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Suprapto Suryodharmo: Meditation in motion
JP/Ganug Nugroho AdiIn choreographer circles, Suprapto Suryodharmo or Mbah (grandpa) Prapto is known as a proponent of “free movement”
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JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi
In choreographer circles, Suprapto Suryodharmo or Mbah (grandpa) Prapto is known as a proponent of “free movement”.
Although he isn’t a dancer, many performers come to him searching for inspiration or “enlightenment”.
Born 65 years ago in Kemlayan sub-district, Solo also known as Surakarta, Central Java, Suprapto’s life has since childhood been connected to movement through Javanese classical dancing like silat (local martial arts), and kung fu. He has also practices Buddhist vipassana (inward vision) meditation and Javanese sumarah (submission) relaxation, which he deems useful to explore nature and consciousness.
His father, who was fond of Javanese mysticism, used to take him to places considered sacred like mountains, homes of sages, brooks and tombs. Already back then, Suprapto led an ascetic life, fasting and sleeping near streams or graves.
“That’s how my dad got me acquainted with and closer to God,” said Mbah Prapto at Sriwedari Recreation Park, Surakarta.
The father of three’s environment was also very conducive to developing his talent. Gamelan music could always be heard in his neighborhood in Kemlayan, where gamelan players from the court of Surakarta used to live.
“I joined the court musicians to learn how to sing Javanese verses and play gamelan instruments as a boy,” he recalled.
He became choreographer S. Ngaliman’s protege and learned gamelan music from masters Mloyo Widodo and Guno Pengrawit. Before modern choreographer Sardono W. Kusumo moved to Jakarta, Mbah Prapto was able to spend a great deal of time learning from him in Surakarta.
His artistic career began in 1966 when he set up Barada Group, providing dance and martial arts training. From 1974-1975, he introduced Wayang Buddha, a controversial blend of fine art, music and shadow puppetry.
But it was the religious experiences he had with his father that formed the basis of his free movement artistic practice.
Mbah Prapto calls his movement joget (unorganized dancing steps) as opposed to dance.
“I call it joget [Amerta] because it refers more to beginners in dancing. There are many basics [one needs to acquire] in dancing, including elements beyond techniques of movement, like fasting, meditation and asceticism,” he pointed out.
Joget Amerta is inspired by mundane daily activities such as sleeping, walking, embracing and waving, which are the foundation of his free movement.
“Take stretching, which we do when we wake up. We often forget that stretching is virtually recharging, thus restoring consciousness and blood circulation,” said the leader of Padepokan Lemah Putih, a dance arena in Gondangrejo village, Karanganyar, Central Java.
Mbah Prapto’s free movement is philosophically derived from the traditional relationship between man, nature and God, he explained. Transformation should always concern the three.
Joget Amerta, in form, is made up of daily body movements and not of typical dance steps. By exploring these daily body movements, Suprapto teaches students to respond to themselves and their environment.
“At that stage, dancers will feel a transformation. The dance they perform can serve as therapy to reach a state of non-sensation,” explained the energetic and eccentric man, who keeps on dancing while no one watches, and never wears shoes.
Joget is a form of release, he went on. “It doesn’t matter if there are people watching or not. It’s not the size or presence of an audience that counts.
“Now we call it a ritual performing art,” said the former lecturer at the Indonesian Traditional Music Academy (now Indonesian Arts Institute), Surakarta.
He came into other free movement artists when performing in Germany with Sardono W. Kusumo at the International Pantomime Festival in 1982.
Since then, Suprapto has given workshops and performed in Europe, Australia, the Philippines, Korea, Japan and the US.
Once his network had spread over many countries, he founded Padepokan Lemah Putih in 1986 to train his students.
Suprapto takes his students to temples to teach them too.
Every Jan. 1, Mbah Prapto takes his students around Sukuh Temple on the slope of Mount Lawu, Karanganyar, Central Java.
“I take them round, so they can observe and experience the void of the temple’s reliefs and rocks to gain their energy. I call it temple reading, as one way of triggering spontaneous movement from our inner feelings,” said the man with braided gray hair.
He also takes his students to Borobudur, Sewu, Prambanan, Gedong Sanga, and temples in Bali and Toraja.
According to him, temples are connected with time. In temples, the atmosphere of natural time flows, which is the time of antiquity of the universe, making nature so close to man and God.
“In urban buildings, there is no such atmosphere of antiquity and energy,” the father of artist Melati Suryodharmo maintained.
Free movement is about body harmonization, for Suprapto.
“It creates balance in the relationship between man, nature and God. It’s the core of Joget Amerta.
