Irian Java's dancers 'are an eve-opener'

From R. S. Roosman

A contingent of 60 Irian Jayans came to Port Moresby for the arts festival and for PNG’s National Day celebrations.

With them came also Irian Jaya’s governor Acub Zainal, the chairman of Irian Jaya’s House of Repre sentatives, and the bupati (district chief) of Jayapura, together with their wives.

The group was composed of amateur singers, dancers and musicians—all of whom are Jayapura residents— and also Irian Jaya’s soccer team.

Earlier in the year, on August 17, 20 students of Sogeri Senior High School, well-known in Papua New Guinea for its emphasis on expressive arts in its cur riculum, had demonstrated PNG traditional dances for thousands in Jayapura during Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations. The PNG national soccer team went along to play a match with the Irian Jaya team, which ranks second in the All-Indonesiari Championship, having lost only to the Jakarta team last year.

The dancing display by the Indonesians was an eye opener for many New Guineans, because it included not only the Hindu-style dances performed by Javanese and Balinese migrants to Jayapura, but also colourful dances performed by Irian Jayans which bear strong similarity to Papua New Guinean traditional dances.

“We want to show people in Papua New Guinea the diversity of cultures in Indonesia,” commented Mr Alex Rumambi from the Indonesian consulate, who organised the programme.

One of the items which impressed New Guineans most was the angklung orchestra —composed of a series of bamboo rattlers and a wooden xylophone —which

drew a special applause when Waltzing Matilda was played. With the present policy of the PNG Govern- 1 ment of striving for economic self-reliance, people start! wondering why such an orchestra could not bej assembled in PNG.

During the Indonesian performances there were moving scenes when refugees from West Irian contacted their relatives among the group of dancers. Speaking in the Bahasa Indonesia or their local tongues they, exchanged news about their families and relatives.

From Sukarno’s Confrontation until the “Act of Free Choice” in 1969, the hundreds of refugees from West Irian crossing the border initially posed a problem in Papua New Guinea. A number of them returned to West Irian after President Suharto’s appeal for amnesty, but the majority of them have made their home in PNG, acquiring jobs and marrying New Guineans., They are now given the option of becoming prospective PNG citizens.

The Irian Jaya-PNG soccer match held at the Hubert Murray Stadium and watched by an estimated 30,000 —■ including Irian Jaya’s visiting dignitaries, the Indonesian consulate staff, and several PNG Ministers—ended in a 2-0 win for the guest team, much to the disappointment of PNG whose team had beaten Irian Jaya 1-0 a month ealier in Jayapura.

In anticipation of a future celebration at PNG’s In dependence Day, Indonesian Consul-General Roedjito commented that “the Indonesian contribution to Papua New Guinea’s National Day celebration was merely a rehearsal”.

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•users or pailv on rP H k anish-looking dances ’ 5 There were three visiting overseas >ups. The Renaissance Players of dney proved not only the vitality ditiM 0 o U f n fnstr.,mPnl a h i e Eur ° P t an 0 its -ihilitv tn rrmc a music, but des Mm S hfj b ?“ n u' Indonesian w , h ( ch ■a oerformed ? f A lr i an n Melanesian in eh m °, re Slan rder of me s,rAn„ a • Cter n a re "

Irian Tava’c ? Asian influence sent Th. y nn £r IS ° ry • P * S and sent, ihe one Melanesian item— extremely dramatic dance-mime,

wed strong Indonesian influence.’

iditional Melanesian dress had n rejected in favour of red cloth 1 gold paint. -l , JJ® Maon grou P won 1 the hc3rts i rrS*- ? n y the gusto po isn of their action songs and as, but with the warmth of their ressions of goodwill spoken and g ‘ ,ey sang m one of their action gs: We were invited, we have ie, we have liked it, we’re not 5 if we’re going home.” w•, , ’ e Maoris showed up one of the .ms to be faced when performm places like volleyball courts, ket places and stadiums. Most i places are ‘in the round”, and jps like the Maoris (and PNG’s ais) need to adapt their tradial habit of dancing in one ctional rows accordingly. Plays in i settings tend to be inaudible. ►ne enterprising group solved this flem by putting all their dialogue

on tape - but this produced rather wooden acting.

Another problem is the terrain for dancing. The favourite ground-cover the " e , w markets-tar spiked with bluemetal—is impossible; concrete even is too hard for very athletic dances; dirt is all right; and grass is excellent.

The Niugini Arts Festival has come a long way since the first was held in 197 L The chairman of that first festiva l committee was Leo Hannett. He has been followed in successive years by Arthur Jawodim bari - Bart Philemon, and Bernard Narokobi: a distinguished line of Pa P ua New Guineans, The first two festivals did not go outside the university campus, although groups did come from both the Northern District and from the Trobriand Islands. In those days there was no Australian cultural grant and no National Cultural Council, and money was hard to come by. The cultural grant was first made avail able towards the end of 1973, in time to affect the last stages of planning for the third festival, This year’s festival has been able to count on generous financial assis tance from the start, and it has used this to bring in groups that have never been to Moresby before, and to spread the festival round the city, It has been money well spent, . How loi ? g Wlll such money last? It is a Question for the future, and so 18 the Question whether such a huge organisational effort can continue to . be car ried .out by a mainly voluntary, part-time committee. And what will be lost (as well as gained) with professionalisation?