Hartati finds her feet on the dance floor

Hartati finds her feet on the dance floor

Hera Diani
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Dancing has always worked as escapism for choreographer Hartati.

A child of divorce, caught in the tug of war between
grandparents and her mother, turned her into a painfully
introverted girl.

Luckily, she found refuge in dance.

"Dancing is like a discharge ... Every burden would be
released. It's a space to throw it all away, to neutralize the
pressure," said Hartati, a Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) graduate.

"Afterwards, there is nothing left but a feeling of
satisfaction."

Now a mother of two infants and an introvert no more, the 37
year old does not go on stage anymore, saying she is
uncomfortable with her "disproportional" body.

Instead, Hartati create dance numbers as a medium to channel
her concern about women's issues.

Her most recent work, Ritus Diri (Self Rites), staged during
Art Summit Indonesia last week, deals with the friction between
traditional values and modernity .

"On one hand, a woman is demanded to move forward, to have the
same opportunities as men. But on the other hand, the deeply
rooted tradition says otherwise. Women do move forward, but they
always look back," said Hartati, who is married to choreographer
Boi G. Sakti of Gumarang Sakti dance company.

Women need to make the changes within them, she said, to find
the path that suits them.

"If they want to stay home, it's OK. There are also women who
can juggle both progress and tradition, or women who want to free
themselves completely from tradition. That's a matter of choice,
it shouldn't be argued."

The process of seeking freedom is what Hartati wanted to
reveal in her latest work.

"It's like a journey from a traditional mental state to the
rational modernity ... before coming out again as a new person."

Still, the process of looking inward can be disorienting and
cause anxiety, with some women eventually retreating into the
secure state of traditional values.

The dance ends by showing how women, whether passing through
the rites of passage or failing to do so, are like pillars
supporting the culture.

Born in Jakarta but raised in Muara Labuh, a small village in
South Solok, West Sumatra, Hartati's choreography comes from
experience.

Despite living in West Sumatra's matrilineal society where
inheritance is through the mother, she said there were the same
problems encountered by women in other societies.

"Especially in the more private scope of family. Daughters
always face discrimination, they have to do all the chores and
serve their brothers and fathers," said Hartati.

It usually does not get any better with marriage.

Boi, Hartati said, was not a conventional chauvinist who
demanded she stay home to take care of the household.

"But I can see that he still has that wish," she added.

But the two have experienced much together, a long journey
which started when they entered IKJ's School of Dance in the same
year.

Hartati was involved in Boi's work from the beginning, joining
Gumarang Sakti, which was previously run by Boi's mother, the
late Gusmiati Said, both as a dancer and assistant choreographer.

With the dance company, she has created several works,
including 2001's The Way of Woman. Dealing with women in a
patriarchal society, the piece has been staged abroad, including
at the Bates Dance Festival in Maine.

Her first solo work, Sayap Yang Patah (Broken Wing), and
2002's Membaca Meja (Reading the Table), continued to explore the
same theme.

As with the bulk of Gumarang Sakti's works, Hartati also draws
from West Sumatran traditional dance.

With her signature style of a continuous flow of movements,
Hartati said she held to the concept that dance was a movement
and movement was universal.

A fellow reporter quipped that dancers of Gumarang Sakti, with
their agility and strength, could easily compete as gymnasts in
the National Games.

"We have strict training and a schedule. We rehearse three
times a day, a total of around eight to nine hours a day,"
Hartati said.

The results speak for themselves, with the group frequently
invited abroad.

In 2000, Hartati received a grant from the Asia Cultural
Center to spend six months in New York to immerse herself in the
local dance scene, whether watching performances or taking
classes.

"At that time, I realized that Indonesian choreographers are
as skillful as foreign choreographers, maybe even more so. Our
foreign peers have no tradition to draw works from, so their
explorations are limited."

People in Western countries are often amazed, Hartati said, at
how a contemporary piece of work could be created from
traditional arts.

"All the problems and obstacles we face in this country are
also actually a blessing in disguise. We have so many things to
tell. That gives our works more soul."

The irony is that foreigners are more appreciative of her
works, she said, adding that the company had sometimes received
15-minute-long standing ovations abroad.

But reality -- the lack of decent performance venues, minimal
sponsorship and poor appreciation -- inevitably bites when they
return home.

"We can't even pay our dancers on a regular basis, only when
there are performances. And finding sponsorship to hold a
performance is very difficult. So far I have always depended on
grants," she said.

Nevertheless, it is the world she loves. She is devoted to
creating, not necessarily frequently but as regularly as
possible, in order to sharpen her character.

She wants to be herself, not standing in the shadow of her
husband or her late mother in law, as she battles the
discrimination that still exists against women choreographers.

"Maybe it's because of the fact that female choreographers are
very few, and their works are often considered to lack punch,"
she said.

Like that shy little girl gingerly finding her feet on the
dance floor, Hartati is today determined to achieve her goals.