Saman Dance (Dance Of Thousand Hands)

Saman dance is Aceh traditional dance. Saman dance is a tribal dance Gayo (Gayo Lues) which is displayed to celebrate important events in custom. Saman dance using poetry in Arabic and Gayo. Also usually this dance also displayed to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad. In some literature mentions Saman dance in Aceh was founded and developed by Sheikh Saman, a scholar who came from Southeast Aceh Gayo. Saman dance by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List of Man in the 6th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of UNESCO Cultural Heritage No object in Bali, 24 November 2011.

 

 

Saman dance is one of the media to achieve message (da'wah). This dance reflects the educational, religious, manners, heroism, teamwork and togetherness.

 

Song of the dancers add to the dynamics of saman dance. How to sing songs in saman dance is divided into 5 types:

1. Rengum, the roar that begins by lifter.
2. Dering, namely Rengum which was quickly followed by all dancers.
3. Redet, namely short songs with short sound sung by a dancer at the center of the dance.
4. Syek, the song sung by a dancer with a long high-pitched voice, usually as a sign of change in motion
5. Saur, the song that is repeated by all dancers after sung by a solo dancer.

Saman dance using two elements pertaining to the basic elements of the dance saman: applause and pat his chest. Allegedly, when the spreading of Islamic religion, sheikh saman studying ancient Malay dance, then bring back through the motion, along with poems da'wah Islam to facilitate his preaching. In the present context, religious ritual dance is still used as a medium for conveying messages da'wah through performances.

 

Saman dance is one dance that is quite unique, because they only show the motion of applause other movements, such as rocking motion, kirep, lingang, surang-saring (all motion is Gayo language)

In general, saman dance played by a dozen or dozens of men, but the number must be odd. Another opinion says This dance is danced more or less than 10 people, with details of 8 dancers and 2 as the command grantor while singing. However, the developments in the modern era requires that a dance would be more lively when danced by dancers with higher numbers. To set the various movements it instituted a leader who called sheikh. In addition to regulating the movement of the dancers, Sheikh is also in charge of singing song lyrics that warrant ganit.