Thousands Gather for Traditional Indonesian Dance Performance

Around ten thousand people gathered in Gayo Lues, a regency in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sunday, August 13, to take part in a record-breaking dance performance.

The mass dance was intended to boost local tourism and featured performers dressed in traditional black, red and yellow costumes, sitting in rows and clapping their hands and swaying. The dance is formally known as “saman,” or “dance of a thousand hands,” and originates from the Gayo indigenous group in Gayo Lues.

According to Channel News Asia, citing the Indonesia World Records Museum, the number of participants in this year’s performance beat last year’s national record of 6,600. Credit: Instagram/hyantiz via Storyful