Tortor Tandok is a traditional Batak dance expressing the rice farming culture in North Sumatra. The dance tells about rice harvesting using Tandok, a container made of weaves of bamboo to place the rice, by the women in the field. Besides that, the dance itself shows important values in kinship between communities. The dancers wore the Tandok on top their head, and traditional Batak clothes which consist of Ulos and Sarung with traditional motifs.
 

Last July, CIOFF Indonesia is back in cooperation with Galeri Indonesia Kaya for Tortor Tandok Dance workshop. There were seventeen people participating in the workshop, which later on thirteen of them performed the dance at the end of the workshop program. The workshop lasted from 23-27 July divided into two sessions a day, with the performance held on 28 July.

Four days in preparation for the dance was not easy, with only minimum time to practice, the participants were very enthusiastic and eager to learn. All of the participants were very excited about the workshop, and overall very happy with the program. It was a unique opportunity for them to learn a traditional dance and had it performed by the end of the workshop. Not just the dance movement itself, they also got to learn more about the background story behind the inspiration for the dance.