In the spirit of culture 'regeneration', CIOFF Indonesia in collaboration with Galeri Indonesia Kaya organize a dance training program. This workshop is intended to attract people, especially the younger generation to learn and experience the art of traditional Indonesian culture. The program was scheduled to be held every month throughout the year 2015-2016 and contains a variety of dance material from every corner of Indonesian archipelago. Gallery Indonesia Kaya Dance Workshop is a program, open for general public, where the participants will be taught directly by the coaches from CIOFF Indonesia. Participants will be training for 5 days in a row and followed by stage performance in the auditorium of Galeri Indonesia Kaya, Grand Indonesia West Mall, South Jakarta.

The first dance workshop is Tifa Dance Workshop, held on 14-18 December 2015. It immediately received high enthusiasm from the people who wanted to know and learn the dance. The participants were not only taught about dance movements, they were also taught the philosophy of this Papua dance by the coaches of CIOFF Indonesia.

Tifa Dance is taken from Yomaki ethnic’s history that lived in Wondiboi Village in the foot of Wondaresi Mountain. This dance tells us about a man from this community named “Mamberaki” who was sent by God to earth after a great flood disaster had occurred in Wandamen.


After people came back and stayed in their own village, God sent “Memberaki” back into the Wondiboi community and bring 3 heirlooms, namely: Reifo (Book of Life) which contained the true lesson for human being that would people get in the eternal kingdom, Piworotu (Tifa) which is a communicative music instrument for people and God, and Tabura (shells) which is a melodious music instrument as a communication tools for peole of Wondiboi.

Tifa Dance Workshop was attended by 8 participants. They where trained from basic movement to the core of dance movement, such as how to hold Tifa, body position, as well as the direction and degree when dancing. At first the participants find it difficult to follow what they have learned because not all participants have the basic dancing knowledge. However, with diligent practice every day, the participants managed to amaze the audience on the day of performance. The workshop participants were able to prerform this Papuan dance in complete costumes and makeup. The success of this workshop brought the public's enthusiasm to learning the next dance in the next workshop.