Nowadays, Indonesian people are unfamiliar with traditional dances from their own country. This article will raise a traditional dance originating from Papua, the Sajojo dance.
Brief Explanation of Sajojo Dance
The Sajojo dance is a welcoming message to the guests, but since they have already arrived at the ceremony location, there is no need to lead them there.
This traditional dance from Papua served as a celebration of the pleasure and spirit of the community. It is evident in the dancers’ facial emotions and their rhythmic and coordinated movements.
The origin of this dance is to have emerged in the 1990s. This dance movement is distinctive and cheerful. Initially, this dance was popular among the military who had served in Timor, Maluku, and Irian.
The song Sajojo, which typically rhymes with the Cha Cha Cha Ambon medley, serves as the basis for the name of the Sajojo dance. The song Sajojo itself comes from Papua and tells of an idolized girl who is loved in her village.
Types of Formation in the Sajojo
1. The Letter V
This arrangement typically begins at the opening of a dance performance. In this formation, one person is at the front as the center. Then the other dancers line up wide to form the letter V.
2. Round Shape (Circle)
This formation begins by forming 2 roundabouts (circles). This means that they are starting to divide the tasks. Each group of rows shows its respective cohesiveness. Then these two circles will join to form a large circle which symbolizes the unity and unity that is big and strong.
3. The Curved
This configuration, which conveys a sense of gentleness and weakness, is frequently employed in folk and traditional dances. It may also provide a pleasant impression.
4. Line Form
In this formation, dancers form a vertical line, a straight line from front to back, or vice versa. This formation gives a simple but strong impression. In addition, this formation is also widely used in traditional dances, both classical and populist. It is also possible to form a diagonal line by lining up dancers in an angled line.
5. Mathematics in the Sajojo
The dance rhythm are part of the mathematics element. Everything in dance is related to patterns. Dancers remember the pattern of footwork in their dance. Music usually has a pattern that dictates the dancer’s movements.
They also follow patterns in music in repeated 1–8 counts (1, 2, 3, …, 8, 1, 2, 3, …, 8). Counts 1–8 repeating in musical patterns can be analogous to base 8. If it reaches the count of 8, it will return to 1. As for the movement pattern using a 2×8 count, then the dancers perform different movements. Repeated 2×8 counts in movement patterns can be analogous to base 16.
Dance may also refer to the timing of the beat, the number of actions required to dance, the number of patterns to be used, the number of musical instruments required, and the necessary quantity of choreography.
Geometric Transformations
There are three types of symmetry operations in the Sajojo dance: reflection, rotation, and translation.
- Reflection (mirroring) is the operation of reflecting an object on a line as a mirror plane.
- Rotation is rotating an object with a point as the center. For example, an equilateral triangle has rotational symmetry with a rotation angle of 120 degrees.
- The translation is transforming objects from one region to another with a vector. More complicated symmetries are a combination of these operations. Symmetry is widely used in various disciplines such as geometry, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, art, etc.
Wrapping Up
Operation Rotation, reflection, dilation, and translation are common geometrical transformations of symmetry. Only theoretical research has been done so far on the geometric transformation of symmetric operations. However, the experts discovered that dancing, particularly the Sajojo dance, also uses the three adaptations of the operational geometry.
Geometric transformations, number bases, and other mathematical components have different dance styles for creating symmetrical processes. Therefore, we may claim that dancing and mathematics are compatible. It’s intriguing because dancing may help children develop their critical and logical thinking skills while providing a more concrete way to study mathematics.
