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‘Jogja Menari’ encourages Indonesian youth to love own culture
Around 3600 dancers are set to participate in Jogja Menari (Jogja Dances), to be held by the Yogyakarta Model Alumni Family (KATY) class of 1993 in Yogyakarta on Sunday, Dec. 23.
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Horses made of woven bamboo and decorated with colorful paint and cloth. They are used in the performance of 'kuda lumping' or 'jaranan'. (Shutterstock/zahirul alwan)
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round 3600 dancers are set to participate in Jogja Menari (Jogja Dances), to be held by the Yogyakarta Model Alumni Family (KATY) class of 1993 in Yogyakarta on Sunday, Dec. 23. Tempo.co reported that these thousands of dancers would break records at the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) as a jaranan (toy horse) dance performance with the most dancers.
Coordinator of Jogja Menari, Renny Kusumowardhani, said the KATY’s event would help preserve Indonesian culture, particularly its traditional dances.
“Jogja Menari is a mass movement to give an education on the love of culture. We learned the dance independently from YouTube and perform in unison, and this is the first time in Yogya,” said Renny during the preparation of the event on Tuesday.
She went on to say that jaranan dance was chosen because it is considered simple and easy to follow even by those who are not skillful dancers.
“This jaranan dance is a new creation, especially choreographed for this year’s Jogja Menari. The inspiration comes from Kulonprogo regency’s angguk dance but presented it in a more attractive way,” Renny was quoted as saying.
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The event also aims at familiarizing the youth with traditional Indonesian dances, aside from hip-hop or K-Pop dances they might be more familiar with, thanks to their smartphones and tablets.
“We hope that Jogja Menari could motivate [Indonesian] youth to study the dance further,” said Renny, adding that Indonesian authentic artforms are often highly appreciated by foreigners.
Often practicing dance in the Yogya palace with traditional dance maestros, Renny is familiar with foreigners who are in the same dance classes with her, some of them hailing from Germany and Japan.
Seeing the Indonesian youth’s declining interest in own traditional art is what motivates Renny and SMA 1 Yogyakarta high school alumni class of 1993 to organize Jogja Menari on a massive scale. (mut)
