When Calon Arang finds out her only daughter has betrayed her by stealing her magical power and giving it to her enemy, her wrath explodes and she launches an uprising against King Airlangga in Java.
But deprived of her magical power, Calon Arang is no longer the feared witch from the village of Dirah in Bali who can wipe her enemies out by casting a spell. The war is very much one-sided, and her end is near.
Calonarang, a tale of power, beauty, betrayal and witchcraft, came to life once again in a Javanese-Balinese dance collaboration The Amazing Bedaya - Legong Calonarang, staged at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta last week.
The collaborative performance at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta was the fourth of its kind; the first was staged in 2006 at Graha Bhakti, Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, the second at Singapore's Esplanade, and the third at this year's Balinese Art Festival.
Power struggle: Retno Maruti (left) and Ayu Bulantrisna Djelantik conquer the stage with their symbiosis of Javanese royal dance Bedaya and Balinese Legong. (JP/J. Adiguna)
Two grandes Dames of Indonesian traditional dancing - Retno Maruti, the master of Javanese Bedaya dance, and Ayu Bulantrisna Djelantik, one of the most renowned Balinese Legong performers - conquered the stage with their incredible symbiosis of Javanese royal dance Bedaya and Balinese Legong.
Maruti and Djelantik brought together nine Bedaya and nine Legong dancers, 17 Balinese gamelan players, including a puppet player or dalang, as well as 15 Javanese gamelan players and singers.
Although some of the characters in the original tale of Calonarang are male, all the dancers are women. "That's the nature of Bedaya and Legong, the dancers must all be women," said Maruti, who impersonated a powerful male priest, Mpu Bahula.
In this version of Calonarang, Balinese Djelantik plays Ratna Manggali, the beautiful daughter of Calon Arang, a powerful widow whose magical skills and wrath pose a threat to King Airlangga in Java.
Calon Arang's special powers scare off suitors who dare not propose to her beautiful daughter Ratna Manggali. Furious, Calon Arang, with the help of black magic, spreads a mortal disease that devastates all nearby villages, and angers King Airlangga.
One of the most striking choreographies of The Amazing Bedaya is the fan dance, where a wide-eyed Calon Arang drops a fan, a representation of her magical powers, in front of each one of her Balinese troupe dancers.
Calon Arang and her followers, donned in colorful dresses, proceed by swinging their fans rhythmically while their heads tilt and their wide playful eyes dart around the room.
The amused grin seemingly fixed on their face contrasts with the solemn appearance of Mpu Baradah's and Mpu Bahula's (Maruti) black-and-white clad Javanese troupe, which enters the stage with a slower-paced walk.
The Javanese gamelan takes over from the faster Balinese one, albeit with less notes to pick from. Sometimes Javanese music can be heard blending with Balinese gamelan, while the two sets of dancers share the stage.
Upon receiving the message from King Airlangga to weaken Calon Arang, Mpu Baradah tells his best apostle Mpu Bahula (Maruti) to wed Ratna Manggali.
Maruti, accompanied by the Bedaya dancers, walks down the central aisle of the theatre back onto the stage to propose to Ratna Manggali. The tempo of the gamelan rising a notch is a presage of the King's deception and heated war scene soon to follow the marriage proposal.
When Calon Arang finds out her daughter has betrayed her by stealing her magical power and giving it to Mpu Bahula, her wrath explodes. She comes back wearing the mask of an angry and possessed character, and a frenetic war dance spreads across the stage.
Maruti and Djelantik create a whirlwind of fan and wing movements, recreating a fight between Calon Arang and the King's forces. Wrists and fingers of dancers take on a life of their own.
As the music becomes more intense, feet are flicking backwards the long white fabrics hanging between dancers' legs, Balinese and Javanese pair up and perform a dance routine embodying conflict.
But Maruti and Djelantik did not want to give their performance a clear ending with one force prevailing over the other. Instead, they ended their collaborative effort with all 18 Bedaya and Legong dancers bringing candles to the stage, to give a more sombre feeling, with Calon Arang and Baradah falling to the ground together.
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