SAMAN DANCE on Cultural Exchange of AISEC Students

Last Sunday, July 15, 2012, I went biking by myself. Even though the temperature is hot enough, I still pushed my pedal since this coming Sunday is fasting or Ramadhan for Moslems. I don’t go biking in the morning due to being dehydrated for the temperature.

I was lucky when I passed a certain area—called KB Park—there was an event, a cultural exchange by AISEC students around the world. A friend of mine who happened to be one of the exchanged students told me that he would perform there. The event started at 8 o’clock in the morning. When I passed KB park, I heard a cheerful song sung by a female student. I got closer to find out, and I saw a rhythmic dance called Saman dance. What is Saman dance? Here is a short explanation about Saman dance taken from Wikipedia

Saman (or dance of thousand hands) is one of the most popular dances in Indonesia. Its origin is from the Gayo ethnic group from Gayo Lues and is normally performed to celebrate important occasions.[1]
This dance is done by a group in one line (sometimes with some displacement) and dancers perform while kneeling.

On November 24, 2011 UNESCO officially recognized Aceh's traditional Saman Dance as an intangible element of world cultural heritage, which needs UNESCO's urgent protection.[2]

The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) named on Saman Dance as the best ASEAN cultural preservation effort at the 25th ASEANTA Awards for Excellence 2012.[3]

Another information about this traditional dance is many high schools in Jakarta have it as one of curriculum in their school. That’s why, I found many students of mine from Jakarta who studied in my town (Semarang) could perform this dance.

Here are the pictures I took on the Cultural Exchange of AISEC students