Dance: Students Preserve Tradition

A group of undergraduate Anthropology students from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP), Universitas Sumatera Utara, has formed an arts collective named “Soul of Movement Anthropology.” The group was created as a space for artistic expression and cultural exploration among students. “We want to embody the spirit of dance because within dance there is a great deal of knowledge and wisdom that has been formed and preserved. Indonesia has such rich cultural diversity, and each culture generally has its own unique forms and designs of dance. This is what we want to study more deeply and further develop among the younger generation. Today, many young people do not realize that traditional dance is a form of local genius created by the ancestors of each ethnic group,” said Stela Ingri Lorensia Br Ginting, representing the group.

This group recently performed at the North Sumatra Arts Festival, presenting the Zapin Ketipung dance from the Malay cultural tradition. This dance features the ketipung as its central musical instrument. Rather than simply emphasizing fast movements, the performance conveys the character of Malay society, agile yet graceful, cohesive yet religious, joyful yet guided by rules. In every rhythmic step of the dancers, one could observe enthusiasm, warm smiles, and a strong sense of unity reflected through coordinated movements.

Stela added that the group intends to continue using dance as a medium of expression, ensuring that the spirit of movement is always accompanied by the wisdom embedded within it.