The Unique Dance That Comes From Jember; Tari Lahbako

Jember is one of the largest tobacco producing areas in Indonesia. This small town is also called "the city of tobacco". The tradition of tobacco farmers in jember has a unique custom at the time of planting tobacco, during harvest even at the time of packing. They have movement and wear unique costumes. This is the inspiration of the artists to create a work of art that is “Tari Lahbako” or "Lahbako Dance".

Lahbako Dance is a traditional dance depicting the life of tobacco farmers in Jember, East Java. The dance is performed by several dancers in a movement that describes the activities of farmers in a field or a tobacco plantation. Lahbako Dance is one of the famous traditional arts in East Java and became one of the Jember icons.

In Lahbako Dance performance, there are 4-8 women who dance in a movement that describes their activities in the field. In the show began with a movement that describes the journey from home to the tobacco garden. Then proceed with a movement that describes the process of picking leaf tobacco. In this movement, the dancers dance with movement as they are picking the leaves and entering into the basket with a beautiful movement. After that, the dancers walked to the barn with the tobacco basket. After arriving at the warehouse then continued with a movement that describes drying the leaves tobacco to dry. Then proceed with the movement of tobacco leaf and packing. All these depictions are displayed in a beautiful and meaningful movement. Movement in this dance more refers to the movement of soft, straightforward and in tune with the music accompaniment. For music accompaniment in this dance is usually a music patrol. That is one type of traditional music from Jember made of bamboo that has different sizes and played regularly so as to produce a beautiful sound and nice to be heard.

This dance continues to be preserved and studied, both in art galleries and introduced through education. Besides, this dance is also often displayed at various events such as welcoming guests, cultural festivals and other big events.