JP/5/DANCE

JP/5/DANCE

Dero dance acts as reconciliation medium 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.