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Friday, 10 September 2021 00:00

Piriang Dance

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Directorate General of Post and Informatics, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics along with Directorate General of Culture, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud Ristek) agreed to choose the Jathilan dance from Yogyakarta and the Piriang Suluah dance from West Sumatra as representatives of cultural wealth of Indonesian dances. Both traditional dances become  the first-quarter-2021 stamp series. The selection of the two dances is considered to represent the treasures, uniqueness and diversity of cultures across Indonesia. Furthermore, the Jathilan Dance from Yogyakarta and the Piriang Dance from West Sumatra have been designated in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia.

Piriang Dance or plate dance is a typical dance of Minangkabau, West Sumatra. Based on the historical note, the Piriang dance was created to show people's gratitude to deities by presenting offerings of delicious food brought by beautiful girls. However, when Islam teaching entered the Malay area, the function of the Piriang dance was no longer aimed at worshiping deities, but for kings and officials. Along with the times, the Piriang dance is shown not only for the king but also for the king and queen for a day, for bride and bridegroom. Now, Piriang Dance is usually performed at weddings, welcoming great guests, art performances and other traditional ceremonies.

In general, the movement of the plate dance isby placing two plates on two palms. As quoted from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (kemlu), dancers swing the plate in fast movements, interspersed with clinking a plate or two rings on the dancers’ finger toward the plate they are carrying. At the end of the dance, usually the plates brought by the dancers are thrown on the floor and the dancers will dance on the broken plates. They dance, jump up and down, and roll around while carrying plates on broken glass. Uniquely, the dancers are not injured at all and the plates they are carrying do not fall. The number of dancers is usually odd from three to seven people. The dancers wear brightly colored clothes with shades of red and golden yellow and headgear. The dance is accompanied by a combination of Talempong and Saluang/flute musical instruments. The tempo of the music is soft and regular at first and then, gradually it changes to become faster.

Read 539 times Last modified on Saturday, 25 September 2021 08:50