Opposing the Strangulation of Ronggeng Balik

SUCIPTO

Yati Dahlia

Not wanting to see the Balik ethnic group’s ronggeng dance fade to a mere name, Yati Dahlia voluntarily teaches children in her village to dance. Her actions have taken on new significance now the government plans to build the nation’s new capital city Nusantara in her birthplace of Sepaku district, North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan.

Yati was only 12 when her aunt acquainted her with the ronggeng dance’s movements in 2003. As a child she found a new way of playing, moving her body to the accompanying gambus (lute) music while singing.

Her julak (aunt) imparted all her knowledge of the ronggeng Balik dance onto Yati, a traditional dance performed by women of the Balik ethnic group, the indigenous community of the Sepaku district and its vicinity, including Balikpapan city.

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At the time, ronggeng Balik was already widely staged with only the dance and music. Yati’s julak made her understand that such a dance show was a novel creation. There was nothing wrong with this, however, her aunt related that the traditional ronggeng Balik was performed by dancers who also sang in the regional Balik language of the community.

Apart from dance movements, Yati was also familiarized with stories of the ronggeng Balik. For instance, in the past, ronggeng also served as a healing ritual for the Balik people. Balik community elders would lead prayers and administer traditional herbal medicines, while in the corner, seven women would dance the ronggeng Balik with accompanying drum and gambus music. The Balik people believed that the ritual could help recovery through the involvement of ancestral spirits.

With her training and knowledge, Yati frequently participates at art events in her village. Yet Yati feels apprehensive because most of the Balik ethnic group no longer have knowledge of their own art. Balik language speakers are also rarely found as this tongue is not spoken in daily conversation.

“If I just stay at home, I speak Balik with Baba (father). Outside, I sometimes speak Paser or the Javanese language of Kalimantan people,” said Yati when visited in her house in Bumi Harapan village, Sepaku district, on Sunday (20/3/2022).

It can also encourage children to learn gambus as the accompanying music

Yati thinks that traditional ronggeng Balik can contribute to the preservation of Balik language as well as the arts through the singing. It can also encourage children to learn gambus as the accompanying music.

While performing ronggeng Balik, dancers often invite the audience to dance on stage. This is done by putting the scarves used by the dancers around the necks of spectators, who are then guided onstage. The spectators are asked to respond to the dancers’ quatrains.

Spectators invited to dance have to respond to the stanzas until they finish dancing. Although very simple, this practice can induce Balik speech.

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

Yati Dahlia

In 2014 Yati set up a dance studio calledUwat Bolum (reviving tradition). The primarily agricultural group in the studio has performed in various arenas, ranging from those around Sepaku district to an art show in Banten province where the group represented North Penajam Paser regency.

Yati is even entrusted with teaching dance in schools. “Their teachers came to me, asking me to teach ronggeng Balik in schools. I’m now teaching in three schools,” she said.

Capital city relocation

Yati’s house is only around 2 kilometers from the location designated as Point Zero of the National Capital City (IKN) Nusantara. For Yati her feelings about the project are mixed. On the one hand, there is hope in the decision, yet on the other, she fears that massive development will reduce the space of local people who still depend on forestland.

She gave the example of how Balik people now found it difficult to gather rattan because their forest had become industrial forest to be used for the IKN. Rattan is used by Balik people as the material for lanjong or kirai (woven sacks to carry the harvest).

At present, such plants have to be sought even further away from their homes due to the change of the forest as their source of living.

Besides this, Balik people also often use the leaves of sembung (camphor plant) to cure coughing or to care for children affected by fever. At present, such plants have to be sought even further away from their homes due to the change of the forest as their source of living.

The IKN relocation has made Yati even more determined to teach the Balik community’s traditions. She does not want to see the Balik people’s cultural treasures eroded by the megaproject that will bring a lot of people and construction work. Through ronggeng, she wants to promote the existing values of the Balik ethnic group. “Ronggeng for the women of our community implies taking care of ourselves,” she said.

She hopes the government will consider many things in the IKN relocation. She is afraid that rapid modernization in her village will chip away at the cultural practices of the Balik that have not yet been fully documented.

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Yati may not realize that what she is doing constitutes an extraordinary cultural undertaking. Through ronggeng Balik, she upholds the cultural wealth of her community. From ronggeng, she preserves the Balik tongue, gambus music and its values as well as the knowledge of traditional cures.

ISTANA KEPRESIDENAN/AGUS SUPARTO

President Joko Widodo at the location of the National Capital Nusantara.

She has pinned her hopes on the IKN development, now just around the corner. She does not want the cultural movement to be brushed aside by a few people’s political and economic interests. Nor does she want the local arts to meet the same fate as in other cities in Indonesia where traditional art players are marginalized.

“I don’t want to see ronggeng Balik, for instance, halted for the purpose of money making,” she added.

Yati Dahlia

Born: Sepaku district, North Penajam Paser, 8 May 1991

Education: State Primary School 020 Sepaku (2005 graduate), Muhammadiyah Junior High School Sepaku (2008 graduate)

Profession: Ronggeng Balik dance teacher, founder of Uwat Bolum dance studio

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira).