When 5,000 Surakartan Princesses Danced

International Dance Day, which fell on April 29, has always been celebrated joyfully in Surakarta. This year, 5,035 female dancers took part in a colossal performance of the \'gambyong\' traditional dance.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A parade of thousands of dancers grace the lanes of Jl. Slamet Riyadi on Sunday morning (29/4/2018) in Solo, Central Java, as part of the Solo Menari event that was held to celebrate International Dance Day.

International Dance Day, which fell on April 29, has always been celebrated joyfully in Surakarta, commonly known as Solo, in Central Java. This year, 5,035 female dancers took part in a colossal performance of the gambyong traditional dance on the city’s Jl. Slamet Riyadi on Sunday (29/4/2018) morning.

Thousands of female dancers wearing traditional Javanese kemben and jarik as well as shawls lined up on a 1.5-kilometer stretch on Jl. Slamet Riyadi before 7 a.m. The kemben and shawls were wildly colorful: purple, blue, green, red, yellow and pink. The mixture of these colors was truly beautiful to behold.

Iron barricades were put up on both sides of the street and thousands of Surakartans were crowding the sidewalks. They wished to watch the colossal gambyong dance performance held by the Surakarta city administration to commemorate this year’s International Dance Day.

After a series of opening speeches, the International Dance Day commemoration – which is held under the theme “5,000-Dancer Gambyong” this year – was officially started with the opening dance of Gambyong 3 WMP (Waras Wasis Wareg Mapan Papan).

The dance involved 200 female dancers and was about teenage girls showing off their beauty and charm. Created by Nanuk Rahayu and composer Blacius Subono of the Surakarta Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI Surakarta), the dance portrayed Surakartans’ hospitality to all guests.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Dancers take a break after performing the Gambyong dance at the Solo Menari event on Sunday morning (29/4/2018). A series of activities were held to commemorate International Dance Day on Jl. Slamet Riyadi in Solo, Central Java.

The Gambyong 3 WMP dance was immediately followed by the main event: the colossal gambyong dance performance involving 5,000 dancers. A total of 5,035 female dancers danced the Gambyong Pareanom dance created by the late Ngaliman. They danced and swayed gracefully, with wide smiles upon their faces to highlight their geniality.

Gambyong is a classical Javanese dance originating from Solo. The name is derived from a dancer who lived during the reign of Surakartan Palace ruler Paku Buwono IV (1788-1820). The name “Gambyong” is mentioned in RNg Ronggowarsito’s book Cariyos Lelampahanipun. The book recalled the story of a dancer named Gambyong, who was highly skilled at singing and dancing and was a highly popular in her era.

Participation

The colossal Gambyong 5,000 dancers performance had been hotly awaited. Most of the dancers were students of local elementary schools, middle schools high schools and dance studios. They had decked out for the occasion since before dawn. “I got up at 2 a.m. and my parents took me to school to get my makeup done with my friends,” said SMA 6 Surakarta state senior high school student Tabita Gabriel.

Tabita said she had practiced the dance for two weeks at her school. In the first week, the training was held every other day. In the second week, the training was held every day after school hours. She said that her school offered students to join in the dance. “I like dancing. I joined a dancing extracurricular activity in elementary school,” he said.

SMPN 3 Surakarta public middle school students Syahrani and Ellen Agustin, who also trained for the dance at their school, said that they also practiced on their own at home. They played videos on video sharing websites on their smartphones to train and memorize the movements. “We have never performed gambyong before,” Ellen said.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Two young dancers take a break during the Solo Menari event on Sunday morning (29/4/2018).

Local parents were enthusiastically accompanying their daughters and helping them prepare. Upik Sukino said that she got up at 2 a.m. on the day of the event. Before dawn, she took her daughter Arundati, 11, a member of the Metta Budaya dance studio, to the Sriwedari Park for a makeup session. “There are so many girls that needed makeup so everyone took turns. We needed to be there before dawn,” she said.

Arundati said that she had gotten used to this as she had participated in several dance performances.

Surakarta mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo said that the event was held to preserve the nation’s art and culture and to encourage the younger generation to better understand and participate in gambyong performances – a local Surakartan tradition. “With 5,035 dancers participating in the gambyong dance, this shows that Surakartans are in love with their traditional arts,” he said.

The Gambyong 5,000 Dancers performance broke a world record, according to the Indonesian Museum of Records (Muri). The previous record for a colossal gambyong performance was 1,001 dancers in Surakarta in 2017. “This time, there are 5,035 female dancers. We will record this as the 8,434^th record in Muri and as a world record,” museum manager Aryani Siregar said.

The 2018 International Dance Day was also commemorated by ISI Surakarta, which held a 24-hour dance session themed “Revealing Civilization” at its campus ground. ISI Surakarta rector Guntur said that the 160 dance groups and studios from various regions participated in the event. They performed traditional and modern dances to highlight the nation’s diversity and reinforce national unity.