Malaysia today sought to quell an uproar over the alleged ban on a ballet performance by the visiting Singapore Dance Theatre due to the "indecent" tutus and tights.

"Malaysia is very liberal, open-minded on ballet performances. They are always welcomed. No issues with tutus and tights," Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim told reporters.

He urged the organisers to contact his ministry to iron out the issue.

The fuss was sparked by a complaint from a Malaysian dancers' support group, MyDance Alliance, which said the authorities denied permits to the Singapore Dance Theatre artists to perform in Kuala Lumpur at the weekend because of their costumes.

MyDance Alliance president Bilqis Hijjas expressed her "outrage about this deplorable decision," that the authorities "should have been so narrow-minded and uninformed as to attempt to censor the purest classical works of an international art form that is over 400

years old."

The Singapore Dance Theatre was scheduled to perform a selection of classical ballet works that include ‘The Nutcracker’ in which the dancers would don the traditional short tutus and tights.

Rais denied that the organiser, KL Performing Arts Centre, had applied for permission to stage the ballet.

But the arts centre said it did apply in early March and the rejection was communicated verbally by a ministry official.

“They received a verbal response to the application,” Bilqis said. “It was rejected as the costumes were seen as indecent.”

Fresh application filed

The arts centre filed a fresh application to the ministry this afternoon after hearing the assurances from Rais.

The ballet performance is now officially approved but will be on another date because of a scheduling clash. 

KL Performing Arts Centre co-founder Faridah Merican said it was "most unfortunate that the situation ... has been blown out of all reasonable proportion".

"It is obvious that there has been some serious miscommunication in the series of events that led to Puspal's ( Central Agency for Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes) verbal notification of non-approval.

“The required documentation was personally submitted to Puspal on March 7, by Klpac's production manager Freddy Tan. He was subsequently advised by a Puspal officer, on March 28, that the submission had been rejected; the reasons stated were 1. Costuming and 2. Foreign Performers.

"This was most unusual, because we had applied for performances by the Singapore Dance Theatre on two previous occasions and both were approved; in fact, we have always found Puspal to be most helpful and understanding. An appeal application was lodged on March 28," she said.

“It is most disappointing that the performance has had to be cancelled; this has resulted in many disappointed patrons and in much expense incurred by both the Singapore Dance Theatre and The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.”

The cancellation came as a shock to the Singapore Dance Theatre, which has staged ballets in Malaysia - with similar classical tutus and tights - for the last two years without any problems.

The troupe’s general manager, Aleksandra Lis, said she did not know the details of the permit process, which was handled by the venue in Kuala Lumpur.

“Our dance company is the ambassador of the arts for Singapore. That’s why we are postponing it, we aren’t cancelling it,” she said.

“We are looking for a suitable date to come again, probably in the second half of the year.”   

- Agencies

Rais: Ballet performance can go on as planned