In a country with a rich tradition of dance, ballet is one of the art forms that have become a staple of Indonesian dance schools.

With rigorous training that often starts when they are little, ballerinas are comparable in dedication to dancers specializing in the more traditional variants of the art.

To celebrate Indonesia’s small but vibrant ballet scene, a non-profit foundation, Ballet.id, recently held an exhibition that highlighted the nation’s history of ballet, from its beginnings in the early 20^th century to its present-day state.

Held at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta playhouse in Central Jakarta on July 7, “Historia: The Journey of Ballet in Indonesia” featured a modest exhibition of photographs, documents and clippings of articles on ballet in Indonesia, which began during a visit by Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova to Batavia on Feb. 21, 1929.

Throughout the years, ballet has mostly been taught by Dutch people, but some of their students would eventually start their own dance schools, like Farida Oetoyo (Ballet Sumber Cipta), Nanny Lubis (Namarina) and Marlupi Sijangga (Marlupi Dance Academy).

Indonesia’s only ballet company, the National Ballet, was founded in 1959 by Farida Oetoyo, Yulianti Parani, Jimmy Tan, Wim Roemers, Louis Pandelaki and Leska Ong.

In Farida’s biography Menari Di Atas Ilalang (Dancing on the Weeds) by Dorothea Rose Herliany, it is said the company only lasted for a year for a number of reasons, from lack of motivation and public appreciation to creative differences between the members.