Witnessed Directly By The People Of Yogyakarta, 351 Dancers Of The Sabang Merauke Performance Practice Ahead Of The Implementation

After two months of intensive training, Sabang Merauke - The Indonesia Broadway performance dancers displayed a Public Preview: Segment from various regions on the island of Sumatra (All Sumatra) at Graha Wana Bakti Yasa, Yogyakarta on July 25, 2025. This event was witnessed directly by the community and became an important momentum in preparation for the main stage to be held at the Indonesia Arena, Jakarta, on August 23 and 24, 2025.

This public preview is not only a place to evaluate the cohesiveness of the dancers and the creative team, but also opens up opportunities for the public to witness more closely how the energy, enthusiasm, and details of the choreography are carefully prepared. The enthusiasm of the people present adds to the enthusiasm of this open exercise.

Silvi Liswanda, Vice President Director & Deputy CEO of iberanya as well as Executive Producer of PSM, expressed her pride. Of the total 351 dancers, 167 dancers presented the All Sumatra segment as a snippet of the splendor of the Sabang Merauke Performance later in August.

"There is still one month to go to the main performance, and we are still preparing many surprises. Through this public preview, we want to invite the public to feel the enthusiasm, enthusiasm, and energy of the dancers who practice up to nine hours every day," he said when met by VOI, recently in Yogyakarta.

Rusmedie Agus, Director of the Sabang Merauke Performance since 2022, added that this preview only features a small part of the entire big story of Hikayat Nusantara.

This 'Scene All Sumatra' has only represented about 30% of the total show. In this segment, Yuyu Kangkang's character together with Buto Gedrug's troops, Buto Wayang Orang, and Yuyu's stealth are present as an antagonist who is a symbol of latent danger. In addition, there is the story of Malin Kundang which was revived by Kandastren, Semar's wife from a stone to a human, who later wanted to hold a large carnival on Andalas Island as a form of apology to her mother," he said.

Carnival begins with a series of traditional dances from Aceh to Lampung, such as Ratoh Djaroe, Seudati, Rapai Geleng, Rock Jump, Tor-Tor, Cahaya Dance, Jambi Children's Traditional, Zapin, and Malay, which are collaborated with modern dances such as Latin jazz, ballet, and hip hop with the accompaniment of the song Bungung Jeumpa (Aceh), Butet and Rambadia (North Sumatra), Injit-Injit Ant (Jambi), Pak Pung Mustafa (Riau), Gending Sriwijaya (South Sumatra), Pang Lipang Dang (Lampung), and Kambanglah Bungo (West Sumatra) and closed with the song Andalas Bersatu Island, which was nicely directed by Elwin Hendrijanto as music director, who collaborated with the traditional musicians of the archipelago led by Kidung Basuki.

The Intensive Training Process For The Sabang Merauke Performance Dancers (Vessy/VOI)

Sandhidea Cahyo Nurpati, Lead Koreographer Shown Sabang Merauke explained that this segment features 35 choreography from almost 100 choreography numbers that are still being developed.

In order to maintain the authenticity and spirit of regional dance movements, we conducted direct research to each region. The biggest challenge is to combine various Malay dance movements with modern dances, adjusting the demands of stories performed by dancers from different traditional backgrounds," he said.

The dancers also experienced deep experience during the training process. Aljufikar Rahawarin, a representative of dancers from Papua, said that the training process is the crater of the candradimuka where we hone ourselves to be sharper and increase our love for the arts of tradition and culture of the archipelago.

The same thing was expressed by Nindi Syafura, a dancer from Aceh, that this is a fun and fun process to meet all dancers from all over the archipelago with different backgrounds.

"In this process, the dancers establish an entanglement of taste so that it makes us like a family," he said.