Baksa Kembang Dance - Clasical Dance from South Kalimantan

One of the clasical dance that still live until today in South Kalimantan is Baksa Kembang Dance. It is one of the most precious dance that originally only performed by the princess in front of the King. But now, Baksa Kembang has been performed and being learn by a lot of people in Banjar area.

The Baksa Kembang Dance is a dance to welcoming king's guests, such as kings from other kingdom. But recently, it has been used and performed to welcome Government Official, such as Governor, Minister, or even President.

According to Yurliani Johansyah - the Classical Banjar Dance's expertist - Baksa Kembang Dance has been established more than thousand years. She even recognize this dance has been performed long before the Kingdom of Banjar stand in the 15th century. The main key of this dance is the smoothness of the dancer (Baksa was came from the word of "beksan" which means "smooth" in Banjar's language). Another main key of this dance is the flowers bouquet which become the main property while the dancers performed this dance. The bouquet is the compilation of variant flowers (such as Rose, Jasmine, magnolia, and cananga), and will be presented to the honour guest.

The dance itself tells the story about the princess that playing in the flower park. They pick flowers and make them as a bouquet, then use it as their play-toy. The dancers is wearing a crown called Gajah Gemilang, a silver crown that being decorated using blossom forth. Usually the dancers are in odd-numbers (1, 3, 5, or 7 persons). This dance is accompany with tradisional percussion that played song called Ayakan, Janklong, or Kembang Muni.

This unique dance can be seen in South Kalimantan. So, if you visit there, and have a chance to see this dance, take your time to see it. Because not all the time we have a nopportunity to see this such a beauty dance in South Kalimantan.