Katrili dance from Minahasa

Helloindonesia.id – As with other branches of art, dance for the Minahasa community has also existed since ancient times. This is evidenced by the belief in Dewi Penari, who is known by the Minahasa community as Ruwintuwu. This intersection of trust in Dewi Dancers and the Goddess of Fertility later gave birth to various Minahasa traditional dances which were closely related to the agrarian style of life of the Minahasa people.

However, not all traditional Minahasa dances are related to the lifestyle of the agrarian society. Katrili dance, for example, a dance often performed by young people is a dance resulting from the intersection of Minahasa culture with European culture, namely Portuguese-Spanish.

According to Jessy Wenas in the book, Minahasa History and Culture revealed, Katrili dance etymologically comes from the European language, namely Quadrille. This dance has two types of steps, namely Waltz Irama 3/4 and Gallop step 2/4, with command commands carried out by dance leaders in French.

Drawing on the history of the formation of dances, Katrili dance comes from the dance Lalaya’an ne Kawasaran, which is a dance whose dancers form two lines and face each other to form and exchange places. During the Spanish occupation of the Minahasa, this traditional dance turned into a social dance called Lansee, where a pair of male and female dancers turned and exchanged positions.
 
Kusnan, one of the dance trainers added, Katrili dance is a dance that describes loyalty, more than that, this dance is also a representation of the people of North Sulawesi who are open to welcoming guests who come.

In terms of costume, female dancers wore dresses and men wore suits that were closely related to European culture. A dancer serves as a Catapult, which is a dance command that always issues commands to dancers to carry out certain movements. In the Spanish era in the Minahasa, the commanders who came out of the Catapult used Portuguese – Spanish.

While in terms of music, Katrili dance is accompanied by traditional Minahasa music. Some dance groups in Minahasa often use the sound of kolintang as accompaniment music. However, at present most of the Katrili dance performances prefer digital recording as the accompanying music. Now Katrili dance by the Minahasa community is often used as a dance for young people staged in various purposes, such as cultural events and welcoming guests who are considered great.
Source : https://www.indonesiakaya.com/jelajah-indonesia/detail/tarian-kabasaran

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