Year 8 Indonesian Dance Performance Works

Last Friday the Year 8 Students participated in an incursion with the Colac Otway Indonesian Community Dance Group.

Students began by learning different traditional games, a song, and dance techniques. They then watched in delight four dances’ performances as outlined below. Following that, the students came together to participate in a flash-mob dance using the skills they had just learnt and sang, Nona manis. The incursion aimed to provide students with the awareness of Indonesia’s cultural diversity and the significance of traditional dance and games. Students had the opportunity to interact and practice greetings and further develop their language skills through the interaction with performers from Indonesia who now reside in the Colac-Otway region. 

Dance Performances

Tor Tor Dance is a traditional Batak dance originating from North Sumatra, Indonesia. This dance was originally a ritual sacred dance performed at funerals, healing ceremonies, and other traditional Batak ceremonies. For the Batak people, Tortor dance has both cultural and spiritual values. Through this dance, people express their hopes and prayers. Demonstrations of attitudes and feelings through this dance describe the situation and conditions that are being experienced.

The Rangguk Ayak dance contains many aesthetic and spiritual values. This is reflected in the head-nodding movements, musical rhythms created by tambourine beats, and interspersed with rhymes of praise. Uniquely, the dance movements performed by the dancers are taken from several movements of living creatures, such as the twisting of plants, the cheerful movements of animals, and the swaying of humans, combined into one. These movements contain spiritual value as an expression of gratitude and devotion to the Creator.

Bujang Ganong Dance is used as a complementary attraction or entertainment to lighten the atmosphere. The main movements of this dance are worship, funny movements, and acrobatics. This dance is eagerly awaited by children because it is very entertaining. 

Mojang Priangan Dance is a combination of traditional Sundanese dance and pencak silat and is usually performed by young women. 

Activities: Rotating groups

Students learned an Indonesian song called, Nona Manis. 

“Cublak Cublak Suweng Game: Cublak Cublak Suweng ia a simple traditional game typically played by Javanese children in Indonesia. Despite being a simple game, ‘Cublak cublak suweng’ holds significant meaning. The meaning revolves around values of responsibility, honesty, and a moral message about not being greedy person. Every generation of youth uphold these values in their lives to create a better future.

Lompat Tali Game was a cross between jumping rope and playing ‘Elastics’. It is typically played by students in Indonesia during recreational time. 

Dance workshop with a performer to learn some basic group dancing techniques. 

It was a fantastic day all round which was evident by the huge smiles on the kids faces! 

Ms Viona Towers

Indonesian Teacher