Month: November 2017

Dancers and fashionistas of the Indonesian community bring the colourful glamour of Indonesia to life!

Kangkung Bandung – a traditional contemporary dance inspired from the West Java culture of the Sundanese. The dance tells the story of a group of women coquettishly hiding behind scarves and umbrellas to tease and attract their men.

Choreographed by Natasha Honey Norita, who spent her childhood learning Indonesian and traditional dances, and has won numerous national awards for dance competitions. Norita has performed extensively while in the Indonesian dance group Guruh Soekarno Putra, continuing her work promoting Indonesian culture in Seattle, Los Angeles, and now Vancouver since 1995.

Kebaya and Islamic Fashion Show – A kebaya is a traditional blouse-dress combination that originated from the court of the Javanese Majapahit Kingdom since the 13th century, and is traditionally worn by women in Indonesia. Even today, kebayas are worn during special occasions and have been adapted by many neighbouring nations. The motif itself has been uniquely transformed by many different cultures like Malay and Chinese.

Islamic Fashion as a particular phenomenon started appearing towards the 1980s. The style is encouraged to be both covered and fashionable, modest and beautiful. Indonesia, the most populous moslem nation, has brought up many designers introducing the modern way of wearing moslem clothing, gaining attention on the world stage.