Yes, they can dance

Watch out: All eyes are on the dance during the festival.Kids in Lombok don’t think they can dance — they know they can.

They stepped up last Friday night in front of an international panel of world champion dance judges to prove it.

It was the kick-off of the three-day 2011 Lombok International Dance Festival, which has put the Indonesian island of Lombok on the map for dance professionals and amateurs around the world.

Driven by the vision of ballroom and Latin dance world champion Marcel De Rijk, Lombok again played host to some of the world’s leading ballroom and Latin dancers last week during the festival. The event also opened the way for young street and traditional dancers from across Indonesia to perform before dance judges from 18 countries, including England and China.

Melissa Earlene even partnered with Hengky Kurniawan, who took third place in “Dancing with the Stars – Indonesia”.

The annual Lombok International Dance festival in the past focused on classical forms of dance like the Latin cha cha and rumba and ballroom’s fabulous quickstep and foxtrot, however, following a tradition started in 2010, the festival is also open to modern and traditional dance by young performers.

This has broadened the international competition, as competitors from across Asia and Europe joined the festival for the international ballroom and Latin championships, the audience was wowed by a dance-off between local hip hop crews and breakdancers and electric boogie and street dancing topped
off a traditional dance face-off that had Lombok Balinese dancers up against Sasaks.

It was an absolute feast of dance.

One group of Lombok hip hoppers calling themselves D’Coolz Dance were boys aged nine to 13 who, ahead of the dance off, were overflowing with nervous energy. Dressed in red T-shirts, silver vests and tartan sneakers, the boys said they had been rehearsing for their big moment for almost a year.

“This is asyik [cool]! We have been dancing together for three years as a hip hop crew. Breakdancing is usually one person dancing and hip hop is a crew, like ours,” explained 10-year-old Echa.

One proud mother, Ayu Adiarti, said performing for international judges has been a huge confidence boost for her son. “I am very proud because my son is normally shy, but he is confident when it comes to dance,” said Ayu, who spent the afternoon ahead of their performance spiking the crew’s hair and making final costume adjustments.

Lombok dance teacher Suci Budiani of the Sanggar Suci Dance School said the annual dance festival was an invaluable gift for students of dance.

“I am so proud to see my five dance teams out there performing. They have been working on their routines for a year. This event is so good for their confidence and I feel this shows dance students they can make a career of dance in the future,” said Suci on the sidelines of the event.

Confidence was overflowing when the littlest hip hop crew, the Swan Princesses, took to the ballroom floor. A gaggle of pink tutus, ballet shoes and sequins, the Swan Princesses had the audience on its feet as they strutted their stuff, cart-wheeling across the floor, baby fat tummies gyrating before a spin into the splits; so charged with energy and vivacity were these tiny princesses that they were invited to perform again on Sunday evening for an international audience, which was again on its feet cheering them on.

The winners of Friday night’s modern dance competition, T Rex, were simply outstanding. The four member male hip hop group journeyed through hip hop and breakdance beats before gliding into the classic “Singing in the Rain”, breathing new life into an old standard. Winners received dance lessons from De Rijk.

“The whole festival has been wonderful, but watching the young dancers on Friday night was an absolute thrill. They are all such exciting dancers and the winners T Rex are almost at a professional level,” said De Rijk.

Taking second place was Monkey Business, a crew of men and women wearing monkey masks; the crew cut up the ballroom floor with some great monkey moves, delighting the audience. As with several other crews, their costumes were gender neutral and the girls danced as strongly as the boys, taking control of their space. The dances seemed to speak of gender equality, of girls standing up for their rights and speaking of it through dance.

This was best seen in a performance by The Chitos, two tough girls in hoodies and baggy jeans. These girls with ragged hair and no make-up were sure of themselves and fierce on the floor. They were not trying to look pretty, they were staking their claim to the future – they told the audience through their powerful hip hop and breakbeats that they owned that future.

It may be this element of social discussion, of owning the streets and the dance floor that draws so many young people to hip hop and breakdancing. For the boys, the dance style is athletic, strong and very, very cool, for girls hip hop and breakdancing has attitude, offering girls the opportunity to own their sexuality, to be strong and assertive through dance.

For 15-year-old Ida Bagus Kemenuh, dancing gives him confidence.

“I feel nervous before I dance but excited as well. This is the first time I have performed before such a big audience, so as a group we feel a bit afraid, but doing this builds our confidence,” said Bagus ahead of his crew Regant’s performance.

While Lombok’s youth performed new dance styles, much of their choreography paid homage to traditional dance with kecak elements, finger movements and fans mixing it up with electric boogie.

The Lombok Dance Festival showcased the fact that hip hop styles have opened the door wide to dance and reconnected young dancers with traditional dances, re-jigged and redrawn for modern society.

The youth section of the festival was given free of charge by one of the event sponsors and organizers to all comers, offering Indonesian youth the opportunity to dance on a sprung ballroom floor in front of an international audience.