TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Maestro! Maestro!: Dancing across age, space boundaries
The three dance maestros are no longer young but they seem undaunted by the tight schedules ahead
Change Size
T
he three dance maestros are no longer young but they seem undaunted by the tight schedules ahead.
For almost an entire day, the three ' Syamsuar Sutan Marajo, 70; Irawati Durban Ardjo, 70; and Amaq Raya, 80 ' offered a master class to younger dancers at the Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) arts center in Jakarta.
After class, the maestros even allotted time to talk with students who wanted to inquire about private lessons.
The following day, they got off to an early start with a grand rehearsal, trying out the stage at TIM's Teater Kecil, where music and lighting matched the details of the dance.
The evening was the pinnacle of their visit to the capital as they presented Maestro! Maestro! #8.
Maestro! Maestro! is a regular program organized by the Jakarta Arts Council's dance committee. The council initiated the program to showcase not only the techniques and passions of the archipelago's traditional dance maestros but also the philosophy and history behind the rich cultures that shape Indonesia's national culture.
In its eighth cycle, Maestro! Maestro!, was presented by Syamsuar from Saniang Baka in Solok, West Sumatra; Irawati Durban from West Java; and Amaq Raya from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.
The evening at the packed Teater Kecil was opened by Syamsuar's Tan Bentan dance. Kicked off with dendang (songs in the Minang language) accompanied by percussions called adok, Syamsuar's dance was accompanied by three dancers. The solemn songs and music were played for the entirety of the dance.
Tan Bentan was created based on the history of the Minangkabau Kingdom. Once upon a time, Princess Bungu and Dang Tuangku were arranged to be married while still in their mothers' wombs. When they reached adulthood, however, obstacles stood in the way of their impending marriage but Dang Tuangku fought to marry the princess anyways.
The dancers ' clad in orange and golden costumes ' not only danced but also sang as if they were singing dialog. The dance had a battle scene that looked like Melayu martial arts pencak silat.
'The Tan Bentan dance tonight is the short version, only three acts from the entire five,' Syamsuar said.
Syamsuar said that when he was a teenager, only men could dance on stage during rituals. Before the 1980s, when women could dance on stage, the female roles in Tan Bentan were taken on by men, he said.
After Tan Bentan, Amaq Raya from Lombok performed Gagak mandi, a dance he created when he was visiting a lake to search for inspiration.
At the lake, Amaq, who was named Loq Saleh when he was young, saw a group of ravens land onto the lake where they bathed.
'It was very interesting. There were some whose heads were down under their wings, some played with their wings in the water and made interesting movements,' Amaq, who is not fluent in Indonesian, said through an interpreter.
His observation was interrupted when a man carrying a sickle to cut grass came. 'I got really mad at him,' he said.
Gagak mandi was performed by Amaq's group. It started with the maestro himself playing a drum while singing 'Pemban Selaparang', a song written by Amaq, who is a renowned artist in Lombok.
After singing, he danced to the tunes of kulkul, a Lombok-style string instrument made of bamboo.
Gagak mandi was represented on stage by dancers and musicians. On this evening, the movements were modified into a more contemporary dance.
Amaq's interpreter, Lalu Agus Fathurrahman, said that the Gagak mandi went from being a dance depicting bathing ravens into one about a celebration welcoming death. Ravens are a symbol of death and for Amaq, death is not something to be afraid of but should be celebrated instead.
After Amaq's dance, the curtain rose again. Two dancers performed Merak bodas (white peacock), a dance by Sundanese dance maestro, Irawati.
Merak bodas is Irawati's interpretation of the more widely known merak (peacock) dance, a mandatory dance for Sundanese classical dance students.
'Usually in the merak dance, performers wear colorful costumes, like peacocks,' Irawati said.
But seeing a white peacock open its feathers gave her inspiration. '[It was] very beautiful,' she said.
She created Merak bodas by not only modifying the costumes but also its music and movements. Her dance was a success, soon becoming a West Java icon.
The two dancers, wearing all-white costumes, looked pretty as they contrasted with the colorful backdrop. The dance is about two birds playing in a garden.
Irawati also replaced rebab, the traditional string instrument, with violin and added cymbals to the gamelan. After Merak bodas, the maestro herself came on stage.
Irawati performed mask dance Topeng Klana Bandopati Losari. The mask dance depicted human greed symbolized by the figure Ravana from the story of Ramayana.
Like other Cirebon mask dances, losari depicted the story of Panji Sutrawinangun, where all the characters in the dance were men, except for the goddess Candra Kirana.
But Losari is different when compared to other Cirebon mask dances because Losari sits on the border of Brebes, Central Java.
'Losari's movements are more geometrical and smooth. It has a movement called gantung sikil, where the dancer hangs her leg for quite a long time. This movement cannot be found in other Cirebon mask dances,' Irawati said.
When the curtain closed to end the evening, the audience gave a thundering applause to appreciate the venerable dance maestros who are dedicated to the art of dance.
