It's all about #TARI PIRING

A study on one of the most famous traditional dance in West Sumatera #Tari Piring

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POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

PERFORMING AND PRACTICING THIS DANCE IN FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

One of the possible solutions to maintain this indigenous knowledge is by performing and practicing it during festivals and special events such as during a local wedding to create more awareness about the existence of this dance. The audience or the viewers can get to know about dance and what it symbolizes for. 

PROMOTE TOURISM BY MAKING THIS DANCE AS THE INTEGRAL PART OF CULTURAL TOURISM

Traditional dance can be an effective tool in encouraging the development of the local or the regional economy as more tourists or visitors visit a region to enjoy the uniqueness of a country or region. As I am focusing more of the existence of Tari Piring in Indonesia, their Ministry of Education and Culture can introduce more about the uniqueness of Tari Piring to the tourist during the tourism exhibitions. 

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CURRENT STATE OF TARI PIRING

As for the current state of this Minangkabau’s traditional dance, it is still widely practiced among the Minangkabau people all around the world, especially in the original region of this dance which is the West Sumatera. As we know, the beliefs and history by this dance is deeply inscribed in this Minangkabau dance. As for all of the Minang people, their custom and traditions serves as a central organizing principle which helps regulates all of the social exchanges among the people and also serve as the guidelines to lead a proper life. One of the way how Minang people presented their love and appreciation towards their customs and traditions is by the movements and music involved in the Tari Piring. And even at this time, this Tari Priring are still reaching out to even wider audiences of the non-Minangkabau, and had spread all around the world, not just in Asia but also other regions. People across the globe have already aware about the uniqueness of this traditional dance, Tari Piring. 

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ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF TARI PIRING

LACK OF AWARENESS AMONG YOUNGSTERS 

This can be described as one of the main issues that usually arise especially among the traditional elements such as the traditional dance. Most of the young generation nowadays, the Z-Generation, they were exposed and more familiar with the uses of modern gadgets which makes them ignore and take a light view and attention of  these traditional elements that existed among the society and community. They failed to realize and appreciate how valuable this dance can be once they practice and study more about this dance. Another aspect that contributed to this challenge is in the West Sumatera itself, the village people started to emigrate from the village to a city or even moving out to another country. This emigration makes their children failed to realize the importance of traditional culture and even in certain case, the children don’t even know the existence of the dance. 

STIGMA TOWARDS TARI PIRING; DANGEROUS DANCE 

There are few types or styles on how this dance are being presented to the community and one of the style (in which considered as dangerous) is when the dancers dance on top of the broken plates. People might be fascinated while watching this dance as they are amazed by the capabilities of the dancers with bare feet, to smoothly dance and stomp on the broken plates without getting hurt or getting any wounds. But deep down, the audiences feel that it is amazing to see the dance but not to practice one as they don’t want to take the risk of hurting and injuring themselves in the attempt of practicing the dance. 

PEOPLE HAVING BAD PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS THE DANCE

As I mentioned before on the introduction part, this dance was previously practiced to show gratitude towards the Deities for the all of the yields produced during the harvest season. Of course, they were some sort of spiritual element involved while practicing the dance but this happened before the entrance of Islam to Asia, in which most of the Minangkabau people are Hindu. 

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COSTUME FOR THE MALE DANCERS

The costume for the male dancers is called as ‘Busana rang Mudo’ which is the wide-sleeved shirt adorned with the gold lace. Meanwhile, the pant is called as the ‘Saran Galembong’ in which ‘galembong’ bring the meaning of the special aspect of the pant that  bigger in the middle specifically for this dance. The next element of the male’s costume is they also wear a belt made from the songket cloth; ‘Cawek pinggang’. Next is the ‘Sisamping’ which is the songket cloth that been wrapped around the waist to the knees. Last but not least, the last part of the costume is the ‘Deta’ or ‘Destar’ that is a triangular headgear made from Minangkabau men's songket fabric.

COSTUME FOR THE FEMALE DANCERS

As for the female dancers, the costume consists of the baju kurung made of both velvet and satin fabric and this baju kurung is worn with the kain songket as the skirt. The female dancer also wear a Songket shaft or shawl mounted on the left part body. The next element of the costume is the tikuluak tanduak balapak which is a special Minangkabau women's head cover made from songket material with a shape resembling a buffalo horn. Other accessories are earrings, necklaces, and necklaces. Last but not least, the colour of the costumes wear by both female and male dancers are usually are LIGHT GREEN, RED, and YELLOW which are the SIGNATURE colours of Minangkabau people. 

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Every dance must be accompany with the proper and suitable music, same goes to the Tari Piring. This dance is usually accompany with a more relaxing and rather sad melody. The rhythm used in the music symbolizes the state of TOGETHERNESS, HAPPY and GLORY feeling, and at the same time for a melody that also symbolizes the farmers’ gratitude towards God’s gifts and graces. The two instruments use are the TALEMPONG and secondly SALUNG. In Malaysia, talempong usually referred as the caklempong meanwhile salung is a traditional flute made from soft bamboo that produce a relaxing melody. The dance also supported by the sounds made by the dancers’ earing. 

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What is a dance without its CHOREOGRAPHY?

This dance normally done in pairs or in groups with every movements and steps involved in this dance illustrated different meanings. The movements involved are usually fast and dynamic. For your information, all the steps involve show the steps and process of planting the paddy plants(signature plant). There are total of 20 steps involved but these are the 6 basic steps in this dance:

Gerak Pasambahan 

An opener step presented by the male dancers. This step shows the symbol of gratitude and also as a symbol to tell the audiences to not interfere and to enjoy themselves throughout the dance being presented. 

Gerak Singgajuo Lalai 

The movement made by the female dancer that illustrated to a cool, dewy, and calm morning of planting paddy plants. 

Gerak Mencangkul 

This move symbolize a group of farmers that enjoy digging around the soils to plant the  paddy plant.  

Gerak Menyiang 

 This step illustrated a group of farmers cleaning the thatches around. 

Gerak Membuang Sampah  

This step illustrated a group of farmers cleaning the thatches and throwing them away to make sure the paddy field is clean.

Gerak Menyemai  

This move tells us about a group of farmers sowing seeds around the paddy field. 

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History & The Importance of Tari Piring Dance

The plate dance (Tari Piring) originated from the region of West Sumatera. This dance first existed in the 12th Century. Originally been practiced by the Minangkabau people as the symbol of GRATITUDE and sense of JOY to the DEITIES for the yields harvested during the HARVEST session.  This dance has sort of SPIRITUAL element on it as most of the Minangkabau people were Hindu people (Before the entrance of Islam to Asia).

But starting 14th Century and up until today, this dance started to be practiced as the Minangkabau people’s tradition as it is no longer practices as the spiritual purpose. Most Minangkabau people nowadays are Islam. This dance practiced and presented as the purpose of ENTERTAINMENT in which normally presented during special EVENTS or any OCCASIONS such as wedding and meeting. 

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These are the few photos I took when I was in my village, back then in the year 2018.  As we can see, Padang is the city of nature in which anywhere or any places that I went , along my journey, I was accompanied by these greens Totally opposite from where I live in, Kuala Lumpur, city of the business. I found peace and therapy here.

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Demographic #Brief Information

West Sumatera is a region in which popular and rich with its cultures and heritages from the old generations. Established in 1957, in which currently is having a total of five to almost six million population. Famous with the ancient story; The Malin Kundang, Padang is the capital city of this region with almost a million total of population. Padang is the ‘home’ to most Minangkabau people. Most of the people in this city are Islam (97.40%), Christian bring a percentage of 2.20%, Hindu (0.35%) and Buddha with the lowest percentage of 0.06%.  Padang is also a city which famous for their Minangkabau cuisines and also famous for the beaches. Up until now, West Sumatera is specialized on agriculture-based economy such as the paddy, palm oil, and also rubber. Minangkabau people also are a traditionally entrepreneurs and traders. So there is no wonder why they are still engaging with the traditional sector. 

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WHERE WAS THE TARIAN PIRING ORIGINATED FROM? 

For your information, Tarian Piring or in english called as the ‘Piring Dance in which’ originally from the West Sumatera, Indonesia (Padang) 

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Quoted by Jonah Goldberg 

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#Tradition is always an amazing thing to learn about :)

Exploring about a certain culture makes us realize that we are living in a multicultural society in which there are various of other different cultures in this world. It is a good thing to know and deepen our knowledge about one culture and learn why that culture is important to them.