AUDIENCE: my target audience is an alien with no knowledge of earth life
Hello, extraterrestrial beings! Welcome to the first annual Milky Way Galaxy Cultural Festival! The goal of this event is to share the unique aspects of our different planets and learn about each other’s various ways of life. We’ve already heard some wonderful presentations from the delegates from Vulcan and Tatooine, and next up, we have planet Earth. I’m so excited to be speaking on behalf of my home planet, and I hope you all enjoy the brief glimpse into what life is like on Earth. This talk will focus individually on the performing arts within a specific Earthen region but hopefully will tell you more about the planet’s culture as a whole. Within this area, performing arts hold a multitude of contradictions. Without any further ado, let’s get into it!
To the southeast of the continent of Asia, there is an archipelago known as Indonesia. This cluster of islands is the largest on earth and contains 17,508 islands. Of these, roughly 6,000 are inhabited. Accompanying the vast number of islands, there is a huge variety of different cultures to be found among the people living there. I would like to focus specifically on the province of Aceh, which can be found on the northwest tip of the island of Sumatra. After suffering a devastating tsunami and earthquake in 2004, Aceh was forced to rebuild itself. The delegates from Krypton will understand how influential a natural disaster can be. In the aftermath of the destruction, an interesting and contradictory phenomenon occurred, in which the performing arts in Aceh were simultaneously both encouraged and deterred.
The encouragement of the arts began when non-governmental organizations (NGOs) traveled to Aceh to help rebuild after the tsunami. Upon arrival, these groups participated both in showcasing their own culture’s performing arts but acted as audiences for Acehnese performances. The practice of sharing their arts with outsiders was hugely important to the previously very isolated Acehnese people. Following the positive experience and feedback from the NGOs, education about and performance of the arts increased in Aceh. The arts of Aceh and the world are now taught in public schools, and organizations like The Traditional Arts and Lecture Organization (TALOE) encourage artistic expression. Not only did the performance of Acehnese art style grow with Aceh, but it also expanded throughout the Indonesian archipelago and the world. Acehnese sitting dance is unbelievably popular in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. It was even performed in the show-stopping opening ceremony for the 2018 Asian Games, which was hosted by Indonesia. In fact, I first learned about Acehnese dance at Wesleyan University, which is over 9,000 miles from where it originated. This is truly a testament to how well-known the dance is becoming. However, in their place of origin, Acehnese performing arts are still not completely accepted.
The aversion to Acehnese performing arts comes from the region’s close relationship to Islam and strict adherence to the religion’s laws. For those unfamiliar, Islam is Earth’s second most popular religion and is the main religion of Indonesia. It is monotheistic, and, like many religions, has strict guidelines for how one should behave. That’s all you need to know to understand this presentation, but if you’re interested, I highly encourage you to research Islam or any other Earthen religions that interest you. Anyway, following the 2004 natural disaster, the people of Aceh became much more invested in Islam, because they believed that the destruction of the tsunami was God’s way of punishing them for not following the rules of Islam. As a result, religion became arguably the most important part of Acehnese life. This obviously limited people’s behavior, especially when it comes to performing arts and female performers.
While there is no specific rule against women performing, Aceh follows Sharia law, which is rooted in the Islamic religion. Islam does not typically condone music and dance and has very strict rules for how women should conduct themselves. There is much argument as to whether or not the performing arts should be allowed within Aceh, and it’s worth mentioning that there are dance and music features within the religion. However, these pieces, as well as most of those performed in Aceh today are about God and honoring him, rather than creative expression. Despite the existence of arts in Islam, women are often discouraged from performing in public, as it may be viewed as unseemly or indecent. Dancing can be seen as provocative, a theme not permitted within Islam. Religious leaders will sometimes tell children that too much dancing or singing is immoral. There have been several instances of the Acehnese government shutting down performances that it feels do not comply with the values of Islam. Furthermore, many women stop performing after graduating from college or getting married because it is not culturally acceptable to continue.
As I stated earlier, the arts in this region are rife with opposition and uncertainty. Performing arts in Aceh are incredibly complicated, and I don’t expect you to understand all of this right away. Post-tsunami Acehnese art is full of contradictions, but so is all of life on Earth. I only hope you have learned a bit about not just this art form, but also the kind of complex cultural background that often accompanies Earthen dance. Thank you for your time, and I hope you all enjoy the rest of the festival. If you have any questions about this speech or life on Earth in general, don’t hesitate to ask. Up next, we have a presentation by the delegates from Mars about their lava hot tubs!
