A Rip Roaring Success

Olivia Salas: seudati workshop, 09.01.14

Hello friends! My name is Olivia, and I'm going to chat a bit about seudati.

After 48 grueling hours of travel and a blissful day of paradise in Sabang, we found ourselves at our first Indonesian dance workshop. Before any dancing on our behalf, a group of young gentlemen performed a rather impressive dance complete with rhythmic snapping, graceful gaits, and manly belly slaps-- yes, belly slaps. This, of course, left us with dropped jaws and enthusiastic excitement as we practiced slapping our stomachs while being separated into two groups: men and women.

I, being a lady, was in the latter of the two groups. Being the more demure, refined gender, we were informed that we would not be slapping our bellies, but the sides of our legs. Our short lived disappointment was quickly forgotten as we began to learn an intricate dance filled with snaps, turns, and effervescent grace.

I should mention that the seudati dance style is a mix of rhythmic, graceful walking, arm movements, and snapping. When one watches it, the dance looks easy, even effortless. In practice, however, that couldn't be further from reality. If you have never had the opportunity to meet me, I will say this: I am NOT graceful. In fact, I am ungraceful to the point that I broke my arm in the third grade by tripping over my own foot. On top of this, the day was hot and humid (the kind of weather that finds one soaked in sweat within minutes of going outside), and we were rehearsing in a non air conditioned room. Needless to say, learning this dance was was going to be interesting.

There are seven ladies in our group, so we were put into a starting formation of two lines with three in the front, four in the back. I was front and center. My location gave me the awesome opportunity to really work with our instructors. The people teaching us were several young Indonesian women and one stern faced dance instructor who's air of authority and wisdom made me quickly engaged. Because of this, I managed to pick up the dance remarkably well. The dance we learned is very hard to explain, however two of the key movements were a walk with loose, swinging arms, and a double footed pivot. Strangely enough, my experience in marching band made me quite good at both movements. As the dance is performed, we circle each other and form several different formations all while snapping intricate rhythms.

While everyone in the group struggled at one point or another, when all was said and done, we had learned about five minutes worth of material. The workshop was incredibly fun. I can honestly say that there was not a single moment when I did not have a giant grin splayed across my sweat drenched face. When we left the building, we were bubbling with excitement and had a desperate need for a shower. The workshop, we have deemed, was a rip roaring success.

 

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