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'The French Connection': A cultural response to business and terrorism?
Francois Hollande was in Indonesian this week – a historic visit as the last time a French president came was in 1986. As to be expected, he and President Joko Widodo agreed to strengthen bilateral relations
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Prisident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo welcomes visiting French President Françoise Hollande at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on March 29. (Antara/ Puspa Perwitasari)
N
o, I am not referring to the 1971 American crime thriller about the largest heroin-smuggling syndicate in the world at the time. Sure, there’s a “cultural exchange” in that the heroin was smuggled from Marseilles to New York, but normally smuggling is considered a crime, not a cultural event.
I am referring to my own French connection, memories of which were evoked when, on March 24, I attended an event at the French International School (LJF), called “La Grande Journee de la Danse” (the big day of dance), the third of a series of yearly cultural events held at the school.
Were they presenting French dances? Surprise, surprise, no, they weren’t. The show consisted of Sundanese dances like the dynamic jaipong, the famous Cirebon mask dance as well as pencak silat, the traditional Indonesian martial art.
Some of the performances were done by professionals but the majority of the dancers were the pupils of the school - nearly 60 of them - clad in colorful traditional costumes. The older female pupils also wore make-up, beautiful headdresses and looked gorgeous, while the younger ones looked adorable.
Who was behind this amazing event? Gabriel Laufer, the music teacher at the LJF who does a lot more than simply teach music. He’s a man with a vision, who thinks that cultural immersion serves not just to broaden the students’ knowledge, but also to touch their minds and hearts. He believes the cultural exposure they get now will stay with them for life.
In preparation for the event, the pupils were taken to Jelekong (near Bandung), the village of the famous wayang golek dalang Asep Sunarya Sunandar’s legacy, and learnt some painting techniques as Jelekong is also a village of painters. They practiced pencak silat and jaipong, played interactive games with local students, ate Sundanese food while sitting on the floor, the traditional Sundanese way. How more immersed can you get?
On the evening of “La Grande Danse” Gabriel himself acted as a co-dalang (puppeteer) for the wayang golek show, which was interspersed as commentary between the dances. The dialogue was a mix of Sundanese, Indonesian, French and English. I was probably one of the few in the audience who understands all of these languages. Lucky me!
