Clad in a black costume with white motifs on the back, fifth-grader Kea nervously awaited her turn to perform a traditional Papuan dance in a cultural art show Saturday.

“The dance will only take five minutes, but my heart is beating so fast because we’re going to be the last performers in the show,” the 11-year-old told The Jakarta Post.

Kea, the daughter of a native Papuan father and Javanese mother, said she was proud to perform the dance with all her classmates, since she was the only student in the school with a Papuan background.

“We rehearsed the dance for more than a month. My dad also helped us get the most suitable music,” she said.

With the fifth-graders counting down to their turn on stage, third-grader Fadhil and his classmates stole the audience’s attention with their performance of the energetic Saman dance from Aceh.

After the group finished, hundreds of teachers, parents and students gave their biggest applause, not just because they had performed the dance well, but also because 11-year-old Fadhil, the only student in the class with autism, had kept pace with his classmates.

“It’s a great show,” said a parent.

Fadhil and Kea were among 300 students from Lazuardi Global Islamic School who showcased their talent in dance and music at the school’s annual performance.

As in previous years, the show, held to celebrate the end of the school year, offered up more servings of traditional culture than popular culture.

“Going with a traditional theme is in accordance with the school’s vision to be an inclusive and multicultural school, where students are never classified or segregated based on cultural background or religious school of thought,” said Khairil Azhar, a senior teacher.

As such, he went on, the school had given special-needs students the same opportunity to study and socialize as other children.

“The students are taught to spend their time together without prejudice, and to look at the positives of being different rather than emphasizing the downside,” he said.

Under the title “A sparkling mosaic of archipelago”, this year’s show saw students from first to sixth grades present more than a dozen traditional dances, from Aceh to Papua.

These included Central Java’s Jaranan, West Java’s Sirih Kuning, Maluku’s Poco Poco and West Sumatra’s Indang. (hwa)

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