On Saturday, June 28, a lecture titled "Understanding Indonesia: Let's Experience Traditional Javanese Dance" was held in the training room of the Manabi Creative Center on the fifth floor of Lapio. The room was filled with 38 participants. First, Dr.Heni Hernawati talked about Indonesia's geography, language, seasons, cuisine, religion, and tourist attractions. She mentioned that Indonesia has the second largest population of Japanese language learners worldwide and that Japanese culture and products are popular in the country.

Next, Ms. Usrek Tani Utina performed a Surakarta-style Javanese dance. She explained that each movement and posture of the hands and feet has its own meaning. Then, Dr. Setiyani Wardhaningtyas explained the Loro Ngigel dance, after which Ms. Dwi Puji Asrini performed a dance. The way she lightly stepped on the floor made her seem like a girl growing up. Finally, under the guidance of Ms. Siti Aesijah, we played "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" with angklungs.

The light sound of the bamboo was beautiful. Due to the number of instruments, some people might not have been able to play the angklung. My apologies.

Participants commented that it was good to see the dance performance in person, that they enjoyed the musical instrument performance, that it made them want to visit Indonesia, and that they wanted to try Indonesian food.

We would like to thank the lecturers from the National University of Semarang who traveled from Indonesia, the participants, and the volunteer staff !