'TVRI' kicks up heels with 'Dansa Yo Dansa'

'TVRI' kicks up heels with 'Dansa Yo Dansa'

By Tony Ryanto

JAKARTA (JP): While public broadcaster TVRI may not have
exactly been in the mood to dance a jig when it marked its 39th
anniversary on Aug. 24, it's not all doom and gloom at the
station.

One particular bright spot is the ballroom dancing show Dansa
Yo Dansa, which airs on Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m. The show began
as a one-hour affair, but because of the huge response it has
received was expanded to 90 minutes.

Designed by Wardi Wahid and produced by Iwan Rahmawan, Dansa
is hosted by singer Kris Biantoro, who is making a return as a TV
host after an absence of several years.

The eighth episode of Dansa aired last Sunday and, as with the
earlier episodes, people came from as far away as Medan, Manado,
Kupang and Surabaya to take part in the 90-minute ballroom
dancing extravaganza.

"Seats are priced at Rp 50,000 each and each of the 25 tables
in the auditorium seats three couples. There are a lot of people
out there who want to take part in the show, and most of them
book their seats by calling us as early as two weeks in advance,
just to make sure they can secure a seat on Dansa.

"Dansa is broadcast live from TVRI's auditorium, which
has a total capacity of 1,000. Depending on the nature of the
program, however, we limit the number of participants to 150
because the dancing couples need a lot of space," said Iwan.

Ninety minutes of couples ballroom dancing seems like an
unlikely choice to revive the flagging fortunes of the station,
but that is exactly what is happening.

When asked to explain the improbable success of the show,
Rahmawan said one major reason was that Indonesians above the age
of 40 had developed a passion for ballroom dancing over the past
few years.

"I know a lot of businesspeople who have become good dancers.
A few of them have even become dance teachers. If you care to
take a look at the cars in our parking lot during the show, most
of them are luxury vehicles," he said.

While the majority of Dansa fans are middle aged, Rahmawan
said younger people were getting interested in the show because
of such music and dances as the salsa and the cha-cha.

Now that the show has been expanded to 90 minutes, there is
the danger of turning off viewers who find that to be just too
much ballroom dancing. To make sure the show doesn't become
monotonous, Rahmawan said there was lots in store to spice things
up, such as guest stars.

"For example, on the second show we had Roy Hadisubroto, who
was born in the Netherlands and is a dance champion, on to
demonstrate his skills."

Which all sounds well and good, but is Dansa enough to turn
around a station with an annual budget of only Rp 135 billion,
which is not nearly enough to allow TVRI to put to effective use
its 7,200 employees, 395 transmitters and 23 production stations,
according to Sumita Tobing, who was named president director of
the station in June 21, 2001.

If TVRI is going to be a significant player in the broadcast
industry, it needs at least Rp 500 billion a year. By comparison,
a private station with 500 employees and 48 transmitters has a Rp
600 billion budget per annum, she said.

This may sound ominous, but there is reason to hope for TVRI,
not least of which is Dansa.

Just ask Sumita, who is eager to look at the brighter side of
things. "I have been here for less than two months and our
efforts have already borne fruit. A number of our programs have
won the hearts of viewers.

It could be that under Sumita, the saying that life begins at
40 might apply to TVRI. If it does, Sumita and the rest of the
gang down at the station are sure to be dancing in the streets,
and don't be surprised if they do a fox-trot in recognition of
Dansa Yo Dansa.