Preserving the Gendong Dance: Cultural Continuity and Modernity in Penyengat Village, Riau, Indonesia

Abstract

Within Southeast Asian dance anthropology, the traditions of geographically remote Indigenous minority communities are often overshadowed by mainstream court cultures. This study critically examines the Gendong Dance of the Indigenous Anak Rawa (Akit) community in Penyengat Village, Siak Regency, Riau Province, Indonesia, focusing on its cultural meanings, continuity, and negotiation with modernity. Grounded in critical ethnography and performance theory, the study collected qualitative data through participant observation, in-depth semi-structured interviews with ritual authorities (bomo), dancers, and Indigenous youth, and ethnographic archival analysis. The corpus was examined using reflexive thematic analysis, supported by triangulation across data sources and methods. The findings show that the Gendong Dance transcends aesthetic entertainment by functioning as a sacred apotropaic ritual (tolak bala) and a form of cosmic mediation rooted in animist cosmology and ancestor veneration. Community narratives trace the ritual to collective traumatic memory and coercive royal punishment, from which it developed into a symbolic mechanism for restoring communal dignity, ecological equilibrium, and social cohesion. Its choreographic structure has remained largely intact despite limited material adaptations, including modern woven fabrics and Western violin instrumentation. Nevertheless, its continuity is increasingly threatened by peatland ecological degradation, market pressures, and an intergenerational transmission crisis characterised by weakening youth understanding of and identification with sacred taboos. The study demonstrates that cultural continuity is sustained through selective adaptation rather than static preservation. It contributes to dance anthropology by illuminating the interconnections among ritual performance, ecological relations, historical memory, and Indigenous cultural sovereignty. Sustainable safeguarding should therefore resist reductive tourism commodification and prioritise institutionally supported, community-led documentation and pedagogical regeneration centred on the dance’s sacred foundations.