Traditional Dance

One aspect of the culture that the Murut people have is called “Magunatip”, which is their form of a traditional dance by the subgroup, Timugon. The word “magunatip” means “to be caught between two (bamboo) sticks”. This dance involves jumping steps. The speed of the music tempo as well as the clapping speed of the bamboo sticks increases gradually in order to create more excitement among the audiences. Good timing and agility is required to perform this dance to avoid being trapped. There are two types of arrangements for the bamboo sticks for Magunatip, which are parallel and cross style. For the parallel style arrangement, the bamboo sticks are positioned side by side while for cross style arrangement, the bamboo sticks are placed horizontally as well as vertically, intersecting each other. Magunatip is normally performed on the Magginakan Day, to worship spirits of the paddy for a better harvest.

Compared to modern dance, instrumental music is not normally required as the noise of the bamboo being hit simultaneously provides the tone and tempo while instrumental music is normally required for modern dance.