WFWP Finland held a workshop to introduce Indonesian dance and culture - a report by Päivi Yoshizumi:Indonesia is a big country, spread out over several main islands, each with differing cultures. Jetty Jusuf shortly introduced some of her home country's differing styles of dances reflecting differing ethnic majorities living on each of the islands. Being from Sumatra, Jetty taught us one particular, ancient, group dance called "Dindin ba dindin" - or clapping dance.Starting out on our feet with arms stretched horizontally and hands held up, scurrying into first a two line formation and then into a single line, we soon gracefully - at least we tried - sat down... and there and then, to the surprise of many of us, the dance truly began! Action-packed, fast, pair-centred and neatly coordinated to present the viewer with symmetric beauty, we learned various movements in a short time - and completed the dance, taking less than 1,5 hours. Proud of having endured in the sitting position for so long, and enchanted by the unexpected variety and speed of movements to in a way exotic music whose repeated "dindin ba dindin, dindin ba dindin" tune we however learned to sing along (!), we finally got up to sit around a table to enjoy refreshments and each other's company. I still heard some people humming "dindin ba dindin, dindin ba dindin"!
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