By Fachri Mirza
GOMBAK, 6 October 2018: The cultural night held on Friday (5 October) marked the closing of the one-week Indonesian Day celebrations held in IIUM campus featuring Indonesia’s richness of its cultural diversity.
Held at the Main Auditorium, the event attracted the presence of international as well as Malaysian students. It was a great success, according to many students who attended the show.
The event, featuring cultural performance, fashion show, Pencak Silat, angklung, Papua Dance and Saman Dance, successfully brought excitement to the audiences.
Organised by the Indonesian Students Association in collaboration with all Indonesian students studying in IIUM, the event was regarded by many as a great success.
The event started with the grand opening accompanied by ‘angklung’ music, followed by a demonstration of fashion show and a display of cultural costumes of Indonesia. This year’s event showed various costumes of Indonesia including from Aceh, West Java and East Java.
The cultural performance continued with the stunning ‘Piring’ dance and ‘Saman’ dance.
‘Piring’ dance is a Minangkabau traditional dance involving dish attraction. The dancers swung their plates with fast movement and without the plates being released from the hand.
‘Saman’ dance, one of the most popular dances in Indonesia, comes from Aceh province. The dance is characterised by its fast-paced rhythm and common harmony between the dancers.
The event was sealed by the two astonishing performances of ‘Pencak Silat’ and ‘Papua Dance’. Pencak Silat was packed with Silat dance, breaking stones, and fighting dance.
“It was wonderful and amazing. I haven’t seen performance like this before,” Sofia, who was one of the audiences from Afghanistan, said. ***