...and then there was dancing. Photo

Photographer’s Note

Remember I was previously drinking tuak with the Ibans. I wrote "then there was dance", we're now coming to the point.

So the guy put his feather headdress and tied his parang on his waist. A parang is a long knife you use in Borneo to cut things...human heads for instance. He started dancing to the sound of gongs the Iban dance that is often shown, the one that traditionally used to be performed after having harvested a good stock of human heads. The successful head hunter needs to be rewarded ...

...as almost everything for the Ibans starts or finishes around Tuak, dance isn't an exception, I had to put a glass of Tuak in front of me (see pic 1), while dancing with hisses and "huuuh!" sounds, he started moving down and took the glass with his teeth, stood up and emptied it (see pic 2.) and finally went away to end the dance (pic 3.).
The dance is an occasion to show how supple and endurant the hunter is. Endurant because in big ceremonies they usually lift a 20kg piece of wood with the teeth and supple because that is executed only with smooth curvy moves of the legs.

Afterwards he insisted I had to dance also and believe me, moreover that I was ridiculous (yeah but I didn't have the parang and the feathers, that's why...), it's a real pain for the muscles of the leg.

Well, that could have been worse, in some Dayaks tribes, they sing and you have to sing a song by yourself...no karaoke allowed...

Ibans say Tuak is good because it gives ideas, I wish I had drunk all my glasses that day...

eelliott305, adam, Josh69, quegardens, strathconaman, mimi, henrye, digi-mom, smael, eleparc, liakoshim, thien, snuggleaphagus, Izobretenik has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-16 18:08

Three great shots and one amazing story. I like how your slow shutter speed has shown the movement especially in the last shot where his hands and feather headdress are really shaking and his body is quite still. The little audience at the back seem to be enjoying the show.
When do we get to see the human heads?

Josh69 (1427) 2004-03-16 20:00

Excellent - the slow shutter speed works well, particularly in the 3rd photo (it's not as good in the 1st photo, where it looks like it is a bit 'accidentally slow'). Very good note too.

strathconaman (311) 2004-03-16 21:18

Excellent photo essay. Even more impressive with a rangefinder.

gringofil (0) 2004-03-16 22:20

Interesting set of photos, Luko. To be honest I don't really care for the middle one, but the left and right are the business. The middle one seems to be out of synch from the rest as well as the guy heaving his hand cropped off. But the two other deserve a huge smile. He's really going at it here, showing his moves.

The two women and baby in the background of the two photos is also a nice addition to the scene. Good work.

mimi (2321) 2004-03-16 23:28

I really like this series. Your note is great, but the pictures tell most the story even without it. I think the three work well together, but I like the first one the best. Leaving your glass in the shot lets us feel like we're sitting in your seat watching the dancing.

henrye (3498) 2004-03-17 0:45

A great series of photos. I love the black and white, and the movement in the shots are great. Very interesting! Well done!

digi-mom (1064) 2004-03-17 9:42

Personally I think that any of these photos alone wouldn't have presented to us what the three together, and your excellent note, have done. I'm glad you included the bit about your own involvement - so often photographers keep ourselves safely behind cold round lenses! Good capture of this moment.

Darren (6815) 2004-03-17 12:21

Hi Luko. I love the tryptich (sp?) composition here, I am a fan or multiple images presented together. The strongest part of this set I think is how shot 2 naturally seems to flow into shot 3. Likely, they were not really shot one immediately after the other, but it gives the impression of that anyways. I think the middle shot overall is the strongest as well. The look of him with the glass in his mouth and arms waving is just great. The toning of your shots is just great, I dont' know how much is simply the result of the film and how much the result of darkroom work and Photoshop work, but it looks great to me. The baby is a very interesting little piece of the photos too. One their own, each shot is good, but I like this much more because you are showing us a more complete story.

smael (2878) 2004-03-17 14:40

Great story and montage!
I think all three should be there, and the pics have strong contrasts and presentation!

Terje

jrzufferey (7249) 2004-03-17 17:23

Hi Luko Ces trois petites scènes sont bien agréable à voir, j'aimerai bien savoir le faire. J'apprécie bravo Ciao/jr

eleparc (24059) 2004-03-17 19:46

superbe note Luko! et excellente photo! tu as fait usage du flash? elle rend bien l'atmosphere générale... dommage qu'il manque la photo de toi avec le verre et les plumes;-)

liakoshim (565) 2004-03-18 12:59

amazing dynamic sequence. well captured. like the lumiere's movies. nice note.

Izobretenik (1264) 2006-06-13 8:19

J'aime beaucoup l'idée que tu sois entré dans leur monde avec autant de respect. Sans compter qu'ils t'ont offert la possibilité de partager leurs moments, au-delà de l'idée même que nous avons sans doute du ridicule et de ce qu'il représente.

J'adore cette série.

Izo

fixed (3831) 2006-07-31 10:15

La Malaisie que je ne connais pas du tout d'ailleurs ... bien représentée dans ton porte folio avec ces magnifiques photos (n'ayons pas peur des mots ...;) )
ces n&b sont superbes ...
très joli ce triptik avec intro, developpement et conclusion
bravo
nono