'Barongsai' dance enjoys a revival

By Ida Indawati Khouw

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Taman Harapan Indah housing complex in North Jakarta have been used to the deafening sound of drums, gongs, cymbals and other musical instruments blaring from a nearby tennis court where a group of people rehearse Barongsai (lion) dance.

Unlike during the period of Soeharto's authoritarian New Order government that crumbled in 1998, the security authorities now seem to turn a deaf ear to the noise.

So the dancers can rehearse without fear of police action every Monday and Thursday night at the tennis court. Nobody in the area have raised objections either.

Barongsai was part of the Chinese cultural shows that Soeharto banned as part his government's policy to suppress anti-Chinese sentiments from publicly breaking out. Then anyone could be jailed for performing Chinese culture.

Surya Tonowidjaja, leader of Tunas Jaya Barongsai dance group, recalled how his colleague was arrested due to performing the lion and Liong (dragon) dances in 1988.

"At that time the troupe performed the attraction at a ritual in a Chinese temple in Tangerang (just west of Jakarta) after getting a permit from the local authority. The leader was arrested only because the tail of the 'dragon' poked out of the temple's fence," Surya said.

In other incidents, properties where dances took place were confiscated and burned down. While costumes and equipment which could be saved were hidden in temples.

Despite the ban, the Chinese community in Indonesia had done everything to preserve their ancestors' cultural heritage. Barongsai troupes secretly rehearsed inside temples or outside town, like members of Tunas Jaya group.

"We went to remote areas like Sewan (in Tangerang, about 40 kilometers west of Jakarta) to train," said Surya.

Sewan is a small hamlet well-known as a Chinese Indonesian enclave in Tangerang.

A senior Barongsai dancer, Ronald Sjarif said his group never rehearsed following the ban because all the dance equipment had been confiscated by the security authorities.

"We once had a performance for a charity during the (former president) Soeharto era. We performed without rehearsal as we did not dare to do so," Ronald said.

He recounted that during the Soeharto period, wealthy Chinese had to go as far as Singapore or Hong Kong to see Barongsai.

When the fall of Soeharto brought with it freedom of expression, Barongsai groups came out of the dark. They danced like professionals although they had not performed for a great many years. So where and how did they practice it?

Some Barongsai dancers started to gather when the political climate became conducive for Chinese culture to reappear. Many young Chinese were trained in dance so that they would not lose touch with their ancestral culture.

The Barongsai dance's revival started to gain momentum in the 1999 election campaign, when big political parties like the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party staged it as part of their efforts to attract crowds and win sympathy from the Chinese minority group.

More and more Barongsai traditional dance groups have emerged since then and they now number about 30 groups in Greater Jakarta alone, according to Surya.

Interestingly, most of the dancers are young people aged between 8 and 20 years old, something which may reflect how quick the regeneration process has been.

"Actually, it's not so difficult to teach them the Barongsai dance so long as they master wushu (Chinese martial arts). There are many wushu groups here because the sport is not banned.

"The basic movement of the barongsai dance is wushu," said Surya, who now trains 30 Barongsai dancers.

According to Ronald, young people are quicker in mastering the art. "They can now learn the movement from VCDs and I think it is because they have better nutrition than older generations," he said.

It takes about four months to train youths to become good dancers.

Ronald sent his Barongsai troupe, Kong Ha Hong, which represented Indonesia, to take part in an international Barongsai dance championship in Hong Kong from Jan. 4 to Jan. 6. Kong Ha Hong won 12th place out of the 18 participants.

"It's not a great achievement. But we did better than Singapore," he said.

Ronald proposed to the committee of the international Barongsai dance championship that next year's event be held in Indonesia.

Barongsai dance groups have been very busy performing in connection with the Chinese New Year, on Jan. 24 but celebrations go on for a further two weeks. A troupe asks for between Rp 1 million and Rp 3 million for each show.