Bagong puts modern spin on classical dance

Text and photos by Tarko Sudiarno

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The spotlight on the stage suddenly went dim, focused on nine women dancers. Two pairs of dancers moved closer to each other.

One pair placed themselves in the left corner, the other at center stage. Suddenly, the pair in the left corner dropped to the floor, one atop the other. They lifted the Sinjang Kampuh cloth they wore and a pair of beautiful legs was exposed.

They "made love".

It was part of Bedhaya Sekar Jagat created by noted contemporary choreographer Bagong Kussudiardja, performed last Saturday and Monday night in the Yogyakarta Military Society Building. Besides Bedhaya Sekar Jagat, Bagong also featured the dance Beksan Tambak Ageng.

Bedhaya Sekar Jagat is a modification of a Javanese classical dance (bedhaya). It tells about societal problems and eventually focuses on women's struggle for greater freedom. It also shows the example of women who eventually attain the freedom.

It is a sacred dance performed only during the coronation of a new king or on the anniversary of his ascension to the throne. It is part of the royal tradition in the Surakarta and Yogyakarta palaces.

The original version, which lasts two hours, requires the conducting of special rituals and placing of offerings before it can be performed. It has to be performed in a special place in the palace and only virgins are allowed in the troupe.

Bagong's new creation of bedhaya is truly innovative. Elements of other ethnic dances -- including from Bali, Aceh and Kalimantan -- have been added for its enrichment.

Bagong maintained the classical dance's nine dancers. All specialists in classical Yogyakarta dance, they wore special costumes called basahan.

For the opening and between scenes, Bagong maintains the typically slow movements. He also retained Endel and Ngapit, the four dancers on the outer line of the formation who enclose the other five dancers performing the main scenes. But in his new creation, Bagong made the Endel and Ngapit more dynamic.

The magical atmosphere was present even before the dancers appeared on the stage. Three abdi dalem keparak (palace courtiers) brought to the dimly lit stage traditional ceramic stoves containing burning incense that filled the air.

Wearing the Javanese servant costume kemben, the three middle- aged women traversed the stage, spreading the fragrant incense.

The atmosphere they created was as magical as that of the ritual conducted before performing the classic Bedhaya Ketawang of Surakarta Palace and Bedhaya Semang of Yogyakarta Palace.

But in Bagong's creation, the atmosphere did not last throughout the show. The mix of the dancers' movements, the accompanying gamelan music and the lighting brought a wild nuance to the stage, markedly different from the classical version.

Bagong said he used the same pencon gamelan instruments as used in the original version of the classical dance, but he innovated through making the music more dynamic.

Pencon is a set of gamelan consisting of only five instruments -- the kendhang (drum), kethuk (horizontally suspended bronze kettles), kenong (small gongs), kemanak and gongs. A complete set of gamelan consists of more than a dozen instruments.

The classic bedhaya dance is a depiction of the rendezvous of two lovers, King of Mataram Panembahan Senopati and queen of the South Sea Kanjeng Ratu Kidul.

In the original version, the lovemaking scene is extremely subtle, so that only the trained eye can understand what is happening between the dancer.

In Bedhaya Sekar Jagat, the scene was explicit, which surprised the viewers. As it involved an all-female cast, it left some viewers feeling they were watching lesbian sex.

Bagong did not seem to care what the viewers thought because "it's up to the viewer to interpret the dance".

Many saw it as Bagong's artistic way of describing the Indonesian women's struggle for greater freedom. Some even go as far as associating the dance with the struggle of Megawati, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and vice president of the republic.

Bagong's version of bedhaya is undoubtedly watchable although the duration was only half an hour compared to the two hours of the original version. Movements are less complicated in the contemporary version.