Underwater Dance To Enliven Legu Gam Festival

Ternate, North Maluku, March 18 (Antara) - Soya-soya traditional dance will be performed underwater to enliven the Legu Gam cultural festival in Ternate, North Maluku from March 31 to April 13, 2013. "Members of the Indonesian Scuba Diving Organization (POSI) and other diving clubs in North Maluku will participate in the Soya-soya traditional dance under the sea to enliven the festival," organizing committee chairman Arifin Djafar said here on Monday. He said the underwater dance would be performed at Dodoku Ali beach, a historic harbor for Portuguese ships in Ternate during the colonial era. According to Arifin, the dance would be performed under the water to promote it to the tourists during the Legu Gam cultural festival. He noted that the similar dance was also performed by 10,000 men with shields and palm leaves instead of swords during 2011 Legu Gam festival. "Besides Soya-soya dance, other interesting activities will also be presented during the festival to entertain the tourists and visitors," the Ternate deputy mayor said. He added that the activities would include cultural carnival, traditional art and dances from four sultanates in North Maluku, and several cultural rituals. Further, Arifin pointed out that Legu Gam cultural festival was an annual event that has been included in the tourism calendar of Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.