Traditional Costume

The Traditional Costume presentation was more than just showcasing the different ethnic costumes of Indonesia. It was also a 1101 crash course on the various ethnic groups in Indonesia and the distinct cuisine, culture and characteristics of their respective regions. We learned about the design origins of the costumes, the flavour identity of the food, and where the best places to visit are! Here are some of the costumes:

Yogyakarta

Betawi

Bali

Sulawesi

Dayak

Riau

Palembang

Minang

Padang

Irian Jaya

It was a very informative presentation that provided many answers for the Culture Knowledge Assignment, but it would be difficult to catch the facts when the models decked in brilliant colours stole all attention in their slow and purposeful descent down onto the stage. Good luck with that!

Saman Dance

The evening kicked off with a highly energetic Saman Dance performance! Also known as the Dance of Thousand Hands, Saman Dance is one of the most popular dances in Indonesia. The Acehnese dance is dynamic and requires excellent coordination among its players. Intense and powerful movements, such as clapping and slapping, form the rhythm for the dance, which starts off slow, gradually increases tempo, then comes to an abrupt stop.

The dancers entering the stage

Flawlessly executing the audience's favourite dance move

The dance moves got more complicated as it went along and the dancers stumbled a little towards the end but the audience was kept well-entertained and gave a rousing applause at the end!

Ibu Lucy dancing with the students during practice

Kami juga bertemu teman baru. Ibu juga baik.

These three buoyant ladies in their bright costumes joined the Saman Dance group together. They liked that the dance was nice and the song had a catchy rhythm. Check out what they mean through this video!

Angklung

Angklung is an Indonesian musical instrument consisting of 2 to 4 bamboo tubes suspended on a bamboo frame. The instrument is played by shaking the frame. Because each Angklung produces a single note or a chord, melodies must be played by several people. Thus, this musical instruments requires a lot of co-operation among everyone in the group.

Practice lessons

Learning the Angklung is hard work!

Look at the large number of students involved! It must have been very tough for them learning the Angklung and having to rehearse umpteen times to get everything right. Great job!!!

Now lets catch their awesome performance again!

 

Maluku Dance

The Maluku Dance, also known as Tari Gaba-Gaba, is a very energetic dance which requires good coordination and teamwork amongst the dancers and our performers have certainly proved that so!  

The dancers are excited to begin!

 

Their smiling faces quickly turning into intense looks of focus

The dance, originating from Maluku in the eastern region of Indonesia, uses bamboo poles to set the rhythm and form the basis of the dance. The dancers all have to work together in sync to avoid getting caught by the bamboo poles, which alternate between closing and opening according to the fast and catchy music. It looks deceivingly easy but our dancers found it challenging and requiring stamina on top of a high level of coordination.

These two dancers certainly impressed when they confidently danced through all 9 grids the bamboo sticks created.

 

Do not be deceived by how serious they look in practice - the dancers all enjoyed the dance steps, the costume and especially the interaction among themselves. 

 

 

Catch the performance again in this video!

Menyanyi

The Menyanyi group (singing) gave a wonderful performance with their beautiful singing and interesting rendition of the storyline of the song on the project night. The performance comprised of two romantic, namely  “Jatuh Cinta Lagi” (playboy) and “Kamu yang Pertama". This musical was entertaining and hilarious, especially with the exaggerated acting and attire the actors had. This successful performance brought by the menyanyi group was the result of their hardwork for months.

Kamu yang Pertama

Jatuh Cinta Lagi

The two lead actors looking really happy

On the event night, LT 8 was filled with the cheerful singing of the Menyanyi group as well as the laughter from the audiences. 

The girl carried the guy?

The actors seem quite happy with their acting :D

Batik Jumputan

Batik Jumputan, also known as Batik Ikat is the Indonesian art of tie-dying and this traditional art originated from Java.  The materials needed are cloths, marbles, color dyes, marbles, and a lot of rubber bands.After the practice in Ibu Liana's house, different Batik groups took samples back home to replicate the designs. 

Samples taken back from Rumah Ibu Liana

 After discussing on the pattern and colors, the groups proceed to dye their clothes. Let's follow one of the group in learning the steps involved in creating beautiful Batik Jamputan. 

1) First, the dye is boiled with salt which helps the cloth absorb the dye better. After that, the cloth is wet before putting in to boil for 15 min.

Boiling the dye (yellow base)

 2) Next, the cloth is dried on a newspaper and hung dry to reveal the base color on the cloth. 

The cloth was hung dry

3) Next, rubber bands were tied onto the cloth holding the marbles to design patterns. In this group, blue dye was used next. 
 

Creating desings and dying with the 2nd color

Creating designs

 4) After boiling the yellow cloth in the blue dye with the designs, the cloth was dried on newspaper and rubber bands were discarded. 

Final product (Top panel) and new design (Below panel)

After weeks of effort, the various Batik groups presented their lovely art pieces on the project day. With Ibu Liana's help and guidance, the Batik group designed various patterns on the cloth by tying them differently with rubber bands.   Take a look at the batik designed by our very own Batik team. Cantik ya?

Presenting their very own designs

Senang sekali! 

Drama

One of the highlights of the day was definitely the drama performance put up by some of our friends!

The cast from the Drama Group

 Before the D-day, our fellow actors from the drama group spent hours on rehearsals just to present an awesome performance for us! Let's take a peek behind the scenes!!

Ibu Indrianti coaching our fellow teman-teman on acting!

On the D-day, the drama group put up an awesome skit that depicts the modern day Indonesian cinderella. The story revolved around a tampan prince who met this cantik lady who had three other siblings.  While searching for her true love, they also met a crab along the way. The skit ended with the popular dance of Oppa Gangnam Style which gained waves of laughter.

And the drama unveils...

The tampan prince

Our cantik Cinderella (left) and her three siblings

The extremely entertaining kepiting

OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!

And it all ended with fun and laughter..

So how was the skit? Bagus sekali ya? For those who haven't got enough of the skit, here's another opportunity to catch it!