Dancer wants RI on world stage

Dancer wants RI on world stage

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

When the 14th century Bugis epic poem I La Galigo comes to the world stage on March 12, 39-year-old Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum will have achieved another milestone on the way to making her vision come true.

"I dream of a contemporary world stage where Indonesian players have a major role," she once said. Those were no empty words, and she has systematically worked toward their fulfillment.

Basically artistic by nature, Restu enrolled in the dance department of the Jakarta Art Institute where she studied from 1984 to 1986 as a special student. Feeling the urge to acquire a more comprehensive knowledge of traditional dances, she studied Cirebon masked dance in her spare time.

She also studied with the Tirtasari Group in Peliaten in Ubud, Bali. Eager to perfect her skills, she delved into meditation and shamanism in Korea as part of preparing for her role in one of Kang Man-hong's theater pieces.

Meanwhile, she was asked to lecture in Taiwan on Indonesian traditional movements for females, and share her knowledge of how the traditional should progress toward the contemporary.

As she grew into a professional dancer, she performed many times locally, then progressed to international tours, working with, among other people, theater wizard Robert Wilson, Kang Man- hong of Korean dance and theater, and Chen Shi-Zheng, the New-York-based Chinese director known for his innovative expressionistic performance style.

She has participated in Sulistyo Tirtokusumo's Panji Sepuh which was based on Goenawan Mohamad's lyrics and in Sardono W. Kusumo's Mahabuta and Ramayanaku, performed in Robert Wilson's The Days Before, in Kang's Gora Goda, and Chen's Monte Verdi.

A strong believer of inter-disciplinary collaboration, she forged networks with musicians, choreographers, literati, photographers, painters, and performers, and worked with such people as I Wayan Sadra, Harry Roesli, Endo Suanda, Sardono, Sulistyo Tirtokusumo, Goenawan Mohamad, I Kompyang Raka and Guruh Soekarnoputra.

Restu's multifarious talents in fact emerged early on. She headed Guruh's Swara Mahardhika for ten consecutive years, managed the Jakarta C-Line Contemporary Art Gallery, which became the first alternative contemporary art gallery in Jakarta and was the first to introduce the idea of a gallery-cafe to Jakarta. As well, she was involved in the Jakarta fine arts Biennial in 1995.

Meanwhile, the idea of introducing the little known cultures of the Indonesian archipelago to the world began to take shape. She initiated and founded, together with six other people, the Bali Purnati Center for the Arts, an institution that focuses on Central and East Indonesia. She now serves as creative director.

Her involvement in the Heritage Society (Jaringan Pelestari Pusaka Indonesia) as a member, again underlines Restu's commitment to the preservation and revival of the country's art and culture.

Given the long path of cultural involvement, it is hardly surprising that Restu Imansari has been able to become a major 'pusher' for taking I La Galigo to the world stage. "Don't think it came all of a sudden," she warns, describing the three years of preparation as "hard work", with barely any time for a social life.

But Galigo is worth it, she adds. "It's a fantastic piece of ancient literature that I think the world should know about. What better way than introducing it on a world-wide stage.

"It's also been a great chance to know the Bugis people, to sense their great heritage and to work with them to make this all happen."

Most of all, however, Restu loves working with professionals like Robert Wilson and Rhoda Grauer, as well as Elisabetta di Mambro and Franco Laera from the Change Performing Arts, which is based in Milan. "I enjoy working with people who are professional in every single aspect", she says.

"For the Galigo project, Purnati Center for the Arts and the Change Performing Arts, a Milan-based independent production company, are responsible for the production. Within the team everyone has a stipulated task, and we can count on each other to accomplish (these tasks) in a timely manner," she says.

"The discipline, and professionalism is something we need to learn and abide by," says Restu.

Therefore, she has insisted on a fully Indonesian group of performers, and Indonesians to assist every single foreign expert, something very unusual for Wilson, who is used to working with an international crew.

With such an experience, the Indonesian La Galigo crew is hoping to gain new visions to share with others in their villages or provinces. In this way a base is built for the growth of Indonesian performing arts.

Restu comes from a family where the father is Javanese and the mother Minangkabau. As the two blood streams come together, Restu says, she was taught to respect nature, and people. "In our family, it does not matter what ethnicity you are or which religious group you belong to. What matters is human nature," contends Restu.

Not surprisingly, Restu is also a graduate of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Technology School of Trisakti University. Gardening is her hobby, painting a way of meditation, but the ultimate happiness she finds in dancing. When I dance, the world stops to exist, she says.

Will she tour the world with the Galigo troupe? Restu just smiles one of her mysterious smiles.