'Burung Gelatik' teaches freedom's way for kids

JAKARTA (JP): A pioneer in Indonesian children's music, Sarijah Bintang Soedibio, better known as Ibu Sud, has advocated allowing children the freedom to express themselves.

Some of that independence came alive in Yulianti Parani's Burung Gelatik (Java Finch), a 1969 nature-glossed performance choreographed to Ibu Sud's music, revolving around rainbow images of the world seen, literally, from a caged bird's-eye view.

Distinguished ballet choreographer Farida Oetoyo recently revised the choreography to straddle the line between jolting children's imaginations and sustaining the dance form's basic disciplinary routines.

Along with assistance from choreographer Chendra Effendy and the students of Farida's dance school, Sumber Cipta, the performance at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta last Sunday was markedly different from other art targeting young ones.

It entertained the packed playhouse but did not skirt around the grim reality of a helpless creature trapped in a cage.

The stars of the show showed promise. Stella Marissa was the caged bird, waiting to be released to join its feathered friend (Ann Bella Nyo), and 11-year-old Vanya Anindiar was good in the part of the child bird owner.

Although Ann hammed it up with more discipline than grace, Stella, Vanya and Rani, excellent as a sly tabby, more than made up for her.

The main dancers were supported by dozens of kids, aged from five to 10 years old, dressed as frogs, blades of grass, flowers, butterflies, the wind, sun beams, umbrella-carrying girls and doves. Each wore tutus and bright costumes, excepting the cat, that were sequined, feathered, furred or flowing.

A child's story makes for difficult ballet, which was perhaps why Farida stuck to basic pirouetting and plies, basic stuff for beginners.

Still, as accomplished choreographers, Farida and Chendra effectively created realistic scenes with childlike imagination -- the bird chased by the cat upon its release, the blowing of the wind and shining of the sun, a caged bird flapping its wings to the rhythmic fluttering of a free one. Frogs brushed their teeth with bottle-brushes and gargled while "grass" blew to the howling of the "wind".

Despite the rigid technicalities of ballet, Burung Gelatik proved a significant piece for children.

Farida said it was intended to help kids understand what independence meant. "The story instills, and projects, the realization in children that independence is a human right to be upheld and fought for." (02)