'Burung Gelatik' teaches freedom's way for kids
'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)