Emerald of The Equator: Bringing the tropics to Madison

Emerald of The Equator: Bringing the tropics to Madison
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On Saturday as a warm spring evening rolled into Madison, the University of Wisconsin campus witnessed a showcase of Indonesian culture with a variety of dance and musical performances from regions across the archipelago, at the Indonesian Student Association’s (Permias Madison) annual event, Indonesian Night 2016. More than 200 people were in attendance including UW students, staff, faculty, Madison community members, and guests from Illinois, northern Wisconsin, and even as far as Michigan. The performers included UW-Madison students, mostly from Indonesia but also from a variety of other countries. There were also guest performers from Indonesian Dance of Illinois (IDI), an ethnic dance group based in the greater Chicago area led by Ngurah Kertayuda.

Indonesia Night - Jauk
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Indonesian Night was the final event of the Indonesian Festival, a series of events held at the UW exploring various issues of Indonesian society. Previously, a screening of the film Sokola Rimba was held at the Marquee theatre, a presentation on research involving Indonesian politics and education was given at the South-East Asian research group, and a Batik making workshop bringing hands-on experience in the fine art of Batik to Madison.

Batik workshop
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The evening kicked off with the audience and performers rising for the national anthem, Indonesia Raya. Then followed a welcome address by Permias Madison president Merly Klaas, and by Ibu Eni Hartati, the Acting Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in Chicago, who then officially opened the show.

Sasando
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The show opened with a drama depicting an adaptation of an ethnic folk tale from the Dayak tribe in Kalimantan called Gong Mandau, in which the Dayak king, played by Zikril Hakim, proclaims a tournament through which he seeks to find a suitable husband for his daughter, played by Zelda Fitriasih. The contestants are told to travel to every corner of Indonesia to discover the most valuable thing in life, after which those who safely return fight for the princess in combat. The audience followed the story of Putra, played by Derrick Gozal, a young man who accepts the king’s challenge and sets out on a journey. As Putra travelled from place to place, traditional performances from each of those regions were performed on stage.

Mandau
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The first performance was the Jauk Dance accompanied by a Gamelan Ensemble native to the island of Bali, performed by Indonesian Dance of Illinois, in which the dancer wore a fearsome mask of a raksasa (giant) demon. Next was the Saman Dance from Aceh, the dance of a thousand hands, recognized by UNESCO as world Intangible Heritage, and was performed by the UW Madison Saman club, coached by Nurvirta Monarizqa.

Sajojo
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As Putra wandered into West Java, the Indonesian Dance of Illinois performed a rendition of two songs, Ayo Mama and Bunga Anggrek, using the Angklung, traditional bamboo made instruments from Sunda. The story then travelled east across Java and the next performance was Tari Golek Ayun-ayun, a central Javanese dance from Yogyakarta depicting a girl’s coming of age. The dance was performed by Angela Sari who was trained at a famous ethnic dance school in Yogyakarta itself.

Movie Screening
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With Putra heading farther east into Nusa Tenggara Timur, there was a rendition of the soulful song Bolelebo, with Merly Klaas playing the Sasando, a stringed instrument native to the island of Rote. The song featured guest performer Windhy Kana from Greenbay, and was accompanied by the Angklung ensemble from IDI. And finally, there was the Sajojo dance from Papua, the eastern-most province of Indonesia, headed by Dian Mawene featuring dancers from the US, Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

The last performance of the evening was Tari Giring-giring from Kalimantan, a wedding celebration dance featuring colourful costumes with dancers wielding batons and spears following Putra’s return to his kingdom and victory in combat against a rival, thus winning the hand of the Princess.

After a quick round of contests and quizzes in which gift cards from Bandung Indonesian restaurant handed out as prizes, the audience was served a dinner of nasi kuning (yellow rice) and bihun (rice noodles) as the main course. The audience was treated with other examples of Indonesian food like rujak, ketoprak, cendol, siomay, batagor, pukis, kering kentang, garlic crackers, tempe, tahu isi, asinan bogor, and telur balado, supplied by volunteers in the community. Many expressed that they were happy to be able to taste authentic Indonesian cuisine.

Permias Madison would like to thank AIS, WUD, KJRI, and the Department of Southeast Asian Studies for their generous sponsorship and support.

We hope to see you at Indonesian Night next year!

Writer: Jonathan Handali

Photo credit: Peter Neuman

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