ULM Students Win 2nd Place Nationally in the 2025 NATARASA Dance Competition
ULM Students Win 2nd Place Nationally in the 2025 NATARASA Dance Competition
Banjarmasin – A proud achievement was once again made by students of Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) on the national stage. Ahmad Marzuki, a student from the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, won 2nd Place in the Single Category in the 2025 NATARASA National Traditional and Modern Creative Dance Competition.
The competition entitled “Harmonious Combination of Tradition and Innovation” was organized by the Ahmad Dahlan University Student Activity Unit (UKM) Arts. NATARASA is a prestigious national-level event that combines the richness of traditional culture with a touch of modern creativity. The competition process took place from February 25, 2025 for the registration period, until the announcement of the winners on April 13, 2025.
In this competition, Ahmad Marzuki performed a dance entitled “Mamimbul Parei (Planting Rice)”, a traditional creative dance originating from the Dayak Tribe culture. This dance depicts the farming process, especially the activity of planting rice, which is a symbol of life and gratitude of the Dayak people towards nature and the earth’s produce.
“Through this dance, I want to introduce the deep meaning between humans and nature, and describe how the life of the Dayak people is in harmony with their surroundings,” said Ahmad.
Preparation for the competition took about three weeks, starting from creating the choreography to intensive training. In the process, Ahmad also received help from his friends to find references for appropriate dance movements. However, his struggle was not easy. He found out about the competition in mid-March, so the preparation time was limited. Another challenge was in terms of dance properties, where he had to look for rattan bags all the way to the Anjir area to complete his performance.
Interestingly, this competition was held online. Each participant uploaded a video of their performance via their personal YouTube account. This was a challenge as well as a new experience for Ahmad.
“I feel this is a valuable experience. In addition to being able to display my work, I can also watch various dance works from other participants from various universities throughout Indonesia,” he said.
Although he did not receive special assistance from the university, Ahmad still informed the faculty student affairs department about his participation and received moral support, especially in the form of distributing information about the competition video to gain support from the audience.
This achievement shows that creativity and the spirit of preserving culture can be a bridge to brilliant achievements, even in the midst of limitations. ULM is proud of Ahmad Marzuki’s achievements and hopes that this achievement can inspire other students to continue to work and elevate local cultural wealth to the national stage.
