Choreographer Pamardi tshows audience mysticism

Choreographer Pamardi tshows audience mysticism

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java

An old man sits on a plaited mat. Beside him, old ladies are
waiting for his signal. Two bamboo-plaited winnowing trays
containing an assortment of snacks as offerings are ready to be
given to Mbah Sura, the man believed to possess some magic power
and able to make other people invincible and strong.

These old women maintain their patience although they have
been waiting for quite a while and the signal from Mbah Sura is
yet to come.

Quiet. None of the women dares to say anything when Mbah Sura
slowly gets up from his meditation position. He mumbles
incomprehensible sentences, interrupted once in a while by his
own groaning. When he enters a trance, his shouting gets louder
while the sentences he utters remain difficult to understand.

Uniquely, in such a situation, the waiting women become very
happy. Hopefully, they will begin a dialog with Mbah Sura and ask
him for something. They are all happy as they are sure they will
immediately get some power, especially when Mbah Sura throws away
the rings previously worn round his fingers.

Who is Mbah Sura? He is a charismatic figure in Javanese myth,
particularly in Surakarta, a city where many of its residents
believe in mysticism. The name refers to a person's heroism (in
ancient Javanese, sura means courageous). This mythical figure is
also linked with the civil war following the killing of a number
of army generals in Jakarta, popularly known as the Sept. 30 coup
attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Although the story of Mbah Sura is close to realism, in
Pamardi' choreography, titled Caping mBah Sura (mBah Sura's
bamboo-plaited conical-shaped cap) it is more a dance drama.

Playing the role of Mbah Sura himself, Pamardi presents only
part of the story, part related to the rite conducted by this old
man, who is believed to be bullet-proof because of his
supernatural powers.

Unfortunately, this piece, which is Pamardi's 13th
choreographic work, was a flop when it was restaged at Teater
Utan Kayu (TUK) in East Jakarta on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its structure was difficult to understand and it seemed like
the audience failed to grasp what the artist wanted to say
through his work.

For most in the audience, this dance drama looked more like a
fragment of a slightly modified Javanese stage show with a shadow
play theme. The vocabulary of movement in traditional Javanese
dance was prominent in this piece, particularly when the idioms
of bambangan, which are usually found in the scene of a Cakil (a
noble shadow play character with protruding lower jaw) or a buto
(giant) in the shadow play were unfittingly mixed with modern
dance movement.

Luckily, Dedek Wahyudi, the music arranger, could enliven the
atmosphere. Assuming the role of a reporter, he frequently
chipped in with his comments because, as the story went, he was
always prevented by the old ladies from interviewing or taking
pictures of Mbah Sura.

Pamardi's Caping Mbah Sura is way different from his
monumental work, Komposisi III (Composition III, 1985). It is
even incomparable with his two earlier choreographic works,
Sketsa Genta Kecil (Sketch of Small Bell, 1991) and Kalatidha
(1996). In these three other pieces, Pamardi shows his wildness
and successfully explores the dancers. When these pieces were
performed, Pamardi visually experimented with movement on the
basis of the classical Javanese dance and also successfully made
use of the costume and stage property. In Sketsa Genta Kecil, for
example, the musical effect of two bells could be used as
accompanying music.

The two nights at TUK also saw the performance of Si Mbok (a
form of addressing older Javanese women of humble origin), which
was created by his wife, Saryuni Padminingsih.

Unfortunately, this performance seemed to make Pamardi's
failure complete as this piece was heavy with Javanese
traditional songs, which were used as the main materials. It's a
pity that these songs were neither communicative nor could
enliven the story structure. This failure could perhaps be
attributed to Saryuni's background as a classical Javanese
dancer.