After successful shows at the Esplanade in Singapore in October of 2010, Taman Ismail Marzuki in Jakarta in 2011, and Teater Jakarta in 2012, Matah Ati finally returned to the Mangkunegaran Palace in Surakarta (Solo), Central Java.

Matah Ati is a dance drama based on the concept of langendriyan in which players speak in Javanese poetic songs. Langendriyan itself was created by King Mangkunegara IV, who adopted the tradition of poetry singing into the style of his palace’s dance.

Matah Ati tells the story of the struggle of Raden Mas Said, or Pangeran (Prince) Sambernyowo, and Rubiyah against the Dutch colonizers, with an episode of love between the two as an interlude. Rubiyah, a village woman who becomes a soldier, later appears as a troop commander.

After 16 years of war against the Dutch, Raden Mas Said built the Mangkunegaran Palace and was enthroned as king with the title Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Arya (KGPAA) Mangkunegara I. Rubiyah was his consort, titled RAy Kusuma Matah Ati.

Bandoro Raden Ayu (BRAy) Atilah Soeryadjaya, a granddaughter of Mangkunegara VII, arranged the two-hour classical dance in a contemporary package without abandoning its traditional nuance. Unlike previous shows, in Solo it was an outdoor event on a grand stage with the 1874 Cavalry Building as the backdrop. With multimedia lighting and special effects, the performance involved 250 dancers, compared with only 95 in earlier shows.

Thrilling: Rubiyah commands the female troops in a scene from Matah Ati. The performance featured 250 dancers.
The performances over three days in Solo attracted over 10,000 spectators from major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya and Semarang, and even people from outside Java. Around 500 delegates from 40 countries attending the annual conference of the Federation for Asian Cultural Promotion (FACP) in Solo were also part of the audience.

According to Atilah, the FCAP delegates were a target of the performance. “The staging of Matah Ati in Solo at the end of the annual meeting of the Federation for Asian Cultural Promotion was not a coincidence. It was meant to promote Indonesian arts and culture, particularly the Mangkunegaran Palace,” she said.

Matah Ati is a combination of classical and recent creations from the palace condensed from the basics of Mangkunegara dance styles such as those of classical gambyong, srimpi, bedaya and notably wireng, a war choreography.

However, Atilah, as a woman brought up in the palace, said she understood very well how to infuse a little soul into her ancestors’ dances. She designed the costumes for the Matah Ati dancers herself and collaborated with artistic designer Jay Subiakto, who erected a stage that slanted 20 degrees, which was not so simple for a colossal, outdoor affair.

“I was inspired by the hills in Selogiri, Wonogiri, some of the tracks of the struggle waged by Rubiyah and Raden Mas Said. Let’s hope this stage can help bring the dancers and spectators closer to historical reality,” said Jay at the end of the show on the first day.

Jay also put multimedia visual strength, lighting, dance movements and costumes into harmony while utilizing the hydraulic mechanism to make the stage undulate and open like a gate to allow the dancers to enter. Blacius Soebono, in charge of musical illustration, livened up the presentation so that the story of war and love flowed.

The first act began with a woman to the right of the stage singing Javanese verses depicting the village of Matah, where Rubiyah was born and grew up. There were children playing cheerfully, singing well-known old songs like “Cublak-cublak Suweng”, “Padang Bulan” and “Jamuran”.

Rubiyah (Rambat Yulianingsih) emerges gracefully dancing the “Adegan Dupa” (Incense) with a combination of quick and soft motions to portray disquiet. In the middle of the stage she burns incense, with its smoke billowing from an earthen stove, accompanied by mantras repeated by four nursemaids. Rubiyah continues singing a poem, looking beautiful and elegant.

War: The scene of a battle between female fighters and Dutch colonial soldiers in Matah Ati is filled with suspense.
In the second act, a procession of the troops of Raden Mas Said (Fajar Satriadi) arrive in Matah. In the village, the prince meets Rubiyah for the first time. Pangeran Sambernyowo was amazed and takes Rubiyah to his camp. Instead of proposing to her, he trains her to become a soldier. The military exercise scene was captivatingly performed by Fajar and Rambat, and despite her ability to imitate masculine feats, Rambat maintains the grace of a lady.

Then follows the dance of war between the forces of Sambernyowo and the Dutch, a dance composed by three senior choreographers: Daryono, Eko Supendi and Nuryanto.

They tried to reconcile the performance with historical fact; the female troop, for instance, danced in a half circle formation. This pattern resembles Rubiyah’s tomb, with the graves of woman fighters forming a half circle around it.

Enhanced by langendriyan, the dance drama was divided into eight acts with 16 scenes, each ending in minor climaxes. At intermission, Solo’s Sahita dance-comedy group performed to ease the serious atmosphere with jokes and criticisms of current conditions, from corruption to terrorism.

The story reaches its peak with the large battle between Sambernyowo’s troops and the Dutch. Jay Subiyakto showed his skills with the use of multimedia and lighting, creating the illusion of a collapsing Cavalry Building. Flames of fire were even placed in some spots to make the battle more realistic. When it was all over, red lamps dimmed.

Amid an apparently cracked building, a barren and miserable scene with fallen fighters scattered about, Raden Mas Said and Rubiyah emerge. A soft, melancholic tone brings about an air of grief.

Smartly, Atilah doesn’t end the scene here. From the front right of the stage, a parade of people carrying banners and offerings enter to mark the majestic wedding of Raden Mas Said and Rubiyah.

A delightful dance by both lead stars concludes the entire rendering.

Through this drama, Atilah has offered a useful tip for historians, as so far the name Rubiyah cannot be found in history books. She is hidden behind her husband, Raden Mas Said, the village woman playing a crucial yet still veiled role in the struggle against Dutch colonial rule.

— Photos by Ganug Nugroho Adi