Randai, danse martiale issue du randai, théâtre dansé de Sumatra Ouest [transmission 2018]

An extract remodelled by Danse-Les-Danses-Asie (Paris, Île-de-France), artistic manager Desita Atma, as part of the “Danse en amateur et répertoire” programme (2017/2018) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing). 

Transmission by Ilse Peralta Lopez. 

Presented on 26 May 2018, Les 2 Scènes, Théâtre Ledoux, Besançon.

The group 

Danse les Danses-Asie (Paris, Île-de-France)

The group was created by Desita Atma, an Indonesian dancer who has lived in Paris for the past twenty years. Desita Atma disseminated Indonesian dance in a variety of Paris structures and, in particular, at the Centre de danse du Marais, before creating her own structure, Danse les Danses-Asie, within which she continues this dissemination work. The group performed at the Buddha Bar in 2014 as part of the World Heritage Day, at the Indonesia festival, as well as at the 104 for the Rencontre de danse indonésienne (Indonesian Dance Encounters) that same year, at the Cirque d’Hiver in 2015, and at the Couleurs de l’Indonésie (Colourful Indonesia) festival at the Maison des associations in the 15th district of Paris in 2016. 

The project

Indonesia, a transcontinental country of more than 17,000 islands, possesses a great cultural diversity, particularly present in its dance. Randai dance is a composite form of dance and theatre, in which the scenes played alternate with dances derived from martial arts accompanied by songs and musics. The acting and songs set out narratives, taken from the folk tales and legends of the Minangkabau, the largest ethnic group in West Sumatra. Minangkabau culture is matriarcal, representative of the Indonesian archipelago and Asia. This region forms part of the main heritages of Indonesian art and dance.