Foto: Batas Budi Kaki Langit Biru – Tom Ibnur. IDF 2012

IDF 2024

Arison Ibnur Ibrahim or better known as Tom Ibnur is the maestro of Indonesian zapin dance. Beyond his works as a choreographer, decades of his life has been dedicated to understand, inquire, invigorate, and preserve this dance. There are traces of Tom Ibnur in zapin dance performances which are now not only popular along the coast of Sumatra, but have also reached all over Indonesia and the world. And now, at the age of 72, people call him the “Nusantara’s King of Zapin”.

Tom Ibnur’s attachment to the zapin dance began when he was a child. Born in 1952 in Padang, his first breath was infiltrated by the thick essence of Minangkabau and Malay culture. Young Tom Ibnur often watched zapin dance performances at weddings held by his relatives and neighbors. In the Minangkabau tradition, dance is part of silat. Thus, though he was discouraged from practicing dance, Tom Ibnur received his first body experience from training in silat.

But the world of dance and the common definition of “success” were too abstract and difficult to imagine the correlation. Tom Ibnur, like most other Minangkabau youth during the New Order era, chose to become an engineer. He worked at a cement company, excelled, and was sent to Sydney. It was there that Tom’s old love for dance blossomed again, in moments of passing by and witnessing the ever busy Sydney Opera House. Following his heart and body’s desire, in 1979, he made a pivotal decision that changed his life’s direction by daring to enroll in the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) – which at that time was still called the Dance Academy-LPKJ. Since then he has paid attention to Minangkabau and Malay traditional arts, especially the zapin dance. In his vision, he wanted to bring zapin to a whole new world, unbound by traditional clauses existing within the dance since its arrival in the Nusantara archipelago brought by Arab and Gujarati merchants in the 13th century. Tom Ibnur wanted to challenge the agility of zapin, including conceptualizing it into contemporary dance.

Foto: Batas Budi Kaki Langit Biru – Tom Ibnur. IDF 2012

One of Tom Ibnur’s seminal work is the research he conducted to trace, record, compare, and explore the roots of zapin around Riau, Jambi, Medan, Bengkulu, even to cities including Jakarta, Semarang, Tuban, Gresik, Sumenep, Jember, Singkawang, Sambas, and cities that have historical links with Arab-Malay. His research on zapin brought him to neighboring countries that have historical intersections, including Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore. One of the interesting methods he used to trace the roots of the zapin dance in the archipelago was by being involved in the Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran (MTQ) event at various regional levels.

In the hands of Tom Ibnur, the old tradition of zapin dance that was threatened by the eradication of time was overturned. With the development of his concept and references, zapin found its glory once again.

In the 1990s-2000s, his works became sharper. The increasingly mature traditional basis, coupled with in-depth research data, and his thinking produced zapin dance works that were in accordance with the demands of the “new world”. One of his significant works, Di Bawah Kubah Langit (1992), was staged at the first Indonesian Dance Festival at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta. Until now, Tom Ibnur has created over 300 works that have been performed in many countries. Of all of them, the one acknowledged to be his magnum opus was the Zapineozapin (2001). This work is considered to summarize the process and efforts of Tom Ibnur’s rebellion against the old zapin dance. Beyond the demands of definite and precise choreography techniques, Zapineozapin fostered improvisational space. References to movement, properties, and music were expanded, seemingly bringing zapin out of the rigid religious themes it inhabited out into a universal space. This work brought zapin to an abstract and imaginative level, making it legitimately contemporary.

In addition to creating works, Tom Ibnur’s efforts to build a new world for zapin were realized by organizing the Zapin Festivals in several regions and countries. In these festivals, he played a role as a mover, artistic consultant, and managerial functions. In events such as the Nusantara Zapin Festival in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (1998), the Bintan Zapin Festival in Tanjung Pinang (2000), and the World Malay Arts Festival in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (2001), Tom Ibnur’s footprints were visible.

Foto: Batas Budi Kaki Langit Biru – Tom Ibnur. IDF 2012

After 15 years of career in Jakarta, Tom returned to Jambi and founded Langkan Budaya Taratak, an institution that focuses on teaching dance to children as a preserver of tradition. He built a dance studio behind his house in 2006. This studio is crowded with children who learn zapin dance every Sunday afternoon.

All his efforts to revive the zapin dance earned Tom Ibnur the Lifetime Service Award from the University of Indonesia and Sangrina Bunda, as well as an award from the President of the Republic of Indonesia in 2001 as a Traditional Arts and Culture Preservation Figure.

Before retiring, Tom Ibnur was a lecturer at several institutions, such as the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), Indonesia Arts institute of Padangpanjang Postgraduate program, Riau Malay Arts Academy in Pekanbaru, and served as Production Director of Taman Ismail Marzuki. He is known as someone who educates, teaches, guides, directs, trains, can be a brother, parent, friend and figure who inspires his students.

The award from the Indonesian Dance Festival 2024 is a celebration and appreciation for artists who have done their most important duty: falling in love. Tom Ibnur fell in love with the zapin and eventually made the whole world fall in love with it.