Dancing the Dero reconciles enemies in Poso

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu

A number of young women and men began forming a circle by holding their hands together. They moved in rhythm with the Doni Dole song from a cassette player and a local Poso singer.

The music, resembling the cha-cha, is often played at parties in Poso when youngsters dance the Dero, a social and friendship dance for people in the Poso area.

Now, however, the Dero dance of Poso has begun to dwindle in popularity following years of religious and racial conflict. Previously, the dance, which was customarily performed on special occasions, like weddings and other celebrations, it is now rarely seen in the area, least of all in Poso town.

No one knows for sure when the dance first originated in Poso. But one this if for sure, the Dero dance is an ancient tradition of the Pamona people, who are indigenous to what is now known as Poso regency.

Historically, the dance would usually be performed during harvest celebrations (Pandungku) in the religiously divided town of Poso. It became something of a necessity for Poso residents to do the dance at every Padungku ceremony, not only in Christian areas, but also in Muslim-dominated areas.

For Poso residents at the time, the Dero was not just a social or friendship dance, but used as a means to find a mate. Usually, a meeting between a girl and boy at one of these dances would culminate in marriage. "Because, in between dancing, two souls promise to share their love and later get married," Yan Patris Binela, a Tentena community figure, told The Jakarta Post recently.

But now, the Dero dance is not an attractive spectacle anymore in Poso as Muslims have changed their way of perceiving it and have been instructed that it is against Islamic teachings -- especially because males and females hold hands.

Prohibitions of the dance are now constantly promoted in Poso town. A Muslim figure in Poso, Adnan Arsal, said that Islam forbids a male from holding hands with the opposite sex, unless it is a brother and sister. "That's why we forbid Muslims from taking part in the dance," he said.

The ban by Muslim leaders here only started after the troubles began in the late 1990s. Now, that there is a relative calm, the ban is being violated because many Muslim young people in Poso town are not of the same opinion as the clerics. Young people of Poso frequently defy the elders and travel outside their sectors to do the Dero dance.

The situation has not only confirmed Dero's tradition in Poso but has become a means to reconciliation for Poso's youth, who less then two years ago were enemies, said chairman of Poso's National Unity and Care for the People Association, Amirullah Sia, also a Muslim leader here.

According to Amirullah, there is a sense of togetherness and friendship between people when they dance. They feel like they are a family.

"This has been proven between Muslim youths of Poso and Lage (Christian area) who blended together in a Dero dance circle. They held hands together while dancing. That is what I call reconciliation," said Amirullah who was also Poso's Malino Declaration taskforce coordinator.

A cultural observer and artist in Central Sulawesi, Hapri Ika Poigi admitted that when he looked at the religious angle, the Dero dance would surely contradict Islamic teachings and values because it is forbidden for boys and girls to hold hands. "But, we should view it like we do other traditional dances," he said.

Now, the native Dero dance has moved to Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi. A number of places hold the dance and attract large crowds every Saturday night. They are arranged by youth organizations and artists in Palu.

Its movements, once monotonous, are now more dynamic without losing the basic movements, which include stamping the feet twice to the left and then twice to the right. Consequently, they call it a modified Dero dance competition.

Based on historical records at the Central Sulawesi Art Council (DKST), the Dero dance, which has existed since the forefathers of the Pamona people settled in Poso, was popularized again in the early 1990s and was the arts and culture contribution from Central Sulawesi for the "Beautiful Indonesia" exhibition at Miniature Park (Taman Mini) in Jakarta.

Not only that. The dance was once also quite popular on Hawaii in the U.S. According to the director of DKST Intje Mawar Lasasi, an artist from Central Sulawesi, who is now doing his master's degree in the U.S., occasionally performs the Doni Dole song, accompanied by Dero dancers, in Hawaiian exhibitions. "Amin Abdullah even collaborated with a Filipino and an American artist there," said Intje.

Because of the way it has survived, been exported and used as means to reconciliation, she believes that the Dero dance in Poso should never perish. The tradition must be maintained because the dance has become part of Indonesia's cultural heritage.