As everyone knows, Indonesia is a country rich in culture and ethnicity. Almost every region in Indonesia has its own culture, both dances, special food, and traditional clothes. Dance is one of the most developed arts in Indonesia. The number of traditional dances from Indonesia is in the hundreds. However, which dances are the most popular?
Betawi Mask Dance
This dance comes from DKI Jakarta. In the dance, there are some unique moves: rapat nindak, selancar, kewer, cindol, selancar blang tur, and gibang. To play it, Betawi Mask dancers are usually equipped with scarves, masks, and hats decorated with colorful heads.
Plate Dance
Plate dance originates from West Sumatra. This dance uses a plate as its property, means the public’s gratitude to the Creator for His grace. Initially, this dance was used by the community as a sign of gratitude for the bountiful harvest. But over the times, this dance is commonly used for welcoming events to weddings.
Reog Ponorogo Dance
As the name implies, this dance originates from Ponorogo, East Java. Current dancers use a large peacock mask. The image of a peacock itself has a lion head but has peacock feathers. The Reog Ponorogo dance is usually played as entertainment.
Gantar Dance
This dance is usually played by Dayak tribe from Kalimantan. The meaning behind this dance is asking for blessings from Dewi Sri or Dewi Padi (rice goddess). In ancient times, after playing this dance, the community would slaughter a buffalo. If the buffalo blood comes out profusely, the harvest will be abundant.
Saman dance
Apart from dancing, they also sing praising the majesty of Allah (God). This dance is basically played by men and not women. Saman dance is a traditional dance from Aceh which was made by a scholar named Syekh Saman. This dance move focuses on speed so as to create a beautiful flow.
Jaipong dance
Another traditional Indonesian dance is the Jaipong dance originating from West Java. This dance is actually a combination of the tilu, ronggeng, and pencak silat dance movements. To play it, the dancers usually wear costumes of sinjang, apok, and sampur. Besides that, they will also accompanied by music from goong, kecrek, and also fiddle.
Kecak dance
This dance, which originates from the island of the Gods (Bali), has inspired by traditional rituals performed by the Balinese people. Then, this dance was adapted to accompany the story of Ramayana and Shinta. Usually, this dance is played by more than 50 men. The dance movements start from moving the hands followed by the sound of ‘cak’ repeatedly.
With these popular dances, Indonesia has a great opportunity for promotion in other countries. Indonesian-owned dances do not exist in other countries. This is what makes Indonesia unique and beautiful.
–sh
