Kabasaran

Kabasaran dance.

Kabasaran is a traditional Minahasan war dance from North Sulawesi in Indonesia, which is performed by several men cladded in red costume, wielding sword or spear with shield. The kabasaran dancers daily work as farmers and guards of the Minahasan villages. But if their village is in danger of being attacked by an enemy, the dancers will turn into waranei or local warriors.[1]

According to Minahasan custom and tradition, the status as village waranei (warrior) is hereditary. Which means kabasaran dancers should be the descendants of the kabasaran elders as well. Not all Minahasan men have the opportunity to become a kabasaran dancer. Each dancer also has a weapon which is also inherited from generation to generation, this legacy weapons are used during dancing.[1]

In general, the basic structure of the dance consists of nine kabasaran dance moves (jurus) using sword (santi) or nine moves using spear (wengkouw), also the stance moves which consists of two steps to the left, and two steps to the right.

The dance is accompanied by percussion instruments such as gongs, drums, or kolintang called Pa 'Wasalen, while the dancers are called kawasalan, which means "dancing by imitating the movement of two fighting roosters".[1] The name kawasalan then turn into kabasaran.

See also

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Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Tarian Kabasaran". Indonesia Kaya (in Indonesian).
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