Students of Garuda Cendekia high school in south Jakarta, through their traditional dance and music group '€œGardya'€, had the opportunity to present a medley of Indonesian traditional dances in three different competitions at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, in Llangollen, the UK, from July 7 to 12.

Gardya won all the traditional dance competitions with the details as follows: first prize for Choreographed/Styled Traditional Folk Dance Competition, second prize for Children'€™s Traditional Folk Dance Competition and third prize for Traditional Folk Dance Competition in which 31 students under Gardya presented a medley of traditional Indonesian dances from various provinces.

The medley of traditional dances comprised the Rapa'€™i kipah dance of Aceh, piring dance of West Sumatra, Gending Sriwijaya dance of South Sumatra, kembang kipas dance of Jakarta, giring-giring dance of Central Kalimantan and tari yospan of Papua with live music of angklung (bamboo instruments from West Java) and talempong (percussion instruments from West Sumatra).

 The seventh and 10th grade students got intensive dance and music instruction for seven months under Mira Arismunandar, choreographer and owner of the Gema Citra Nusantara (GCN) dance company. In the competition, Mira also presented her special choreography for the kembang kipas dance that was inspired by the story of Mirah, a Lioness warrior from Marunda, Jakarta.

The choreography used various traditional Batavian silat martial art movements and a fan as the weapon. Altarajoe arranged the musical composition that was also based on the Batavian musical style.

At the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, usually called the Choral Music Festival, the jury gave grades based on the dance and music performances, costumes and the culture itself. Every dance-music showcase had a time limit of 8-10 minutes depending on the type of competition. The music that accompanied the dance performance had to be live and it was forbidden to use prerecorded music.

Numerous countries participated in the international event. The 31 students who were members of Gardya took part of the whole six days of the event, starting with an international parade, performing in the opening night ceremony and the three different competitions.

Fara Adelita Nasution
Llangollen, UK

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