Randai usually tells stories of drama between members of the royal class and is performed with actors who dance, act, and portray their royal characters while surrounded by dancers wearing martial arts clothes who dance to the beat of the music or the emotion of the scene. The dances usually involve sweeping quick steps with dancers low to the ground, with either slow rolls and jumps depending on the shouts that serve to maintain or change tempo. Students love Randai, and community members flock to stadiums where they will sit for hours as different groups perform different stories passed throughout the ages. Since my first experience watching a Randai performance, I have been a part of a martial arts and traditional entertainment group that performs dances and music that, like Randai, is closely tied to the traditional martial arts of the region, pencek silek. Silet is the most popular self-defense of southeast asia, and pencek silek is the traditional take (or origin) of the national silek martial arts form. Involving weapons, hats, and uniforms that allows practitionors to embody the harimau (or tiger), my school of pencek silek utilizes lots of grappling, locking, and kicks. It's definitely been one of the most arduous forms of physical activity I've done, as I'm surrounded by pros both young and old who can hold their own against three attackers simultaneously. In addition to silek harimau, my school hosts tari piriang (plate dancing) and traditional Minang music that utilizes the manggua tabuah and talempong (big drum and single pair gongs used in each hand).
