Dancer Ni Cawan recalls her golden days of the 1930s

Dancer Ni Cawan recalls her golden days of the 1930s

By Intan Petersen

DENPASAR (JP): The eerie tones of the gamelan and the echo
from a nearby temple ceremony filled the air. Tonight was a full
moon and the old dancer, Ni Cawan, sat quietly at home. She
imagined the dancers moving and twisting their bodies to the
sounds of the gamelan.

"I am jealous," she hissed, with tears in her eyes. "I always
feel sad whenever I hear the gamelan. It is not easy to be an ex-
dancer, I cannot sleep when I hear that sound."

For more than 50 years she had devoted her life to dancing.
She is still obsessed with it, but today, at the age of 73, Ni
Cawan can hardly move her hands or the slim fingers which were
once recognized by many. Rheumatism has limited her movement.

Cawan was one of the first three Balinese dancers to receive a
talent award from the late president Sukarno. She is the only one
of the three who is still alive. Her dancing partner, Ni Sadri,
has passed away, as has the legendary kebyar duduk dancer, I
Mario of Tabanan.

Cawan's name is always mentioned when one talks about Bali
during the 1930s. Bali was widely recognized as an artist's Mecca
at that time, when western painters and Balinese dancers mixed in
the same circles.

In the 1930s, Cawan was a beautiful young dancer and a
favorite model for many of the western painters who lived on the
island. They included William Hofker, Emilio Ambron and, slightly
earlier, Walter Spies, all of whom popularized Bali with the
international art world.

Other painters living on the island at that time were Romualdo
Locatelli from Italy, Theo Meier from Switzerland, Roland
Strasser from Austria, and Le Mayeur, a Belgian painter who
married the beautiful Balinese dancer, Ni Polok. All of them
spread Bali's fame through their paintings, which now bring
handsome prices at auction.

Cawan lives in a cool, spacious old Balinese house in the
center of Denpasar. The shrieking laughter of her grandchildren
and the babble of an unwatched television fill the house.
Barefoot and wearing an old simple kebaya, Cawan sat at the
terrace and began to tell me her story.

"It all started with the opening of the Bali Hotel in 1928,
the first hotel in Bali. It was then that dancing became a
regular attraction for tourists," she said.

Dancing led her to fame and brought her to the attention of
Hofker and the other painters.

"It was a tiring job (modeling). Sometimes it took them two
weeks to finish one painting, for which I was paid 15 rupiah,"
she said, referring to a time when 15 rupiah was considered a lot
of money.

Like all Balinese dancers, Cawan started dancing at temple
ceremonies. She was believed to possess taksu, a form of
supernatural attraction that pertains more to inspiration from
the gods than earthly knowledge. Balinese dance is regarded as an
offering to the gods and also as entertainment for the people.

"Me and my dancing partner, Ni Sadri, were purified during a
mewinten mejayajaya ceremony before we formally became dancing
partners. The pedanda (Balinese priest) prayed for us in the
ceremony and made offerings. At that time I was 13 years old, a
little girl," she said with a smile.

Both Cawan and Ni Sadri were the stars of the Kedaton Dance
Group, then the best legong dance group in Bali. Both dancers
helped spread the fame of Balinese dance through their
performances -- sponsored by the Royal Dutch Packetboat Company,
Bali's first tourism agency -- every Saturday night at the Bali
Hotel.

When talking about Sadri, Cawan's eyes dimmed.

"Sadri has passed away" she said. "We were amazingly close to
each other. We had a relationship that most people could never
have. It is not just an assumption of ego on my part. I knew her
verbal thoughts, her silent thoughts. There were a lot of things
going on between us that were silent: it was dance, it was the
sound of the gamelan, it was destiny.

"Sadri lived in the North Village and I lived in the South
Village," she said. "We were very close, closer than sisters."

According to one of Cawan's students, Arini, Cawan was once
frustrated because Sadri stopped dancing after she got married.

"Sadri married when she was 16 years old, and then she stopped
dancing completely. That frustrated Cawan because she did not
have a partner anymore," said Arini, who now owns a dance school
in Denpasar.

That is when Cawan began performing the solo Panji Semirang
dance, recalled Arini.

"Her performances were marvelous and she became famous. She
continued to perform the dance, even after she had three
children," Arini continued.

But few knew of Cawan's frustrations about losing a partner.
This, said Arini, was not told in the paintings for which she
modeled.

One of Hofker's paintings with Cawan as model fetched
US$550,000 at a Christie's Singapore auction last April.

"Yes, I know that" she said. "But I have no paintings of
myself. I realize that regret is to no avail, but I don't even
have enough money to go to the hospital, while a painting with me
as the model has been auctioned for $550,000.

"Even though I am very poor, I have made the best I can in my
life. Now I am ready if Ida Hyang Widhi (God) calls me."

She sighed. Her eyes looked slightly hazy behind her glasses,
but she still radiated dignity. In the distance, the eerie sound
of the gamelan echoed from a temple village festival. Suddenly,
Cawan's eyes closed shut, she must be tired.