Travelling to Asia never fails to open my eyes, get my hips swaying and my toes wiggling. And what I happened upon recently, further confirms that itchy feet is a condition best left untreated. Come nightfall, in downtown Mataram (Lombok’s capital) a hall reverberates with the rhythm of young feet, healing through the power of their heels. Local children attend free dance classes courtesy of Dutch philanthropist, and retired professional ballroom and Latin dancer, Marcel De Rijk, who is also the owner of one of Lombok’s most revered boutique spa resorts: Puri Mas. In an effort to nurture human and social capital, Marcel provides costumes and shoes at his international dance studio, where over the past couple of years, 120 disadvantaged children have tapped their toes and heels—for free. This is Marcel’s way of giving back to the local community, inspired by his lifelong passion for dance. As I left behind a quiet, darkened street, the dance floor lit with smiling eyes, swirling hips and trailing hair, delighting in the joy and freedom of movement. My eyes fixed, however, upon Ni Nyoman Ivana Maharani, an 9-year-old girl, joined on the dance floor by her 13-year-old brother, I Wayan Adipurana Sanjaya. So talented are these two that they dance for guests at The Ballroom Restaurant within Puri Mas Resort. I was lucky enough to catch this on my last night in Lombok. Their parents watched on, oozing with pride, as these two young talents burst into ballroom dancing one would only expect to see on the professional stage. I observed these young souls seamlessly bonding through their synchronised soles. Looking back across the Lombok Strait, dotted with traditional wooden jukung (outrigger fishing canoes), I felt touched by the common language that dance speaks across cultures, and by the dreams in the young dancers’ eyes.
0 Comments
|
Archives
October 2022
Categories |