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Cahwati: Adding more sensuality to Lengger
JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi“Vulgar”, “erotic” and “uncultured”, is how most people describe lengger, a traditional dance from Banyumas, Central Java
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JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi
“Vulgar”, “erotic” and “uncultured”, is how most people describe lengger, a traditional dance from Banyumas, Central Java.
But Cahwati, a sinden (gamelan orchestral singer) and lengger dancer from Banyumas, begs to differ.
One of her creations, Banjaran Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (Rows of dancers from Paruk hamlet), has mesmerized artists in the city of Solo, also known as Surakarta. Her two other works, Lengger Dukuh Paruk (Lengger dancers from Paruk hamlet) and Sensuality of Lengger, performed at the Surakarta Cultural Center, and later in Bandung as well as Jakarta, further established Cahwati as a prominent dancer. She adapted the three works from the trilogy of Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk penned by novelist Ahmad Tohari.
Cahwati has not only introduced modern dance steps into traditional lengger dance movements, she has also combined calung (bamboo xylophone) and kendang (traditional drum) with flutes, guitars, violins and other diatonic instruments in the accompanying music.
Still, her new blend remains sensual, exotic and intriguing.
According to Cahwati, being erotic isn’t the same as being sensual. Eroticism connotes sexual desire, whereas sensuality is more oriented toward expressive beauty. Erotic movements are not always sensual and thus not automatically beautiful.
“It always hurts me to hear lengger labeled a lowbrow dance. It’s a sacred dance. None of its steps deviate from the ethical and esthetic norms of traditional arts,” assured the graduate from the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) in Surakarta.
Cahwati was born into a family devoted to Banyumas traditional arts. She is the granddaughter of renowned Banyumas lengger dancer Warkiyah. Her father, Warwin Sugiarto, is a hadrah (Islamic music) player and her mother, Tarisem, a sinden. Inheriting a gift for dancing and singing, Cahwati only started delving into choreography as an adult.
At the age of six, she already displayed a talent for singing, not only classical Javanese poetry like suluk and macapat but also pop and its local variants keroncong, campursari and dangdut.
Later, Cahwati studied at the Indonesian Classical Arts High School (SMKI), in Purwokerto.
“At the time SMKI was the only school offering scholarships. Actually I wanted to enroll in a general high school but it was too expensive,” said the youngest of three siblings.
Strangely enough, she avoided taking classes in classical vocal art while at SMKI.
“Frankly, I didn’t like working as a sinden as I thought it was a old-fashioned job,” she recalled, laughingly.
Then she chose to study in the dancing art department, although she had no dancing skills.
Representing her school at the Sinden Festival in Bali, Cahwati amazed the audience with a number of Banyumas songs, even though she had never received any formal training.
“My first sinden teacher is definitely my mother as I’ve always listened closely to her singing. After I studied in Solo, several artists like Max Baihaqi [contemporary musician] and Slamet Gundono [puppet player] mentored me. Apart from that, I learned from cassettes, CDs and listened to sinden singing on stage,” said the woman born in Banyumas on August 24, 1982.
Her numerous appearances alongside noted puppeteers and musicians like Sudjiwo Tedjo, Slamet Gundono, Jlitheng Suparman, Dedek Wahyudi and Yayat Suheryatna helped her improve her singing. But despite graduating with a dancing major from ISI, Cahwati was still more active as a singer.
Between 2000 and 2004, the petite woman was already touring various cities as a sinden.
“It was my period of exploration, though I wasn’t really sure what I was pursuing,” said the wife of Sri Waluyo, a puppet player.
It was Sen Hea Ha, a Korean choreographer instigated a turning point in her life.
Cahwati learned many dancing techniques from the bald-headed woman, especially how to process emotions and allow for these to be expressed. She also merged Sen’s contemporary knowledge with her own lengger basics.
“The strength of lengger lies in its entakan [stamps] and geol [shakes]. Arms, shoulders, belly and hips become sources of sensuality. Unlike dangdut [Indian-tinged pop music] shakes, the sensuality of lengger is not totally let loose. It’s very impressive,” maintained the woman living in Mojosongo, Surakarta.
Cahwati began her dancing career when she was involved in Sen Hea Ha’s Infinita show (2005) in three cities in Indonesia and Europe. In the following year she performed Sen’sWahyu (Revelation) in Belgium.
Since then she has been asked to perform at festivals in various countries, as a dancer and sinden. In February she presented Danzia Indonesia in Holland, Belgium and Italy at the invitation of Anmaro Asia. She was also an artist in the dance-drama Opera Jawa created by Indonesian director Garin Nugroho at the Musee Du Quai Branly, Paris, France, in the second half of March.
