Dance ‘Booms’ on Banyuwangi Beach

KOMPAS/SOELASTRI SOEKIRNO

Dancers wave their fans in unison during the Gandrung 1000 Festival on Saturday (20/10/2018) at Boom Beach in Banyuwangi, East Java.

The spirit of learning traditional arts is blooming among the youths of Banyuwangi, East Java. Dancing, practicing nyinden (Javanese vocal music) and playing gamelan are part of their everyday lives. They say it is a manifestation of their love for the national culture. Awesome!

It was 2 p.m. on Thursday (10/18/2018). One by one, teenage girls arrived at the house of Suharno, 56, a teacher at SD Negeri 1 Songgon state elementary school who also runs the Tawangalun Dance Studio. The teenagers arrived on motorbikes, still in their school uniforms, heading to the studio immediately after school.

It was the last day of practice for the studio’s dancers before they performed on Saturday (10/20/2018) at the 2018 Gandrung Sewu Festival on Boom Beach, near the Banyuwangi city center, the region’s biggest annual arts festival and tourist attraction. One of the most awaited events is the Gandrung Sewu, a Gandrung dance performance involving 1,000 dancers – the Javanese word sewu means “one thousand”.

During the final practice, 15-year-old dancer Cindy Tria helped Suharno as his assistant. Cindy, who is still in the first year of senior high school, has studied under Suharno for many years at the studio. She reminded fellow dancers to be precise in their movements. Suharno then took over the practice. The students were not given a break during practice that day, so close to the Boom Beach event.

Dance student Galuh Sukma said he was proud of being a part of the Gandrung Sewu Festival. He attended the practices diligently even though it was tiring and his house was far from the studio. “The important thing is that I’m happy,” he said.

For Cindy, the dance practices have been part of her daily schedule since she was a child. She said she has learned around 20 dances, including the Gandrung, Padang Bulan and some new choreography by Banyuwangi dancers. “I study dance because I love to dance,” said the girl, who has a mixed Osing, Javanese and Betawi heritage.

KOMPAS/SOELASTRI SOEKIRNO

Gandrung dancers take shelter from the heat under a marquee before their performance at the Gandrung 1000 Festival on Saturday (20/10/2018) at Boom Beach in Banyuwangi, East Java.

Full of passion

The enthusiasm of Banyuwangi’s young people for the arts and culture heightened ahead of the Gandrung Sewu Festival. Since it was first held in 2012, more and more students have become interested participating in the event. The committee organizes a rigorous selection process for local schools three months before the event. Originally involving 1,000 dancers, more than 1,200 dancers will take part this year.

For many Banyuwangi youths, being chosen to as one of the thousand or so dancers for the Gandrung Sewu Festival is a source of pride, and they are seen as “stars” at their schools.

Making the selection fuels their eagerness to practice. Those who make the selection grow even more excited. Their teachers and parents are equally passionate, and accompany the young dancers to practices and rehearsals – even to the rehearsals on Wednesday evening (10/17) at Banyuwangi Stadium and on Friday afternoon (10/19) at Boom Beach.

Friday’s rehearsal lasted 3 to 3.5 hours, excluding breaks, so it was evening by the time the dancers finally headed home. Students from outside the city must travel 30 minutes to 2 hours to get home. “It has become routine for me and my friends. So we got used to it,” said Arif, a Rogojampi high school student who plays the saron, a seven-bar bronze xylophone.

Even though they lacked rest and were sometimes sleepy at school, Arif and his peers in the gamelan orchestra would not deny themselves the excitement. “Playing the gamelan is fun. It is entertaining and we take time [to play] between classes,” he said.

Overflowing studio

The teenagers’ passion for learning to dance and to play the gamelan has only grown in recent years.

They come to the dance studios with a serious intent to learn.

“In fact, back in the 1990s, I visited several schools to find students interested in dance. Although the lesson was free of charge, they were not interested in learning to dance. Now, they are eager to pay [for the classes]. They’re passionate about learning, even though [the studio] is far,” said Suharno, who charges only Rp 3,000 per class for each student.

KOMPAS/SOELASTRI SOEKIRNO

Suharno, an elementary school teacher who also runs a dance studio, teaches his dance students on Thursday (20/10/2018) at his studio in Songgon, Banyuwangi, East Java.

The Tawangalun Dance Studio, which Suharno established on Oct. 15, 1987, is one of the more popular studios among Banyuwangi youth. They also favor Umah Seni Uwung Wetan in Rejo Agung village of Srono district, which is run by Dwi Agus Cahyono, 28.

Established in 2014, Umah Seni Uwung Wetan now has 150 students from Srono, Cluring, Rogojampi and Pesanggaran. Besides learning to dance, the junior and senior high school students also learn to play the gamelan and make dance costumes.

“We teach many things,” said Dwi, who is a junior high school dance teacher. Dwi set a Rp 50,000 registration fee and Rp 25,000 in monthly tuition. The students come every week, especially on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

He was often uncomfortable that his male students had to travel 1.5 hours at night to get home after attending the cultural arts lessons at his studio. He is now building a boarding house next to his parents’ residence for students from far away. “Let them sleep there, rather than traveling at night to get home,” said Dwi.

For Banyuwangi teens, learning to dance, nyinden and play the gamelan also gives them self-confidence. “Because I can dance and sing, I often perform at festivals and have danced at the State Palace. People know me. It means I exist,” laughed Diyah Safira, a 15-year-old student at Rogojampi 1 senior high school who is a locally known sinden (Javanese vocalist).

Besides self-confidence, she also earns money from dancing and performing traditional Javanese vocals. When she performs outside Banyuwangi, Diyah earns an honorarium of Rp 500,000 to Rp 2 million; in Banyuwangi and surrounding areas, she earns Rp 100,000 to Rp 300,000, making an income while preserving the national culture.

(GER)