Feature: Indonesian Ballet Schools Come Together at ROAD TO WORLD BALLET DAY Event

On October 2nd, 2022 the ROAD TO WORD BALLET DAY event was held by Yayasan Bina Ballet Indonesia (Ballet.id), EKI Dance Company, and the Dance Committee of Dewan Kesenian Jakarta (Jakarta Art Council). Great Hall, Pob Loc, Jakarta served as the venue for the event.

World Ballet Day is an annual celebration of ballet lovers that first started in 2014. This year marks the first ever time that Indonesia participated collectively as a nation in World Ballet Day.

Mariska Febriani, co-founder Ballet.id said, "This event was held to celebrate the togetherness and the return of dance communities, specifically, ballet, since the pandemic happened." Mariska also added that "Road to World Ballet Day" was also a moment of festivity and friendship for ballet communities as well as a concrete way to further introduce ballet to the people.

The development of ballet in Indonesia should further enrichen the culturally diverse Indonesian dance scene. Rusdy Rumarata, the Artistic Director and founder of EKI Dance Company, stated his happiness on such an event that brings together young Indonesian ballet dancers. "There's no one nation, or person, who can claim ballet as their unique culture - because ballet is part of world's culture.. So once an Indonesian dancer chooses ballet as part of their dance choreography, that dance work becomes a part of global culture," said Rusdy.

The communities taking part in this event were Cicilia Ballet, EKI Dance Company, Flamingo Studio, Lucy Ballet School, Mainstream School of Art, Marlupi Dance Academy, Namarina Dance Academy, Namarina Youth Dance, Natalenta Ballet School, and Speranza Indonesia. The event started with an open ballet class for the general public, followed by a joint rehearsal attended by the Jakarta ballet communities, and capped by ballet performances from four communities. The ballet class was accompanied by songs written by Ismail Marzuki and played by pianist Astrid Lea.

The event will be broadcasted on www.worldballetday.com alongside joint ballet rehearsals by various celebrated ballet companies including The Royal Opera House, The Australian Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and others on November 2nd, 2022. As the representative for "Indonesian ballets" - in addition to the aforementioned Jakarta-based communities - ballet communities from other cities in Indonesia will also submit their ballet rehearsal videos.

Yola Yulianti, Chairwoman of Dewan Kesenian Jakarta's dance committee, expressed her elation at Indonesia's participation at the World Ballet Day this year. "Ballet is a dance genre with a significant influence on the development of Indonesian dance secene." Dewan Kesenian Jakarta hopes that events like WBD can be held regularly each year, to develop the Indonesian dance ecosystem even further.

The event "ROAD TO WORLD BALLET DAY" was open for the public for free.

To post a comment, you must register and login.