'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.