By Soultari Amin Farid
Yesterday, we had an insightful and thought-provoking session with my friends in class. We were asked to share definitions of dance - our own or by an academic - and explain about it.
I felt that it was really great to engage with my fellow coursemates intellectually and gained better perspective on how one particular definition is not able to encompass every aspect of what is perceived as dance.
I can't wait to listen to all of us again at the end of this two years: I wonder if our definitions will be any different (mine will!).
Personally, I am actually very happy that in this process of becoming an anthropologist of dance I will be able to debunk the myth that all popular and/or western forms of art are superior to traditional/"ethnic" ones.
"Je souhaite defendre l'idée que la danse traditiônnelle mèrite un statut égal."
(I wish to defend the idea that traditional dance deserves equal status)
Though I have yet to determine what "equal" means, in general I desire for traditional arts groups and artists to be afforded better funding and support in terms of recognition for their works by the government, media and the public. In addition, institutions of education should also provide access to the learning of these art forms and platforms for it to thrive.
And yes by stating this, I am arguing there is a hierarchy within the classification of arts forms which privileges western and/or popular art forms above traditional/ethnic ones.
Yes, we are looking towards a modern and cosmopolitan outlook. But to do it in the expense of "compromising" traditional arts is to discard "aspects of life" that are integral to certain communities: values which recognises the "richness" of our human diversity in a post-colonial environment.
(Some words are in quotation marks because I am a skeptic of the political ideology we call "multiculturalism")
In a less academic jargon I would say, "Hidup jangan boring, please".
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