The Dance Performances in the Karo Society

Kumalo Tarigan

and Siti Muharami Malayu

Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Dance, Performances, Karo Society.

Abstract : In the Karo society the dance is a part of customs, beliefs and entertainment. The dance becomes a very

important communication besides as entertainment and expression of feelings of sad, happy, and love.

Although the dance as non verbal communication but has meaning that can not be expressed by speech.

With the dance there is a sense of humanity that can be transformed not only to the kinfolk in social

relations but also to those who have supernatural powers. Therefore the dance performances in Karo society

are so important. The dance in Karo society is inseparable from the legend. The dance development is very

significant since the keyboard become one of the ensemble Karo music. The dance performed at traditional

ceremonies, religious ceremonies and at traditional Karo art performances.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the Karo society the dance is called landek.

Landek is a very important element in every the

traditional ceremony, the ceremony of religion and

entertainment. In the traditional ceremonies that

require the landek there are five types, namely 1) the

weddings 2) the funeral ceremony 3) the

appointment ceremony of ancestral bones, 4) award

ceremony of the stick, and 5) the ceremony of

entering a new new home.

The ceremony of religion that requires landek in

Karo society there are four types, namely 1) the

ceremony of purification or erpangir ku lau with

some variations, 2) the ceremony calling the human

spirit or raleng tendi with some variations, 3) the

ceremony cleaning of habitation or ngarkari, 4) the

ceremony of calling rain or endilo wari udan. The

ceremony of mixing between custom and belief that

requires dance or landek there are two types namely,

1) the ceremony of shocking or nengget, and 2) the

ceremony of salvation or ngari-ngari.

The dance that is the entertainment in Karo

society is found in three types of activities, namely

1) gendang guro-guro aron (the performances of

dance and musical by Karo’s youth and girls), 2) the

certain celebrations both general and individual, and

3) festivals.

Therefore, to explains the dance of Karo is very

important. Firstly, however, every community

activity uses the dance as a communication tool

between human and natural relationships. Secondly,

the dance in Karo society is very important as

cultural preservation. Thirdly, by observing the

dance, the Karo's views of his world can be

understood. Fourth, the dance in Karo society shows

the ability of someone as a member of the

community. Fifth, with there then the Karo

community is still there and the sixth the dance as

one art that is local wisdom.

2 THE MEANING, HISTORY AND

DEVELOPMENT OF DANCE IN

KARO SOCIETY

2.1 The Meaning of Dance

According Manalu (2017) dance is a gestures with

rhythmically at a specific time and place for the

purposes of association, expressing feelings,

intentions, and thoughts. Ewidiani (2012) dance is

the movement of the human body based on the

movement in the activities of everyday human life.

Human movement based on its function can be

divided into three parts, likes play, work, and art.

According Dwi Restika, Ahmad Syai, Nurlaili

(2016). The dance is one of the media statements of

human activity in realizing values and overall

through motion. Dance is as an expression of human

1584

Tarigan, K. and Malayu, S.

The Dance Performances in the Karo Society.

DOI: 10.5220/0010089515841588

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1584-1588

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

feeling through the movement of the body. So the

basic essence of dance is motion.

The definition of the dance above is more or less

the same as with the meaning of dance in Karo

society. The dance in the Karo society is a landek

which means knee up-down motion and hand swing

movements that match the rhythm of the gendang

(music) to meet certain needs. In this sense there are

three important aspects as the basic the meaning of

the landek. The three aspects are, 1) endek (dance

movement) 2) gendang or music as a

accompaniment of the dance, and 3) kerja or the

purpose of performance. In the actual sense the

endek means a knee up-down motion. But in a

broader sense, the endek is the movement of the

body to follow the rhythm of music. In addition to

the up-down motion of the knee, the important

movements rather than hand. In general, the

movement of the hand is called jemole.

Gendang or music in the dance performances

very important, without music no dance. The music

that accompanies the dance in Karo society is called

gendang. Gendang is a musical ensemble that in the

music composition consists of melodies, the rhythm

of drum, and the rhythm of two gung (gong) which

is a colotomy. The dance movements are always

associated with both gong rhythms.

The third very important aspect is kerja or

activities that require the dance performances.

Without kerja as a context of the dance

performances is considered only playful and

meaningless.

2.2 The History of Dance in Karo

Society

Tracing the history of dance in Karo society is

inseparable from the first death legend than human

being. In the legend it is believed that the first

human died in their time totaling 48 peoples. In

order that those who died can continue his fate then

in his funeral made accompaniment of gendang

(music). Gendang (music ensemble) is considered

the most powerful that can communicate with the

supernatural. The first gendang (song) played was a

perang empat kali. This song is presented to honor

all the unseen who are believed to have power.After

that is presented song for human being. To respond

to the gendang (music composition) presented to

humans there is the dance. Keadaan untuk merespon

setiap ada gendang harus ada tari dianggap

masyarakat Karo menjadi adat. Circumstance to

respond to every gendang (music composition) there

must be a dance considered Karo society becomes

customs the way of life of Karo society.

This fact is also practiced by guru sibaso or

shamans in religious ceremonies. That way there is

also a dance in every ritual ceremony when there is a

gendang (music ensemble) accompaniment the

ceremony. The basic dance movements found in

traditional ceremonies and rituals are created by

permangga-mangga ((a traditional Karo singer's

term during the 1930s) developed it into an

entertainment dance. This is the beginning of dance

creations in the Karo community which was later

created into a community performance called guro-

guro aron. In this performance there are two types

of dance, namely perkolong-kolong (the term of

professional Karo's singer) dance and aron (the

Karo’s youth and girls whose participated in the

performance) dance.

2.3 The Develoment of Dance in Karo

Society

The development of dance in Karo society can not

be separated from the development of gendang

(music). The most significant development of

gendang (music) lasted from the end of 1991. The

development was started by Jasa Tarigan a Karo

musician. He uses the PSR 500 keyboard as a drum

enhancer. Due to the addition of drum sounds the

dancers are increasingly dancing and not tireless.

Although there are people who disagree but much

more who love it, so musicians keep using it.

Five years later (circa 1996) the musician used a

KN 2000 type keyboard, Tecnics. By using this

instrument he not only produces drum sounds. This

keyboard can imitate all the sounds of Karo musical

instruments, such as the sounds of sarune (like

oboe), gendang (drums), kulcapi (double strings

lute) and both types of gung (gongs) both large and

small.

Around the middle of 1998 every marriage used

gendang kibot (Karo music ensemble using

keyboard instruments). The use of keyboard on Karo

music makes dancing easier and more passionate. As

a result of this development at every wedding party

there is a gendang la radat (presenting music

unrelated directly to customs). The performances of

gendang la radat, intended to give the opportunity to

the kin to dance with their spouse. In general the

development of Karo dance today is much more free

by creating movements from other tribal dances.

The Dance Performances in the Karo Society

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3 THE PERFORMANCES DANCE

IN THE TRADITIONAL

CEREMONY, RELIGION

CEREMONY,

ENTERTAINMENT, AND

CONSERVATION EFFORT

3.1 The Performances Dance in the

Traditional Ceremony

Performances is the structure of a comprehensive

unity of relationships by presenting, processing, and

arranging of dance. This explains how the dance is

performed by all supporters of the tradistional

ceremony. In every traditional ceremony, the sukut

(the family whose conducted the ceremony) always

invited kindfolks which consists of three groups.

The three groups were composed rather than, senina

(same grandfather), kalimbubu (a family giver

girl/wife) and anak beru (a recipient girl or wife).

According Tarigan (2017) First, the senina group is

consists of, 1) senina, is the same grandfather then

interpreted as "brothers",2) sembuyak, like a brother

with different of clan branch, 3) sipemeren, the same

clan of his mother or sister's mother, 4) sepengalon,

namely the relationship of two or several people

who have the same of anak beru, 5) siparibanen,

namely the relationship of two or several brothers to

marry a brothers sisters, 6) sedalanen, has a

relationship between two or several people who have

the same of kalimbubu.

Secondly, the kalimbubu group consists of, 1)

kalimbubu, often also called the family giver girl /

wife, 2) puang kalimbubu, is a kalimbubu than a

kalimbubu, and 3) puang ni puang is a kalimbubu

than a puang kalimbubu

Third, the anak beru group consists of, 1) anak

beru, often called a recipient girl or wife, son-in-law

and the man who marries our sister, commonly

called the anak beru i angkip or anak beru i ampu,

the off spring of men than marrying of fathers and

men than marrying sisters of grandfathers, namely

anak beru i pupus, besides, there is a anak beru

sipemeren, means the relationship anak beru

happens because their mother is siblings, 2) anak

beru menteri is a anak beru than a anak beru and, 3)

anak beru pengapit is a anak beru than anak beru

menteri

In every event of the dance performances in the

traditional ceremonies, the sukut always dances with

the kinsfolk and the village government. The dance

sequence in the ceremony, first, the sukut danced

with the senina, second, the sukut danced with the

village government, third, the sukut danced with

their kalimbubu, and the fourth sukut danced with

anak beru.

Specialized in funerals, the sukut may danced

with kalimbubu more than twice. This is due to

certain divisions within the kalimbubu group. The

division of the kalimbubu group not only because

the kalimbubu group is crowded but also because

there are levels on kalimbubu, such as kalimbubu of

grandfather, kalimbubu of father and kalimbubu of

child.

Body movement in general at the time of the

sukut danced with senina, both sukut and senina

slightly bow their heads. It shows love each other

because the position in everyday life is considered

equivalent. A reality like this also happens when the

sukut dances with the village government. This

means that the village government highly respects to

the people as well as the poeple respect for their

government. Somewhat different body movement at

the time of sukut dancing with kalimbubu. It is seen

that the sukut more bowed the body of the omen

highly respects kalimbubu while kalimbubu loves

the sukut by way of widening hand gestures. Body

movements at the time of sukut dancing with the

anak beru, it appears that the sukut dance by

opening the hand. That is rather wide as a

compassion to the anak beru, while the body

movements of anak beru, dance with a bow as a sign

of respect for the sukut as kalimbubu.

3.2 The Performances Dance in the

Religion Ceremony

At the religious ceremonies, who acts as a dancer is

guru or a shaman. In religious ceremonies, shamans

use accessories to dance is a dagangen or white

cloth. So the shaman danced to communicate

himself with supernatural powers. However the

shaman dancing begins with slow motion and

gradually accelerates. At a certain moment a shaman

possessed. In a state of trance shaman dancing

according to the spirit entering the shaman's body.

Sometimes there is a like animal spirit that enters the

shaman's body. In such movements according to the

nature of the animal, such as snakes, tigers, and

monkeys. The dance in religious ceremonies is very

personal, however, the basic movements of dance

remains the same, namely endek.

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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3.3 The Performances Dance in the

Entertainment

The dance in the entertainment there are some parts,

but the most important is the dance in the guro-guro

aron (the performances of dance and musical by

Karo’s youth and girls). The performanceis held by a

village community. Its purpose is only for

entertainment to the public. However there is still a

connection with customs. However, between the

youth and the girl should not dance if same the clan.

In Karo's customary view, one clan is considered to

be a sibling. Therefore, the dance in this

performance can be called the symbol of love. The

dance in this performance is pairwise. Now the

dance is generally free dance without being tied to

the pattern of hand gestures and presence. Usually

begins with a medium tempo, and perkolong-kolong

sing one or two songs, then followed with a fast

track.

A reality like this will take place throughout the

show. Young men and girls dance in a more or less

the same way, but take turns. At night this show may

last for eight hours. which starts at 8:00 pm so that at

04.00, but during the day may last about seven

hours, starting at 10:00 pm so 17:00 afternoon.

3.4 Conservation Effort

There is a keyboard being part of Karo traditional

music (gendang kibot) there is a very significant

influence on the dance. The musical atmosphere that

results from the keyboard gives a very lively feeling

in the dancing. This causes a feeling that there is no

needs to take the dance practice seriously. The

reality of this is that for more than 20 years there has

been no training in dancing .That way people who

dance make their own style by not paying attention

to diversity. It's as if dancing is just to meet the

needs of the customs. In the dance there is no sense

of beauty both in the context of customs and in

entertainment. Therefore, conservation efforts are

needed by increasing aesthetic taste so that the dance

produces beautiful dances. Conservation efforts by

increasing aesthetic taste are done by choosing

people who are very close to traditional activities.

People who are very close to traditional activities in

the Karo community today are people who work on

cosmetology called 'salon'. Karo people need their

services, especially in arranging clothes and makeup

and other accessories. At the same time, however,

they can teach the basics of dancing with aesthetics.

We believe that their contest will be followed by the

Karo people in general to get beauty for all the work

done, especially in Karo customs.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The Karo’s dance evolves based on the needs of the

support community. The dance may be divided

based on several criteria. First, based on the context

of presentation, such as traditional dance, belief

dance and entertainment dance. Secondly, based on

the person who presents the dance, such as the

person who performs and supports the traditional

ceremony, shaman, youth. Third, based on creation,

such as traditional dance and new creations dance.

Traditional dance is all the dance that always

accumulate in the pattern of tradition that has existed

from generation to generation. While the new

creations dance is a dance that leads to freedom in

expressing, not based on the pattern of tradition.

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