Didik Nini Thowok's journey, from classical to modern dances
By Helly Minarti
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The commercialization of arts is now a hot topic following the creation of a new ministry dealing with arts, culture and tourism. While artists are still questioning the issue, Didik Nini Thowok has proved his skill in presenting arts in a entertaining form to serve tourists.
An Intimate Evening with Didik Nini Thowok, performed last weekend at Jogja Village Inn in Yogyakarta, features an introduction to Indonesian culture, a combination of classical tradition and new dance works. Gaining fame as a male dancer specializing as a female dancer, Didik, 44, presented three classical dances from three different areas: Surakarta, Bali and Cirebon, and added two of his own modern choreographies.
The first was Javanese Gambyong from Surakarta, Central Java, which was created in the 1920s. It depicts a young woman celebrating her beauty. Wearing a green costume showing off his shoulders and intricate brown batik, Didik's supple movements and proper coquettishness reflected the refined palace version of a dance originally taken from Tayub folk tradition.
The second repertoire was the Balinese Oleg, the female part taken from Oleg Tambulilingan's bumblebee dance.
Didik, who needed only between two and four minutes to change between acts, played the famous Cirebon mask dance in the third number. He performed the Rumyang Dance in Palimanan style, which symbolizes human lives in old age. The title itself means the condition when someone is losing his/her sight.
Didik deliberately chose those three classical dances to show differences in style, movement and rhythmical background music to the audience, who paid Rp 50,000 (US$6.25) each.
The last two, new, choreographies that night revealed Didik's dancing versatility. In Topeng Walangkekek (Walangkekek Mask), he chronicled three female characters. Accompanied by Javanese gending (song) of Walangkekek enriched by expressive Sundanese gendang (drums), Didik wore three masks in a row to show each emotional side of women -- a pretty teenage girl, a vane woman who tends to unfold her ugly side and an old woman who refuses to face the reality of her decaying body.
Didik mixed and combined a variety of traditional and modern elements. Energetic Sundanese hand movements were surprisingly followed by Michael Jacksonesque arms swings. Sometimes he used classical technics to find a new dancing language he himself did not know the origin of. Like when he showed an ankle move rotating smoothly but quickly. "It just happened," he commented during a rehearsal.
Yet the best piece was saved for last. In Dwimuka (Two Faced), his masterpiece which had previously been performed before the highest of dignitaries like foreign statesmen, Didik transformed his dance to describe the struggle in a person's personality between good and evil. Dressed in a kitschy glitzy beaded costume -- pink on one side and contrasting green on the other -- Didik wore one mask backward and the other forward. Every so often he projected each side toward the audience and adjusted every move as if personifying two persons.
The backward side showed good with the other depicting evil -- complete with outrageous fake teeth and eyeslashes to generate a huge laugh.
"Basically we all wear masks -- that's the idea," Didik said.
Backstage, Didik prepared everything in detail, from modifying the complicated original costume to fixing his practical hair bun.
While on stage, with his long skinny arms and lean fingers, Didik exuded the artistic energy generated from his years of involvement in dance.
"From the beginning, I was fully aware of my body which is more suited to effeminate dances rather than strong ones," said Didik, who has also learned dances from countries such as India, Thailand and Spain.
Didik, who has danced since he was five and studied with 18 different dance masters, is a graduate of the Indonesian Academy of Dance and once lectured at the institute.
When he was a student, the skinny Didik was often asked to play the roles of either comical character or old people, because of his physical stature. Later, as a choreographer, he developed his creativity to write new works imbued with comedy and became eloquent in the portrayal of elders.
Why is comedy always an important part in his works?
"Because life itself is already funny," he said half- contemplatively.
Didik now has dance studios in seven towns but he has yet to find a student to whom he can pass on his creative spirit.
"Most of my students only learn to dance as a hobby -- nothing more."
"If there's someone who'd like to follow in my footsteps, I'd be glad. But I know it's hard to find one, particularly the men who are normally afraid of being labeled sissy," said Didik, who wishes to see his comedy dance be considered a serious art form.
But Didik does not worry about the regeneration.
"Let it be a legend then," he said. "Since it's my intention not to have anyone copy my style -- I'd like the idea of being unique," he confessed.
Didik's performance last weekend was followed by a meet-the- artist session, where the audience was free to ask questions to Didik, who patiently explained every aspect of his dancing, including the music and the story behind the movements.
Some people even measured their fingers against Didik's, which are long and lean, to satisfy their fascination with the artist's feminine hand gestures.
An Intimate Evening with Didik Nini Thowok will be held every second Friday of the month in Jogja Village Inn.