Gambuh project preserves Balinese dance<\/p>\n
By Jean Couteau<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP): Balinese dance conformed to the whims of its
\nchanging patrons in the 1900s. Dutch colonials and cosmopolitan
\ntravelers in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as Javanese officials
\nand jet-setters in post-independence years, have all brought new
\ndemands to which the dances have adapted in various ways. More
\ndynamic style, shorter pieces, emphasized solo pieces, a shift
\naway from the narrative towards the decorative and the
\nfeminization of the dances are a few of the consequences of these
\nalien influences.<\/p>\n
At the level of genres, the evolutionary road goes from the
\nprimitive Sang Hyang Jaran and classical Parwa to the modern
\nManuk Rawa and contemporary dances by the Indonesian Institute of
\nArts. Despite a certain enrichment of the repertoire, the process
\nis nevertheless worrying. From an offering or narration imbued
\nwith magical power and performed by and for the group, Balinese
\ndance is slowly mutating into an entertainment, albeit not yet
\ninto a form of individualized art. Desacralized, it also becomes
\nknowledge and its teaching shifts from the temple and village
\nhall to the school, from the master to the casual teacher. Last
\nbut not least, alienated from its village origins, dance becomes
\nan exotic commodity for the tourist market and a tool of cultural
\nprestige for the state.<\/p>\n
Now, with quickening urbanization threatening the transmission
\nof dance skills in the villages and with tourists in growing
\nnumbers yearning for their share of \"exotic Bali\", it is obvious
\nthat the impact of change is snowballing. Whatever the existing
\ncultural institutions are doing, it won't stop the phenomenon of
\nchange. This is why conversation is imperative.<\/p>\n
Balinese classical dances have reacted differently to the
\nmodern onslaught. The urgency of their conservation is therefore
\nvariable. The Legong is a case in point.<\/p>\n
Relatively recent, and still originally associated with the
\ncourts of pre-colonial Bali, it has come to epitomize in the eyes
\nof the \"outside world\", and thus, by reflection, in the eyes of
\nthe Balinese, the essence of Balinese dance. Regular efforts are
\ntherefore made to reactivate its repertory. This was illustrated
\nat the Legong Festival held in Bali three months ago at the
\ninitiative of the Walter Spies Foundation.<\/p>\n
Temple dance<\/p>\n
Whatever its reputation, the Gambuh not the Legong is the
\nclassical Balinese dance of excellence. Together with trance and
\nother related temple dances, the Gambuh is usually attributed the
\norigin of most of the corpus of gestures of Balinese dances: the
\nArja, the Wayang Wong, the Legong Kraton and the Topeng dances
\nall are rooted in the Gambuh.<\/p>\n
The earliest proof of the existence of Gambuh in Bali are
\ntexts written in Middle-Javanese in the 17th century. But other
\nsigns suggest an older origin.<\/p>\n
The stories, known throughout all the archipelago as the cycle
\nof Panji are located in the pre-Majapahit kingdoms of eastern
\nJava and they tell the adventures of a wandering prince searching
\nfor his beloved. This points to an origin in the maritime culture
\nof the Javanese Pesisir (coastal area) just around the time of
\nthe Islamization. The dance might well have been introduced to
\nBali through a commercial network of which Bali was an active
\npartner during the reign of Waturenggong in the 16th century.<\/p>\n
With its didactic emphasis on the ways of the court, the
\nGambuh was originally performed by and for the royal circles of
\nJavanized Bali. It soon became enmeshed within the life of the
\nneighboring communities though, and, following the collapse of
\nthe Balinese kingdoms in the 19th century and early 20th century,
\nthe Gambuh, when it survived, became a full-fledged temple dance.
\nSince, owing in particular to the loss of its court reference in
\na changing Bali, the Gambuh repertoire has shrunk until it has
\nvirtually disappeared from many villages. Where it did survive,
\nthe dance was trunked, or became part of a larger ritual. In
\ncontemporary Bali, the main troupes of Gambuh are in Batuan,
\nPedungan, Jungsri and Depeha, with remnants of the dance or its
\ncostumes found in many other villages throughout the island.<\/p>\n
Modernity presents Gambuh with a new set of challenges. With
\nthe passing of the old masters, what remains of its classical
\nrepertoire is threatened. To the village youths who belong to a
\nnew, Indonesianized cultural environment, the Gambuh, complicated
\nin its music, slow in its choreographic rhythm, and using a weird
\nold language, holds little attraction. Their reluctance is
\nreinforced by the taste of ordinary tourists, who prefer the
\nliveliness and femininity of dances such as Legong and
\nTumblilingan to the arcane sophistication of the Gambuh. The
\ndance, in other words, is threatened in its natural environment:
\nthe villages.<\/p>\n
Gambuh project<\/p>\n
Christina Formaggia, a strong-willed Italian who \"fell in
\nlove\" with the Gambuh while living the life of a Balinese village
\ndancer of Batuan, perceived through her daily contact with the
\nold masters the threat hanging over classical Balinese dance. She
\ntook on the task to \"do something\" about it. Through her
\nstubbornness, and the later support of the Wianta in Bali and the
\nFord Foundation in Jakarta, the Gambuh Project was born.<\/p>\n
Started two years ago in the village of Batuan, Gianyar, and
\nsoon to be expanded to Pedungan, Denpasar and later to other
\nBalinese villages with a Gambuh tradition, the project has two
\nshort-term objectives: To insufflate the dance by having the old
\nmasters teach to younger generations elements of repertoire,
\nchoreography, language and music nearly forgotten and threatened
\nwith extinction. And second, to research the dance, its
\nliterature and its anthropology.<\/p>\n
It is anticipated that better educated generations of Balinese
\nwill better appreciation of the shortcomings of tourism, and will
\nbe able to save their heritage.<\/p>\n
The Gambuh project has now achieved its initial objectives.
\nDozens of youths of the village of Batuan have been trained -- or
\nretrained -- in the original Gambuh style of dancing. Specific
\nattention has been paid in particular to the dance movements and
\nthe choreography, to edulcorate surreptitious influences from
\nother, more recent dances. The Gambuh has thus been reconstructed
\nto the form it must have had at the beginning of the century,
\nwhen Walter Spies described it in his book Dance and Drama In
\nBali. A complete literary and anthropological survey has also
\nbeen undertaken, which has already put out two provisional
\npublications.<\/p>\n
Beyond the grant given by the Ford Foundation, the Gambuh must
\nnow survive on its own. This is the last leg of the project. To
\nachieve self-sufficiency, it has been decided to divert resources
\nfrom tourism, but this time in a positive direction. The Gambuh
\nis therefore being promoted to sophisticated tourists. Since the
\nfirst of August, the new Gambuh troupe of Batuan has offered the
\nrevamped dance twice a month to those dreaming of a by-gone Bali.
\nTourism, having wreaked havoc on dance, has now been called to
\nrescue it.<\/p>",
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