People were moving, laughing and sometimes shouting happily while shaking their bodies to the rhythm of seven traditional songs--from the Betawi hit Ondel-Ondel and the Balinese Puspanjali to Gemu Fa Mi Re from Maumere.

Around 1,000 people participated in a one-hour flash mob of traditional dance in front of the fX Sudirman shopping mall in Central Jakarta on Sunday in an early celebration of Independence Day, which falls on Aug. 17.

The event, titled “Tunjukkan Indonesiamu” (Show your Indonesia), was held for the first time in 2015 by the Belantara Budaya Indonesia Foundation (YBBI) to promote traditional Indonesian dance.

Entering its third year, participants are keeping their spirits high.

“Show your Indonesia!” they screamed after each dance.

One of them was Yunione Ferlly, 46, who jumped along and cheered as she followed the movement of an instructor on stage, who danced to Yamko Rambe Yamko from Papua.

“I’m familiar with the dance moves, but this is the first time for me to dance to seven traditional dances non-stop,” Yunione said, smiling while catching her breath after the dance finished. ”I love it.”

Yunione had come to the event with her two granddaughters. She said she brought her granddaughters to the Museum of National Awakening in Central Jakarta every Saturday to join dance classes at YBBI.

“Indonesia is rich; we have so many beautiful traditional dances; I want the children to grow up with that beauty,” she said.

Diah Kusumawardani Wijayanti, the founder of YBBI, said the foundation taught traditional dances for free to more than 1,000 people in front of the museum every Saturday morning.

She said she had started it all because she was concerned about the fact that young people were more interested in learning foreign dances than traditional domestic ones.

“That’s why I make it free, so anyone can come and learn, regardless of their financial conditions and their age,” Diah told The Jakarta Post.

Diah said “Show your Indonesia” was one of the ways to make time and provide a stage for the dancers to perform what they have been practicing.

“One of the main problems is that even though they have been practicing every week, they don’t have any place to perform, but through events like this one, they can perform what they have been practicing. Then people will see and more will be interested in learning the dances,” said Diah, who is also known as a photographer and deputy chief editor of lifestyle webzine gohitz.com.

Diah expressed her hopes that the Jakarta administration would support them, since they had been funding the activities independently while trying to preserve traditional dances, especially of Jakarta’s native Betawi culture.

Suprihatin, an official of the Jakarta Tourism and Culture Agency, said the administration would give traditional dancers access to five theaters across Jakarta.

“If this activity is held consistently, it can be funded from the city budget. It is in line with the administration’s plan to preserve the Betawi culture,” he said during his speech at the event.

“So, people of the young generation, go practice these traditional dances, especially Betawi ones, because we will persuade public authorities to provide places and times for you to perform your dances,” he said. (hol)

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