DJANGAN!

The silence

The medals have been preserved. So too has the silence surrounding them. Three dancers are wearing the KNIL uniform: one is Javanese, another Moluccan, and the third from Menado – men of different origins whom the colonial army deliberately recruited in such a way that no single group could ever turn against the system. When Indonesia gained independence, it turned out that what they had given was no longer worth anything.

The person behind the medals

Behind the medals lies a person, not a soldier: someone who could be furious but was never allowed to show it, who was afraid but learnt that fear had no place. Not every story is the same: some, in turn, took out on others what had been done to them, becoming hard themselves when gentleness was needed. Victim and perpetrator can coexist within the same body.

The next generation

What the uniform teaches – standing to attention, remaining silent, showing no weakness – eventually becomes second nature to the body. The danger is long past, but the body remains on alert. That discipline does not stop at the uniform: standing to attention becomes raising children to stand to attention. Strictness becomes the language through which a father passes on both control and love to the next generation – children who learn what they must not show, long before they themselves understand why.

Softening

Three men stand motionless, exactly as they have been taught. Then, almost imperceptibly, their posture begins to slacken. Whatever surfaces – anger, fear, guilt, loss – is allowed to exist for the first time. Not a collapse, but a softening: the courage to finally be vulnerable.
DJANGAN! is a dance performance by Cheroney Pelupessy that asks what it means to be a man in the KNIL and what image of masculinity we unconsciously pass on — without providing an answer.

Cheroney Pelupessy

Cheroney Pelupessy is a dancer, choreographer and theatre maker with Indonesian, Moluccan and Dutch roots. She weaves together traditional and modern dance to tell stories about cultural identity, heritage, community and memories. In 2026, Cheroney won the Audience Golden Calf for her documentary *Mama’ku*. She also won the Innovation Prize at the 2026 Dutch Dance Days in Maastricht and the 2026 Gieskes-Strijbis Stage Prize.

“Drawing on contemporary dance, breakdance and hip-hop, as well as Moluccan and Indonesian forms of movement, she forges a recognisable stage language: gentle and loving, yet at the same time powerful and precise.”
— Jury of the Gieskes-Strijbis Stage Prize

ISH Talent

DJANGAN! is produced under the wings of ISH Talent, the programme through which ISH supports talented, emerging creators in their professional development.

“By sharing experiences from my own life and my surroundings, I aim to forge connections and offer my audience a new perspective.”
— Cheroney Pelupessy