LIKURAI......CENTRAL TIMOR AND TIMOR LESTE DANCE.

 

Rhythmic, dynamic drum beat, rolling dancing, colorful sarong cover the body, every one kept the small "Tihar" (drum) under their armpit while set up the circle mixing man, women, children, young and old create a compact movement of head, hand and arm,  body rocking right and left along with the rhythm and singing a traditional song repeated again and again in front of crowded in a special event and kept the balance as well.

Most of the time the  dancers using colorful sarong hand made in the district tied it over the upper of the chest, but sometime using uniform fashion for special event. Mostly participant are women, dancing taken place outside the building in the field, in the station or over the grass 

This special dance originally coming from central Timor island, Belu district, then well known as Likurai district, bordered East Timor new country, Timor Leste. Every household kept minimum  one drum in the house, ready every time needed to perform. This kind of dance is a war's dance belong to central Timor area, including Suai district and Bobonaro district next door in Timor Leste country where they inherited the similar culture from the same ancestor

In every event, all dancer participants with a golden color crown, rocking softly move the body following the rhythm, drum beats, bare feet movement in magic influenced, tempting the men to joint the dance to forget - for the time being - all life's burden and problems of every house hold. The environment tend to warm up  by the drum voice, covered the whole the spot and the crowded, while the dancers tend to move eagerly when the claps thundering to support them.