950 Dancers Enliven Peparnas Opening Ceremony, Presenting Five Configurations From Papua

950 Papuan male and female dancers enliven the Peparnas opening ceremony (Video screenshot)

JAKARTA - A total of 950 Papuan male and female dancers enlivened the opening ceremony of the XVI Papua National Paralympic Week (Peparnas) at Mandala Stadium, Jayapura City, Friday, and broadcast live on the Peparnas XVI Papua 2021 YouTube channel.

Launching Antara, the dancers perform in a special dance that is presented in five configurations from Tanah Papua using the property of a Tifa craftsman who graduated from Anthropology S1.

The first segment of the dance features a traditional Papuan house by telling about the unity of five indigenous tribes in Papua.

The performance continued with the "Sampan Dance" which is the life of the Papuan people who carry out activities through the rivers. Next, the dancers performed the "Private Dance" which showed the expertise of Papuan youths in war.

The next dance is the "Cenderawasih Bird" which symbolizes the beauty of Papua. The performances of the dancers closed with "Papua Bisa" which shows today's advanced Papua and has lived side by side with migrants for the betterment of Papua and Indonesia.

The flute tambourine and marching band then entered the field shortly after the configuration dance was over, followed by Hara and Wara, the official mascots of Peparnas XVI Papua.

Hara and Wara are a pair of cassowaries, which are one of the largest birds in the world and are flightless birds.

The feathers have attractive and exotic colors, and have a high motivation to survive when in pairs or even alone.

The opening ceremony of Peparnas Papua was then continued with the defile of Peparnas athletes and 33 bearers of provincial and contingent nameplates.

The opening ceremony was attended by a number of top musicians, including Anggun C Sasmi, Nowela and Edo Kondologit. In addition, local artists involved include Kaonak, Manggorap, Nogei, Shine of Black, Piter Ginuy, and Irsa Yoku.

Carrying the theme "Light from East Papua," the opening ceremony will be enlivened by the attraction of 500 drones that will adorn the ceiling on Earth of Cenderawasih. The drones were imported from California and Dubai complete with pilots from Europe and Singapore.

In terms of security, the opening ceremony of Peparnas Papua involved 1,400 TNI-Polri personnel.

All Peparnas Papua activities will implement strict health protocols considering that they are still in a state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spectator restrictions during the opening ceremony are enforced. Even so, the public will still be able to witness the splendor of the opening ceremony with the presence of videotrons at a number of points in Jayapura.