Al-Azhar 1 Senior High School Jakarta colaborates with CIOFF Indonesia gonna be participate on cultural mission in the city of Zamosc, Poland on July 12 to 17, 2016. Indonesia represented by Al-Azhar 1 Senior High School that included 34 members as a dancers and musicians, three teachers, and one person Representative from CIOFF Indonesia, Lydia Lestari Utami.

After several month of dance and music practice, now they finally ready to represent Indonesia in international folklore festival. Before their departure, as usual they had an inaugurations. But due the fasting month, they won't include dancing as a part of the inaugurations event. President of CIOFF Indonesia, Said Rachmat give some introduction and also motivation for all the Indonesia delegates.  Together, all the students and teacher praying for the smoothness of the cultural mission. Good luck!

"One ... two ... three ... four ... five ... stomp with your heels! Six..." The sound echoed in the auditorium Galeri Indonesia Kaya (GIK), Grand Indonesia, Jakarta, accompanied by dozens of people stomping rhythmically.

"We’ll do this 11 times," continued Nur Kusuma Ngarasati or usually called Raras, dance coach of the Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts (CIOFF®) Indonesia, an institute of art and culture in collaboration with UNESCO. Raras was training a five-days workshop of Rantak Dance held by GIK for the general public. The training will conclude with a performance of this Minangkabau (West Sumatra) Dance in front of audiences.

As the name implies, “Rantak” in Rantak Dance means stomping, the dancers stomps according to the Ragam (sequence of movements in dance). Rantak dance can be performed by men and women and it was opened with the dancers entered the stage in formation, with the guidance from Minang gandang (drum) quick and decisive beat. Step by step, the dancers entered, with their right foot "stomping the earth" in each ragam.

"So it's all about dynamic. The music that we hears were not only came from musical instrument, but also from the sound emitted due to the movement of dancers. This is what distinguishes Rantak dance with other Minangkabau dances, "said Raras

The sweat began to appear from the dancer who has been in the world of dance since the age of four and became member of CIOFF® for nearly ten years. Stomping feet full of energy continue to color the first session of the workshop, which lasted for two hours and learn the 3 movements of a total of 15 ragam of Rantak Dance.


Rantak Dance taught at GIK is a work of the Mr. Gusmiati Suid, a dance maestro's from Batusangkar, West Sumatra. This dance was created in 1976, as an expression of dissatisfaction with the Minang dance, which he thought too graceful. He also create Rantak Dance by adopting the philosophy of Pencak Silat, a traditional martial art, which has been long recognized in West Sumatra. Besides Rantak, some Pencak Silat movements also characterizes the Rantak Dance. Raras explained, "For example, if there are fifteen ragam in Tari Rantak, eleven of which came from Pencak Silat, while other Minang dance, only had four or five of them."

"There are several philosophies of Pencak Silat used in this dance. But the most obvious is Ukua jo Jangko, it means  to measure (with compass), "she said. One movement that apply Ukua jo Jangko philosophy, is a movement of the hand during the opening of the dance. When the right foot strikes the floor, right hand also struck through the opening of left-hand that half crossed over the chest. The right hand then quickly pulled out, opened, as if to measure. 

 

"This is the basic movements of Pencak Silat," said Raras while demonstrating the movement. According Raras the movement philosophy is "every person's actions, must be calculated in advance"

There is also a philosophy of Garak-Garik (gestures), "It can be seen from the movement of the head, that begins to look down, then forward. The philosophy is to see everything with vigilance ".

While philosophy Tagak-tagak which dancers stand in upright position in several positions, symbolizing the concept of contemplation before taking action. "So, every dance movement, were thought by our ancestors, so we can act wisely and live wisely. Indonesian dances were very meaningfull, if we knew about the movements and the philosophy. "

Rantak Dance Workshop is part of the Gallery of Indonesia Kaya (GIK) program to teach different dance around Nusantara (Indonesian Archipelago) each month.

"Because if the program (dance training) were not held, the knowledge of the dances will be stop at our old generation," said Program Associate Bakti Budaya Djarum Foundation, which takes care of GIK, Billy Gamaliel.

 

Moreover, he said, the interest of young people to watch the performing arts associated with Indonesia traditional cultures, were still low, "The people who study and watch the dances never changed. So if the older generation were not there anymore, the performing arts, such as Indonesian dances will be die. "

For the reasons to 'regenerate' and see the diversity of Indonesian culture, GIK, according to Billy tried to pick a dance that is not well known. From West Sumatra, Rantak Dance "Which was not known by many people" was selected when compared to other Minang dance like Piring Dance or Pasambahan Dance.

This is the reasons that made Eko Setiawan, a young dancer and dance instructor from a dance studio in Pamulang, sign up to become one of the workshop participants.

"If i only learn from watching (the dance video) on youtube, i’m afraid i can’t transfer the dance movement (to friends) correctly. There’s also a trainers here to train me, so why not?, "said Eko conveying the reason why he attend this workshop.

 

After attending several sessions of the workshop, turns out learning Rantak Dance was not 'as easy' as he thought. "It’s quite difficult at the beginning. Especially the tempo. There was a pause, and then move again, there are fast and slow movements,  I need to learn more about the tempo. I miss the tempo several time, even for someone like me (dancers). "

However, it did not lessened the spirit of this man who had loved to dance since childhood. "(I) feel a responsibility. A responsibility to learn. Because if I did this just for hobby, and did not understand its meaning, its movement and also can’t share the knowledge, I think it's a pity. Other teenagers wouldn’t know about this dance if there’s no one willing to teach them," he said.

However, there maybe no other person who felt more special to learn Rantak dance more than Yohana Suwandi, or usually called Yona.

 

In contrast to Eko, who works as a dancer, Yona, who is a recruitment consultant, the last time she dance is when she was a child, about 20 years ago. Rantak Dance Workshop was special for her, because since childhood she often watch Rantak Dance and have long wanted to learn it. She came from Padang, West Sumatra and recently moved to Jakarta three years ago.

"Especially now far from home. There is a longing to come back home. With learning Minang dance, in addition to satisfy my curiousity, it can reminds me of my memories back home," says Yona. The longing for home and her great interest, doesn’t always make studying Rantak dance an easy thing for her. 

 

"It's so difficult," said Yona. "The difficulty is to memorize moves. Minang Dances had a lot of  fast movements, so it’s difficult to catch them."

 

Although never missed practice in five days workshop training, this difficulty later becomes an obstacles for Yona. On the last day of the workshop, Raras and the team announced 5 of the 13 participants, selected to appear on the show the next day. With the consideration of the movement memorization, Yona was not selected, but Eko was selected.

Although not selected, Yona’s spirit to enjoy the art of her native hometown, did not fade. She was on the spectators line of Keunebah show in GIK which opened with Rantak Dance.

 

Yona in middle of the audience during the D-day appearance

When the light began to fade and stomping music was echoed,  tension began to appear in  Yona’s face. Dancers began to enter in the typical foot stomps of Rantak Dance. Eko and his four colleagues’s hands move quickly, like measuring, symbolizes the philosophy of martial arts who previously taught by Raras, Ukua Jo Jangko. The music kept playing, the beats kept changing. The dancer's body move shiftly on the stage.

 

In the audiences seat, Yona now smiles thinly. At the middle of the dance, comes the part where the dance tempo suddenly changed quickly. The part that always worried by Eko. Music was changing fast, Eko seemed to miss the tempo of some movement. However, he quickly catches his rhythm again, according to the music.

 

Music reach climax, Rantak stomps echoed, followed by applause from the audience, including Yona. Rantak dance that lasted about five minutes and studied in just five-day workshop was ended.

"Yes, it was very sad not being able to perform. But I’m glad, they performed the dance very nicely, I’m proud of it. But unfortunately, I actually felt more homesick now after watching him," said Yona while smiling to BBC Indonesia.

 

And of course, the happiest one are the dancers. "Relieved, but a little nervous. There was a wrong move because i lost count. I’m more relieved now. But yeah, I think i could do better than that," said Eko after performance.

 

Though it feel short, Eko claimed to have gained much from the training and performance. Starting from learning the basic movement and philosophy of martial arts, new dance variety, and what he considered "the most important", are his new friends.

With heavy breath and sweat all over his forehead, Eko also told what he express during the training a few days ago. "I intend to share this with the other students, my students. In the studio or at school, to let them know about Rantak dance movement. Not only listen, you know, but also try and understand its philosophy," said Eko.


Original article:
http://www.bbc.com/indonesia/majalah/2016/06/160530_majalah_seni_tari_rantak


Written by Rafki Hidayat (BBC Indonesia) June 1, 2016
Translated and published by Galih Sadhira & Ghina Aulia Megaputri

In April 2016, CIOFF Indonesia and Galeri Indonesia Kaya organized Pakarena Fan Dance Workshop. This workshop is one of the events of the Creative Space organized by Galeri Indonesia Kaya. Pakarena fan dance is a dance that originated from Gowa, South Sulawesi. This dance reflects gentleness, politeness, loyalty and obedience and the respect of women of Gowa to the men. Each movement has its own meaning, such as the beginning and the ending seating position symbolize a sign of respect and courtesy of the dancers, the turning movement symbolize human life cycle that will always turning, and the up and down movement symbolizes human life that is sometimes up and down. Every movement patterns remind people of the importance of patience and human consciousness in the face of life.

Pakarena Fan Dance Workshop were divided into 2 sessions, each session lasts for 2 hours. First session runs from 4:00 p.m. to 18:00 pm and the second session runs from 19:00 to 21:00 o'clock. At the end of the workshop, the participants of the session 1 and session 2 are combined to perform together at the opening of the event organized by Galeri Indonesia Kaya.

As in the previous workshop, participants will be taught from the basic movements of Pakarena Fan Dance, so the participants who had never danced or never learned Pakarena Fan Dance before, didn’t have to worry. Participants will be taught how to open their eyes and lifted thier feet. The dancers are not permitted to open the eyes too wide and lift the foot too high. This is because modesty is the main aspect of the dance.

At the beginning of the workshop the number of participants were eight people, but because they’re ranging from students to housewives, the practice became less effective. Over the exercises, the number of participants were reduced to only four people who join the performance on the last day of the workshop. The remaining four participants had a great passion and intention to practice and memorize the movements taught by coaches from CIOFF Indonesia. The performance of the four workshop participants runs smoothly and they were able to dance very well. All thank to the passion, perseverance, and discipline of the participants and the patient and skill of the trainers in teaching the dance.

This activity is covered by the Galeri Indonesia Kaya. Galeri Indonesia Kaya covered the tutorials and history of Pakarena Fan Dance and the behind the scenes of this workshop. This workshop also covered by CNN Indonesia and Berita Satu TV News Channel.

Written by : Alvita Rassya Tritikaningtyas

Edited and published by : Galih Satria & Ghina Aulia Megaputri

On 22-26 March 2016, CIOFF Indonesia in collaboration with Galeri Indonesia Kaya held the Creative Space: Serampang 12 Dance Workshop at Galeri Indonesia Kaya, Grand Indonesia. This Deli originated dance is a colossal dance that tells a story of young people who are looking for a soul mate. Serampang 12 Dance were originally named Sari Island dance, and it has its own distinctive character than any other indigenous dance in the Indonesian archipelago. Serampang 12 Dance is accompanied by traditional music, and it has a continuous 12 dance movements. The movements construct the whole story of a bachelor meets the girl, thier love stories and their marriage.

At this workshop, participants not only taught about the Serampang 12 dancing movement but also about the history of the dance. The workshop participants were presented with an introduction of CIOFF Indonesia and they were also trained by its coaches. They are trained on basic dance knowledge before going to the core of the dance movements, such as the body stance of Serampang 12 dance, basic movements and tricks of various movements in the dance.

Although not all participants had basic dance knowledge, the President and the coaches CIOFF Indonesia continues to motivate and taught the participants step by step. With only 5 days of training, the participants were able to perform an amazing performance. Sounds of applause filled the auditorium of Galeri Indonesia Kaya after the participant finished Serampang 12 dance performance.

Galeri Indonesia Kaya also covered this workshop. They interviewed the president of CIOFF Indonesia, Said Rachmat and record the entirety of workshop. For those who have not had the opportunity to attend the Serampang 12 dance workshop, Galeri Indonesia Kaya also made the video tutorial on how to learn Serampang 12 dance, performed by the President CIOFF Indonesia, Said Rachmat and General Secretary of CIOFF Indonesia, Ayu Wiranti.

Click the links below to watch the coverage of Serampang 12 dance and the interview of Said Rachmat, President of CIOFF Indonesia

On March 8th 2016, it was the International Women's Day. CIOFF® Indonesia was asked and invited to be guest stars for a Radio show called "Sirkus Pagi" with their hosts Vincent, Aldy and Dery. Raras, Anin, Aliya, Gaya and Olin were the 5 representative dancers for CIOFF® Indonesia to spend the day with Aldy and Dery. They even have a special surprise with Aldy and Dery for all the Hitz fans. They shared their experiences and also they describe to Hitz what is CIOFF® Indonesia. With their talk, Aldy and Dery found interest in what is "Misi Budaya" and also about Indonesian Culture.

"Honestly, at first i didn't understand what is CIOFF®. All I know is that CIOFF® is an organization about dance, the many types of Traditional Indonesian Dance and CIOFF® brings a well known name for Indonesia Internationally. But after chatting with Raras, Anin, Aliya, Gaya and Olin i now know what CIOFF® is all about." Says Dery.

With this Interview with CIOFF® Indonesia, HitzFm and also the listeners now know more about CIOFF® Indonesia. In Dery's opinion, "Clearly it is very positive. Just imagine that citizens all around the world only know about Modern Dance. Whereas dances from Indonesia are also as cool as them. With the help of CIOFF®, Indonesia should be proud and thankful that if not CIOFF®, If not us, then who will save Indonesian cultures" 

According to Dery, the impact of CIOFF® Indonesia for teenagers these days are astonishing. If not because of CIOFF® our next generation will only know about Hip hop and modern dance, It must be very dissapointing for us that they will know about western culture more than our own. According to Dery, we shouldn't be ashamed and scared to be call "unmodern" because "Tari" = "Dance". We can tell our future generation about Jaipong Dance and Tor-Tor Dance. It's not less cool right? After talking with the dancers of CIOFF® Indonesia, in Dery's opinion Traditional dancers have a stereotype as "stiff" or "stern" but surprisingly for CIOFF® Indonesia dancers, they are the total opposite from it. "They are a fun bunch of girls, always laughing, they have a sense of humor, and they respond to the jokes we told." Says Dery.

With this conversation, Dery could only say that " from CIOFF®'s intention is a noble motive, introducing our nation's custom and delivered with a 100% total preperation. In other words, don't get bored in persuading our younger generation to join together with CIOFF®. We are actually waiting for your movement:"

So that is our fun chat with HitzFm. Let's all start from now showing our love for Indonesian culture. Follow @cioff_indonesia and start #CintaIndonesia also don't forget to put hashtag #cioff_indonesia. Be proud of indonesian culture, if it's not us then who else,right? From now on let's show our love for indonesian culture. Because a tweet, a hastag, and a photo can effect indonesia's next generation.


Written by Poeti Anindya (Anin)
Edited and published by Gayatri Larasati & Ghina Aulia Megaputri

From the 22nd-26th February 2016, CIOFF® Indonesia with the help from Galeri Indonesia Kaya organized a workshop called: “Creative Space : Rapa’i Geleng Dance Workshop (Ruang Kreatif : Workshop Tari Rapa’I Geleng),” at Galeri Indonesia Kaya, Grand Indonesia. Rapa’I Geleng is a men intended ethnic dance from Aceh. The dance usually perfromed by 12 trained men, sitting  in a crossed-legged position and accompanied by a rythmic beat of percussion called “Rapa’I”, a traditional music instrument from Aceh.

Rapa’i Geleng Dance Workshop was attended by 14 participants  which divided into two sessions, 8 participant in the first session, and 6 in the second sesssion. Each session last for two hours, from 4-6 pm and 7-9 pm respectivly.  At the end of the workshop, all participants are joined together to perform at the opening event in Galeri Indonesia Kaya.

For those who have never danced Rapa’i Geleng, don’t worry. All participants were not only taught about the history of CIOFF® and Rapa’i Geleng Dance, but they were also trained by CIOFF® Indonesia’s coachs to perform the dance. They were trained on basic movement first before going to the core of the dance, such as how to beat the rapa’i in order to produce the beautiful sound, how to throw a rapa’i, how to move the head, the direction, degrees, and the songs that they will sing while dancing.

    At first, most of the participants found a difficulty in performing the dance, because most of them don’t have basic knowledge in dancing. There are even a participant who never dance before participate in this workshop.  While giving some motivation to the participants, CIOFF® Indonesia’s President, Said Rachmat said that, “…a great performance is the one that can amaze the audience and made them can’t take their eyes off of the performers”. Since that time, the participants regain their spirit and continue to practice in order to dance beautifly. All the pains and hunger they resisted, resulted in a spectacular performance that amazed the audiences. All thanks to the support, patience and skills of  CIOFF® Indonesia coaches. The workshops only last for 5 days, yet it result in a great performance. This proves that the CIOFF® Indonesia never half measures in preparing and creating activities.

This activity was covered by the Metrotvnews.com and Berita Satu News Channel in Jurnal Ekstra program. Berita Satu News Channel and Metro Tv interview Nur Kusuma Ngarasati and Yunita HG. In addition to Berita Satu News Channel and Metro TV, Galleri Indonesia Kaya also covered this workshop. They interviewed the president of CIOFF® Indonesia, Said Rachmat and record the Rapa’i Geleng practice.

Written by Alvita Rassya
Edited and published by Galih Sadhira & Ghina Aulia Megaputri

A group of people under the auspices of an international Non-Governmental Organization called CIOFF (International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts) is trying to introduce Indonesian traditional cultures and also encouraging young people to preserve them.

In every performance or workshop done by CIOFF, they felt the appreciations and responses given by the youth are well and keep on getting better every year.

CIOFF is an international Non-Governmental Organization, which existed in 121 countries and is the partner of UNESCO. With the international status that CIOFF has, there are higher targets which CIOFF members aim.

To be able to preserve and introduce Indonesian traditional culture, especially traditional dances, CIOFF Indonesia cooperates with Galeri Indonesia Kaya to make a traditional dance show every weekend.

Currently, CIOFF is having a workshop on a traditional dance originated from Aceh called, Rapai Geleng Dance. The youth participants taught by dance coach from CIOFF will perform on Saturday, 27th February at Galeri Indonesia Kaya.

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.

As you relish the goodies, decorate every nook and corner of your home 

and enjoy the get-togethers... 

As you see the fireworks with your loved ones and countdown to midnight...

May the joy and festivities continue to radiate in your lives, 

long after Christmas and New Year's Eve is gone.

CIOFF® Indonesia wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!