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Pragina Gong: Fuses traditional & modern dance moves
In motion: Pragina Gong dancers perform their dance piece during a show in Jakarta
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In motion: Pragina Gong dancers perform their dance piece during a show in Jakarta.
Dance troupe Pragina Gong entered the country's dance scene with a bang ' blending acrobatic moves and modern choreography into traditional dance moves.
Dance troupe Pragina Gong, which rose to fame after taking part in the talent search contest Indonesia's Got Talent in 2010, returned to the stage recently in Jakarta, wowing the audience with a performance called Asmaradana.
'The Asmaradana dance is about troops celebrating victory in a war. Its message is to make us love our country more. We are often asked to dance it,' said Pragina leader Galih Suci Manganti of the piece they created five years ago at their home base in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta.
Ever since it was founded in 2005, by 10 students of the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) in Yogyakarta, Pragina have loved to create dances that convey a nationalistic and patriotic spirit.
Today, the group comprises seven youngsters, of between 24 to 30 years of age, who come from various cities, including Yogyakarta, Ponorogo in East Java and Pontianak in West Kalimantan.
They named the group Pragina Gong because in the Balinese language, Pragina means dancer, while Gong refers to a popular music instrument played across the archipelago ' expressing their hope that the dances they create represent the country's diverse cultures and races.
Pragina member Rusnanda Ramli said what distinguishes the group was its groundbreaking mix of traditional dance with modern dances and acrobatic moves.
He said that every dance Pragina created contained 50 percent traditional elements, 30 percent modern ones and 20 percent acrobatics.
He explained that this combination was aimed at engaging young people ' not only to watch, but also to learn traditional dances.
'If we dance in a classic way, we are afraid of making [the audience] bored,' said 26-year-old Rusnanda.
He added that the most important aspect was that their creations do not break the basic foundations of the traditional dances included within.
Since 2005, Pragina has joined dancing competitions across the archipelago, but the group really came to fame in 2010 when joining Indonesia's Got Talent.
'Initially, we joined just for fun and were just playing around. We thought the event looked fun, so we signed up,' Galih said.
During the audition, Pragina impressed the judges and made the audience laugh with Javanese dance mixed with comedy and popular songs, ranging from 'Beraksi' (Action) by Indonesian rock band Kotak to Shakira's 'Waka Waka' (This Time for Africa).
Galih said she would have never thought that the modern dance and acrobat twist in Pragina's performances could wow Indonesians, whose votes eventually made the troupe one of six grand finalists at the talent show.
'Now, we rarely use comedy in our dances,' Galih said, adding that her group removed it because its performances aimed to make more people familiar with traditional art as well as deliver patriotic messages, instead of cracking a joke.
In its latest performance in Jakarta, Pragina delivered a serious tone with Asmaradana.
Still, unlike classic Javanese dance which is usually elegant and accompanied by slow-tempo gamelan music, the six-minute Asmaradana performance begs to differ.
In the performance, three male and four female dancers open with a dance battle, in which the male dancers show off their skills first. Afterwards, they dance together and combine their moves with some cheerleading techniques, from 'shoulder sit' to 'split-lift'.
The audience was enchanted when one of the female dancers took to the center stage, dancing with a large white cloth hanging from her waist. From the corners, other dancers moved the cloth, creating a wave.
'We imagine that the large white cloth is a wave in an ocean, because Indonesia is an archipelagic country. Meanwhile, the masks represent different people from different races, religions and ethnicities,' said Galih, who admires noted dancer Didik Nini Thowok.
Galih said the group had created more than 30 dances and practiced twice a week. The inspiration for new dances came from various sources, he said. Asmaradana, for example, was inspired by a love song of the same name, popularized by Malaysian singer Tiara Jacquelina.
Since its breakthrough on the talent show, Pragina Gong is often invited to perform at local and international events, including in Thailand, Egypt and Canada. In April 2012, it received an award in Mukah, Malaysia, for its unique dances.
In the future, Pragina Gong plans to reopen dance courses to accommodate people that are interested in learning traditional and modern dances.
'We want to be like [the late Cirebon mask dance maestro] Mimi Rasinah. She still danced, even when she was sick. She maintained her dedication to preserve the nation's culture until the end of her life,' Galih said.
' Photos Courtesy of Pragina Gong
