Sasikirana team from Prasetiya Mulya departed to Kołobrzeg, Poland to bring pride for Indonesia in XXV Międzynarodowe Spotkania Folklorem Interfolk 2016 festival. The festival was held at 16-20th of August 2016. To be able to introduce Indonesian culture, the team from Prasetiya Mulya has prepare themselves for about 4 months of rehearsals. They brought around 8 performances to be presented on the event which includes Yapong dance, Greget Jawara dance, Enggang dance, Mandau dance, Balian dance, Topeng dance, Ginjring dance, and Saman dance. Sasikirana team itself was divided into three sub-teams, which are dancer sub-team A and B, and musician sub-team.

Sasikiran team departed on 13th of August 2016 and arrived in Warsaw the day after. In every performances the cultural mission team from Prasetiya Mulya showed their best and the audiences always give loud applause. Not even rain can stop the audience to enjoy the performance of the Indonesian team. In such awe, the locals passing by the performance stage stopped to enjoy Indonesian traditional music. Even the audience were able to memorize the typical Batak moves of Sinanggar Tulo song.

Not just adolescents or adults enjoying the performances from Sasikirana team, but also children of Kołobrzeg, Poland. They were very enthusiast to learn the Indonesian dances. They looked really happy to follow every step of the dance. The peoples interest also reflected by their enthusiasm to get traditional Indonesian souvenirs given by the team. Great job, Prasetiya Mulya!


Written by : Ravanya Parawangsa
Edited and published by : Ghina Aulia Megaputri

On July 11th 2016, Labschool Kebayoran Highschool held an Inauguration ceremony for their cultural mission to Brusy, Poland. This year will be the 11th time for Labschool Kebayoran Highschool to participate in cultural mission together with CIOFF Indonesia. The team is consisted of 20 students as musicians and dancers, 2 teacher companions, and 2 officials from CIOFF Indonesia acting as representative (Nadia Vijanti) and choreographer (Roro Nuraini Prastuti).

On the Inauguration ceremony, the team opened up the event with a contemporary music by the musicians and then followed by Topeng dance, which originated from West Java.

Mrs. Ulya as the Headmaster of Labschool Kebayoran Highschool then gave her speech regarding the group’s preparations for the mission. Mrs. Ulya stated about how the students have worked hard to keep their academic studies and non-academic activities balanced, and also the cooperation between CIOFF Indonesia and Labschool Kebayoran highschool has brought positive knowledge and experiences to the students. She also stated her hopes for the students to be able to introduce and preserve Indonesian culture, and also for the mission to succeed.

The last performance by the team was a medley contemporary music and Piring dance from West Sumatra. After that, the inauguration procession was symbolized by handing over the team’s jackets from school representatives to Faza (Head of musicians) and Kayra (Head of dancers), as representatives from the team. Then the inauguration process was closed with the team members giving out flowers for their parents as a token of appreciation for their endless support.

Kembang Tanjung Dance Workshop is the 7th cooperative event between CIOFF Indonesia and Indonesia Gallery Kaya. This event took place on the 2nd week of August, from 8 to 12 August 2016. The event lasted for 6 days, 5 days of Kembang Tanjung dance practice and on the 6th day, participants will perform at the opening of the event organized by Galeri Indonesia Kaya. Kembang Tanjung dance is one of the branches of Jaipong dance. Jaipong dance were created by an artist from Bandung from around 1960’s. The music of Jaipong dance was derived from folk art traditions of West Java. Jaipong Kembang Tanjung is performed by a group of beautiful dancers called “ronggeng.” The dance movements were quick yet beautiful.

Participants who attend the Creative Space: Kembang Tanjung Dance Workshop were 29 people and it was increased everyday. As in the prior-previous workshop, the workshop was divided into two sessions and each session lasts for 2 hours. Session 1 runs from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 pm and the session 2 runs from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Kembang Tanjung dance has a rapid movement, and at the beginning of the workshop many participants found it difficult to follow the movement. This is because many of the participants did not have basic dancing knowledge. This workshop is their first dancing experience. In general, participants find it difficult to follow the basic movements of dance. However, the participants were very cooperative and easy to work with so the teaching of each movement became easier. This is certainly also supported by the skills and patience of CIOFF Indonesia coach when teaching the participants. The participants were given five days to memorize every detail of every movement including the movement and formation dance. However, the participants were able to show a very beautiful performance. The workshop participants fill the stage of Galeri Indonesia Kaya and lighten the event with typical Jaipong movement of the participants. With only 5 days of practice they were able to show a great performance. This proves the CIOFF Indonesian totality in preparing and organize an activity. 

This activity is covered by the Galeri Indonesia Kaya. They interviewed the choreographer of CIOFF Indonesia, Rosmala Sari Dewi as well as covering the process from training to the stage of Kembang Tanjung dance workshop.

Al-Azhar 19 Cibubur JHS will be represented Indonesia on 15th Gangneung International Junior Art Festival 2016. This festival is gonna be held from July 29th until Aug 1st in Gangneung, South Korea. The group itself has 23 members that consisted of 20 students as dancers and musicians, 2 teachers companions, and 1 official from CIOFF Indonesia (Ms. De Rembulan Ayundhasurya) acted as representative. After several month of practice, Al-Azhar Cibubur JHS is finally ready to participated in this cultural mission.

Right before their departure, Al-Azhar 19 Cibubur JHS held inaugurations as a oficial ceremony. The event was held at their school and they will be perform in front of their family and teacher to show what they achieved. All the dancer and musician entering the room with some parade singing some Indonesian song.  Continued by some speech by President of CIOF Indonesia, Mr. Said Rachmat. Then they perfomed Greget Jawara dance, Yapong dance, and Saman dance. As a simbolic, two representative of the student will be dressed by cultural mission team jacket by their teacher. The event was closed by praying and took a photo together. Good luck Al-Azhar 10 Cibubur! :)

Labschool Kebayoran Highschool team were become the representative from Indonesia in ‘’Kashubian Meeting with the Folklore of the World’’ festival in Brusy (Poland) that held on July 25th – July 31st 2016. The group was consist of 10 dancers and 10 musicians with Mr. Hadi as group Director, Mrs. Gezia as Group Manager, Mrs. Nadia Vijanti as CIOFF Representative, And Miss Nur Aini as the Choreographer. The festival was participated by 7 countries, such as Rumania, Belarus, Belgia, Lithuania, Greece, Montenegro, and Indonesia itself was the only group that participated from Asia.

They were performing almost everyday. And not-so-surprisingly, Indonesian group was the most awaited group by the audience. Almost everytime after Indonesian group finish some performance, they would shout “we want more, we want, more!” and of course the team would play some part to make the audience happy.

In this festival, Indonesian group was performing 2 contemporary music and 7 dances (Saman dance, Piring dance, Tor-Tor dance, Topeng dance, Greget Jawara dance, Yapong dance, and Tifa dance). The highlight about their performance was the part when they all performed the dance of the thousand hands : Saman dance from Aceh. It was very interesting to watch because not only it performed by the dancer but also the musician were also taking place as a dancers. Even the mayor of Brusy came to almost all of Indonesian performance because he was amazed with Saman dance.

At the closing ceremony, the Music Director of the festival ask Indonesian team to made some contemporary music to lead the final dance. Therefore, the music will lead the flag dance and the fire dance, and of course it was a big honor for Indonesian team. The Music Director said that he were in love with Indonesian music. And Voila! No word can explained how amazing the closing dance was. The mix between our traditional music and polish dance were really harmonious and spectacular. And again, the non-stop standing ovations from the audience was something that unforgettable for us, Indonesian team.

Bubuka dance creative space workshop is a partnership event organized by CIOFF Indonesia and Galleri Indonesia Kaya. This is th 6th workshop organized by Galeri Indonesia Kaya and CIOFF Indonesia throughout 2016. The event lasted for five days, from 26 to 31 July 2016 at Galeri Indonesia Kaya, Grand Indonesia. Bubuka means “opening”, it’s a dance created from the music of Samba Sunda, West Java. This dance tells a story of teenagers, their energy, spirit and expression. Bubuka dance is a mixture of two cultural elements from Sunda (Jaipong) and Bali dance.

Bubuka Dance Workshop were attended by 23 participants divided into two sessions, 15 participants in the first session and 18 participants in the second session. Each session lasts for two hours, the first session runs from 16:00 to 18:00 pm and the second session runs from 19:00 -21.00. At the end of the workshop, all 23 participants are joined together to perform at the opening of the event organized by Galeri Indonesia Kaya.

This event is open to the public and can be attended by anyone from the beginner to expert dancer. For those who never dance before or have naever learned bubuka dance, don’t worry. Why? Because all the participants will be taught the basic movement by CIOFF Indonesia coach. They were trained on basic knowledge of dancing, such as direction, degrees, and the used of space before going to the core of the dance movements. The participants can master the dance in less than 5 days. In addition to learning dance movements, the participants also presented with an explanation of CIOFF Indonesia and bubuka dance history.

At first the participants had difficulty in learning the dance because not all participants have the basic dancing knowledge, and some of them had never dance before. Rosmala Sari Dewi, the Bubuka dance coach said that Bubuka dance had a high level of difficulty especially for those who do not have basic dancing knowledge. Although it is difficult, the participants were in the high spirit and motivation to study every moves, especially to perform at the final day of the workshop. The participants were exhausted and nearly given up. How come? Because they are required to memorize and mastering the dance within 5 days. However, their spirit and enthusiasm enable them to master the dance and amaze the audience by their performance. Of course this is also thanks to the  patience and skill CIOFF Indonesia coaches. With only 5 days of practice they were able to show a great performance. This proves the CIOFF Indonesian totality in preparing and organize an activity.

This activity has been covered by the Galeri Indonesia Kaya. They interview and recorded the Bubuka Dance performed by the CIOFF Indonesia choreographer, Rosmala Sari Dewi. The video of the perfromance was uploaded on the Galeri Indonesia Kaya Youtube channel.

Written by : Alvita Rassya

Edited and published by : Gayatri Larasati & Ghina Aulia Megaputri