Stories - LISES UNPAD: A Journey In A University's Cultural Organization

 

As someone who is passionate about culture, I engaged in diverse activities regarding this field. One of them was joining a university's unit organization named Lises Unpad. In my college years, I spent approximately four years, almost the whole of my study life. LISES (Lingkung Seni Sunda) is a unit of campus organization in Padjadjaran University which has the main mission to preserve Sundanese culture. Sunda is one of ethnics in West Java, Indonesia. It has particular well-preserved culture through its dances, music, traditions, etc. Padjadjaran University is located in the heart of West Java, thus Sundanese customs live within its citizens in their daily life.

Joining a campus organization has been a part of college student's daily life, but engaging in a culture-based organization is a different one and it's intriguing at the same time. Here’s my exciting journey over the years at Lises Unpad.  

Fell in love with dance

Started in 2016, I was a beginner in Sundanese dances. I learned from the basics of this type of dance and had already one project to perform one classical dance. For a couple of months, my team and I were practicing a dance called Katumbiri, which literally means rainbow in Sundanese language. This dance describes the beauty of 7 angels that represents the colors of the rainbow. It was a successful performance and it led me to another chance for a big event held at the end of the year. Pagelaran Akhir Tahun or an End-Year Spectacle was a mix of theatrical, musical, and dance performances.

Usually, it has a particular theme related to cultural legends, customs, or traditions. In this show, I was assigned to being a dancer, particularly a folk dance presented by ten persons named Helaran dance. It had a different style of dance so it was a challenge for me to learn it. The spectacle was another success and it encouraged me to comprehend and explore more types of dances.

The year after, I started to learn some new dances. Sunda has a particular style of dances, it’s known for the Jaipong dance by the entire nation. For a couple of years, I was learning various dances in this genre. At first, it was really hard, as this genre has a contradictive image as my personal branding. Nevertheless, as time passed, I get used to the dance movements, practice makes perfect, indeed.

There are more than 10 types of dance that I’ve acquired. I have my favorite one, the dance named Makalangan. This dance represents the women’s dignity and women’s strength. It encourages women to pursue their dream and to conquer their rights. The movement in this dance is a mix of jaipong and pencak silat (a traditional martial art). 

I’m really enjoying my journey at Lises by learning dances. I also had opportunities to perform in countless events and occasions, such as in the graduation, the seminar, the university events, the company events, the government events and even abroad. 

Juggling one role to another

The second-year until fourth-year was the time when I was immersed in some roles of this organization. From a staff of human development, a general secretary, to the chief of an advisory board.  Also in other roles of both internal and external events, such as fundraising, treasury, and even a project officer. For me, the real journey in this organization began when I was juggling one role to another. Initially, I have a huge interest in joining an organization since senior high school. Back then, I realized that participating in that activity will have a huge impact on my personal development.

During my college days, I participated actively in some organizations and events, but LISES is surely the one that gave me both the most enchanting yet challenging experience at the same time.

Personally, I should say that the most challenging experience regarding organization functions was in 2018. It was the time when I took charge as a general secretary.  My main tasks were handling administration inquiries, ensuring other divisions worked based on the timeline arranged, and sometimes coordinating with the stakeholders of the university. However, in that year, we didn’t have sufficient human resources. As a result, we had to engage in every single project that we had throughout the year whether it was a big or a small one.  In those events, we were sometimes encountering unprecedented problems that provoke our mental state. 

It was completely exhausting; it was draining my energy and emotion. Nevertheless, for me, it was worth to experience it once in a lifetime.

An unforgettable experience in Thailand

2019. It was absolutely the best year for me. It started with an astonishment chance that came to LISES. In February, one of our alumni offered an exhilarating event in Thailand University. We had two months of preparation from choosing the dances, the performers, and even handling the funding, the accommodation, administration inquiries, etc. Almost all of the elements in Lises were helping to make this event came true. Nevertheless, there were 15 people in total that were sent off of this special occasion, consisted of eleven dancers, three crews, and two supervisors. We prepared two dances: Makalangan dance, performed by five people, a Jaipong dance that represents women's empowerment; Ronggeng Panggung dance, performed by three couples, a folk dance created by Lises.

On April 22 - 30, we enjoyed our journey in Thailand. There were two universities which we attended; the first was Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University. It's an education-focused university located in Chiang Rak Noi, one hour drive from Bangkok.  Throughout the day, we held a mini-workshop of Helaran dance, destined to dance study students, and in the afternoon we performed the dance we've been prepared.

The second university which we attended  was Suan Sunandha University, located in Bangkok. We spent 3 days, consist of 2 days of Helaran dance workshop and the last day was our Makalangan and Ronggeng Panggung dance performance.  At that campus, we also had a chance to learn a glimpse of Thailand's traditional dance. 

The days when we had no activities regarding performance, we took this chance to stroll around Bangkok. Golden Mountain, Rattanakosin Museum, Wat Arun Temple, Asiatique, MBK Center, Petchburi Area, Chatuchak Weekend Market were places we've visited around the city.

Those eight days in Bangkok were incredibly memorable. Personally, it was the best experience I've ever had at Lises. It was also an honor for me to present a Sundanese culture in a foreign country.

Preserving culture 

From the first time I engage actively in this organization, I’ve been curious about the Sundanese culture.  Its richness, diversity, and complexity are interesting to discover. In our organization, we have a division named research and development, its main tasks are conducting research on a particular phenomenon regarding Sundanese culture and publishing its result to the public. 

To be honest, I was not actively participating or helping that research team (I don't speak Sundanese language fluently).  However, I once went to a cultural festival in Sumedang. We had some interviews with several traditional authority. At that time, we also made a report about Karinding, one of the Sundanese traditional music. 

In fact, regardless of the specific research and report, every project that we accomplished aims one main mission: preserve the Sundanese culture.

Overall, those years at Lises Unpad made me experiencing the ups and downs. Apart from its formal organization's structure and function, what I'm really grateful for is its strong bond and connection between the member.  I've met so many people, sometimes from different generations. Most of us have a strong friendship that could last even years after we graduate. I approve that most of my best friends in college are from Lises. Some of us even found their soulmate (unfortunately not me). Lises could means anything for everyone, and each of us might have different impressions and perspectives on it. 

In my case, I conclude those years at Lises as a whole complete package of contradictory things.  Amazing yet wearying, inspiring yet discouraging, pleasing yet suffering, consuming both the positive and negative energy; mentally and physically. In short, I'd say it's a sort of love-hate relationship. In that relation, I choose to acknowledge all those contradictory feelings but pick out only the best moments worth commemorating.