LENGGANG NYAI DANCE FROM BETAWI (JAKARTA, INA)

Lenggang Nyai dance is one of the dance art of Betawi in Jakarta, which was inspired by the life story of Nyai Dasimah. This dance is a dance of the new creation in the capture of a folk tale, so many messages and meanings in the picture through this dance.

Historically, Lenggang Nyai dance is created by a dance artist from Yogyakarta named Mandy Widiastuti. Because of his love for the art of dance in Indonesia and Betawi culture make this artist creates a new dance creations folklore background Betawi namely Nyai Dasimah story. Name Lenggang Nyai dance itself comes from the word "swing" which means "melengak - lengok" and the word "nyai" in the capture of Nyai Dasimah story.

According to the story, Nyai Dasimah is a lovely lady from Betawi is in a quandary to choose his life companion. At that time he was faced with two choices of men of different nationalities, the Dutch men and women Indonesia. After much thought, Nyai Dasimah chose sorang Dutch man named Edward William. After marriage, life Nyai Dasimah changed. There are rules - rules that made her husband made Nyai Dasimah felt confined. Feel rights - their rights as women looted, Nyai Dasimah decided to rebel and fight for freedom. The struggle for the rights of women that make Wiwik Widiastuti inspired to create this new dance creations as remembering the struggle of Nyai Dasimah fight for their rights and freedoms as a woman.

Movement in Lenggang Nyai dance depicts the characters and story of Nyai Dasimah. In the show, the dancers danced with agile movements that describe the joy and flexibility Betawi girl. The agility can be seen from the movement of the body, the feet and hands of the dancers who move dynamically. In addition there is movement from one side to the other depicting Nyai Dasimah confusion when deciding what to choose his life companion.

In this Lenggang Nyai dance performance, dancers used the cloth with a blend of fashion and Betawi Chinese cultural elements with bright colors such as light green and red light. On the head like a crown who decorated with ornaments that are identical to the Chinese culture. In this dance show was also accompanied by traditional Betawi music, namely Gambang kromong.

In its development, although this dance is a new dance creations. However Lenggang Nyai dance has become one of the Betawi traditional dance that often adorn various events such as custom events, welcoming important guests, ceremony, celebration and cultural festival held in the capital Jakarta, (Indonesia).

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