accessible to future generations.
Since 2024, Aswara’s team has been using motion capture suits and sensor-equipped headpieces to record dancers’ movements in meticulous detail. Simultaneously, volumetric 3D scanning technology captures the physical features of performers and their traditional costumes. During a demonstration in Cyberjaya, a vertical 3D scanner equipped with multiple cameras produced a three-dimensional digital likeness by rotating subjects on a turntable.
Despite the high-tech approach, the project faces challenges in digitizing reflective or detailed costumes, such as the silver-coin belt and headpiece worn by a Ngajat Iban dancer from Sarawak. To overcome this, the team applied a powder coating to reduce reflections and improve scan quality.
Recording the movements themselves can also be time-consuming, requiring multiple takes to capture accurate sequences. However, the more complex task lies in interpreting these movements for computer understanding. The team is working to preserve the original vocabulary and cultural context of dances, which is critical given that instructions like “langkah ke hadapan” (step forward) can have varied meanings depending on the dance or region.
According to Dr. Jazmi Jamal, director of the Future Creative School at Aswara’s Faculty of Animation and Multimedia, the objective is to maintain the unique terminology and context of each dance, allowing digital systems, including artificial intelligence, to comprehend and reproduce them authentically. The initiative involves building a structured repository of movements, fundamental steps, and variations while acknowledging improvisations introduced by individual dancers.
Selection of dances for the DHX involves collaboration with local cultural bodies and consultation with academics and adiguru (master practitioners) to trace the lineage and historical significance of each dance. The project covers a range of traditional performances from across Malaysia’s states, including Ngajat Iban from Sarawak, Sumazau from Sabah, Tarian Piring from Negeri Sembilan, and Mek Mulung from Kedah. Dances are categorized by context, such as ritualistic, palace, or folk performances, with comprehensive metadata documenting their origins, associated communities, and movement vocabularies.
Access and use of these digital assets remain under development, with plans to launch a platform for limited access by the end of 2026 before broader availability. The project emphasizes respecting cultural ownership and ensuring accurate representation of Malaysia’s heritage in digital spaces, particularly in industries such as video game development where Southeast Asian cultural elements have sometimes been generalized without clear attribution.
Beyond creating a digital archive, the long-term vision includes establishing a digital “museum of dances” that allows users to explore the evolution, roots, and context of traditional performances. Dr. Jazmi emphasizes that technology is intended to supplement rather than replace human artistry, serving as a means to transmit cultural knowledge to future generations and potentially preserving certain aspects beyond the human realm.
Encouragingly, master practitioners have shown openness to the digitization efforts, viewing it as a way to achieve “immortality” for their art. The project hopes to eventually include the movements of these masters themselves, further enriching the cultural database.
This initiative represents a significant step in merging traditional arts with modern technology to safeguard Malaysia’s rich cultural heritage for the digital age.