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Ballet in Batavia: Bold and beautiful
The Ballet in Batavia showcase was a bold crossover between ballet and Betawi dance, but it was more than just an experiment.
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Eye-opener: Students of SMKN 57 tourism vocational high school in Jakarta majoring in Betawi traditional dance perform a ballet number called ‘The Miracle of 8’. They joined a workshop with British ballet master Andrew Greenwood who choreographed the dance. (Courtesy of Jakarta Arts Council/Eva Tobing)
A dozen dancers performed what seemed to be a contemporary ballet, gracefully moving in slow steps with their arms outstretched.
But there was something else in their movements: the hands. Their wrists and fingers moved in the manner of Indonesian traditional dance, making a full circle counterclockwise.
The dancers were students of SMKN 57 tourism vocational high school in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, who majored in traditional Betawi dance. They took an intensive workshop with British ballet master Andrew Greenwood who choreographed The Miracle of 8 for the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) program, Ballet in Batavia.
The show was a bold crossover between ballet and Betawi dance, but it was more than just an experiment.
The theme was chosen for the Telisik Tari (Examining Dance) program this year with the purpose of introducing both dances to artists and performers, as well as to help them learn more about the history of ballet in order to understand its place in Indonesia and its influence on the development of both traditional and contemporary dance.
“Telisik Tari is a program designed to dig up the buried history that explains how cultures developed in Indonesia, especially in dance. Through Ballet at Batavia, we distort the fine divide between ballet and Betawi dance which not only enriches our experience as dancers but also makes us appreciate differences,” said the head of DKJ’s dance division, Yola Yulfianti.
The enthusiasm was also high from ballet dancers from different schools in Jakarta, as the number of participants kept on increasing even after training had started on Nov. 12. Called the Jakarta Ballet Dancers, they were trained by Betawi dancer and choreographer Atien Kisam, a third-generation traditional dance patron.
