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Indonesian performing arts group re-enacts history in US
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The Indonesian Kids Performing Arts (IKPA) group perform "1928 – When a Nation Sings in Harmony" in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. (Oscar Zaky/Oscar Zaky at IKPAUSA)
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ndonesian Kids Performing Arts (IKPA), a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization that focuses on children's education, re-enacted history in a performance at a United States musical theater on Jan.13. The show depicted historical moments, such as the Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge) of Oct. 28, 1928, in three acts.
Taking place at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, the two-hour performance, entitled “1928 – When a Nation Sings in Harmony”, was IKPA’s eighth annual performance.
The show was divided into three parts. The first was about the arrival of the Dutch East India Company as well as the glory of the Jayakarta kingdom, the second was about the situation in the early 17th century when different tribes were scattered throughout Indonesia and the third was about the nationalist movement toward one nation.
Read also: Youth Pledge: One language, but don't stigmatize multilinguals
Supported by the Embassy of Indonesia, the performance was also the result of a collaboration between professionals, scriptwriters and music directors from local art center Organization of Indonesian Students in the United States (PERMIAS) and other Indonesian communities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Budi Bowoleksono praised the performance, calling it a “timely" show that "should be further developed.”
“The government will continue to support such positive initiatives from all parts of Indonesian society in the US, including IKPA, as this type of activity will lend effective support to Indonesia’s governmental programs to promote Indonesian culture in the US,” read the ambassador in his opening speech, adding that it would also allow future generations "to continue to remember and cultivate their love for the homeland, despite residing far away from home."
Founded in January 2010, IKPA activities include choir, dance, musical instruments and theater. They have performed in community and diplomatic occasions, among which were the Diplomatic Reception of the 72nd Indonesian Independence Day at the Indonesian ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, in September 2017 and the Lunar Year celebration in Rockville, Maryland, in January 2017. (asw)
