Intriguing Taman Sari in choreography

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The four female dancers look cheerful as they swim free-style in the lagoon. From a hidden place, the eyes of a man feast rapturously on the women's beautiful lithe bodies which are wrapped only by an individual piece of wet cloth.

That must have been what stirred the imagination when we watch a dance performance titled Greget Tamansari (Intriguing Water Castle) on Sunday morning at Umbul Winangun (a bathing pool with a fountain) in the Taman Sari (Water Castle) compound at Yogyakarta Palace.

The compound, built between 1758 and 1765 during the reign of Sultan Hamengku Buwono I, used to be a royal resting place apart from serving as a defense fort.

As a royal park, this place is completed by a number of bathing pools and a resting place beautifully arranged with an artificial forest. It is also a defense fort as it has a lot of inter-connected underground tunnels leading to a secret place.

On particular days, the sultan and his consort plus the royal family would be here for a trip and for meditation in search of peace of mind. This area, located in the south-west of the Yogyakarta Palace compound, is completed with various facilities, including a special site for meditation and contemplation at Pulau Panembung and Sumur Gumuling. Unfortunately, most of this historical building now lies in ruins as a quiet witness of history.

Last Sunday, Beghawan Ciptaning, a choreographer of the Indonesian Institute of Art (ISI) of Yogyakarta and some dancers from Yogyakarta and Surakarta attempted to reconstruct history.

Ciptaning tried to blend the spatial concept of this old building with the interpretation of the behavior of the nobility in the past.

"We used the approach of behavioral interpretation choreographically on the basis of our observation of the environment, both esthetically and architecturally, with the support of historical facts. A cultural site is not merely a place for a performance, but it gives you the basic idea," Ciptaning said.

In his opinion, therefore, the product of this interpretation must be choreography which stresses the reconstruction of the behavior prevailing in a particular era, for example the behavior in a rite or in daily conduct. This dance, therefore, was an attempt to actualize past behavior.

The sites at the Water Castle that Ciptaning, along with the Jogja Heritage Society, the Jogjakarta Iket Community, Reserves of Historical and Archaeological Relics and the Post-Graduate Program of the Indonesian Higher Learning Institute of Art (STSI) of Surakarta, exploited are among others, Gedong Sekawan, Umbul Winangun, Gapura Agung and Sumur Gemuling.

These historic places were linked in a performing art using the Pradaksina concept (clockwise concept) in choreographic movement.

The performing art began from the gate and Gedong Sekawan (Four Buildings). The behavioral interpretation in Gedong Sekawan was adjusted to the function of this building, namely as a resting place for Keparak (royal assistants) assigned to accompany and wait on their master while he was swimming and enjoying himself. While waiting, they would prepare everything needed for make-up and dressing or arrange flowers and sing at the same time.

From Gedong Sekawan, the performance proceeded to Umbul Winangun. This compound has three bathing pools, namely Umbul Muncar, a water pool with a fountain located in the northernmost, Belumbang Kuras, a large water pool with a fountain in the form of a dragon's head that is designated only for women. At the southernmost end is Umbul Winangun, which is used by the king.

Between these two royal pools, there stands a two-floor tower with a number of resting rooms inside. You can also climb the tower and look around from the top. From the window of the uppermost room you can watch the activities in Umbul Winangun bathing pool.

In this performing art, these activities were demonstrated by four women dancers. Wading in shallow water, as the pool was not filled fully with water, the dancers responded to the condition of the pool while imagining how in the past the royal consort and princesses were exchanging words to describe the beauty of the love of a couple of human beings.

From Umbul Winangun, the performance proceeded to the yard of Gapura Agung, which is a gate depicting the image of the owner's grandeur. Behind the gate there used to grow various trees such as flower trees, vegetable plants, lanseh trees, durian trees, mango trees, nutmeg trees, banana trees, the cubeb, clove trees, pandanus, canary, rose apple trees and coconuts.

It was in the yard of this Gapura Agung that the artists from Yogyakarta and Surakarta presented a performing art depicting the activities in the past, the present and the future. These activities in three temporal dimensions go only to one destination: The Almighty.

The symbols of man's journey to God were reinforced with a procession towards the Sumur Gumuling compound. In terms of structure, this Sumur Gumuling is a site for meditation and contemplation. The building is round and has two floors, resembling a doughnut.

This building, specially put up as a place where you can escape the hustle and bustle of life, gives the impression of possessing some magic power. It is here that the king and the palace nobility prayed and meditated. In this performing art, the movement of meditation and dance in the refined style looked beautiful as they blended with the recesses of the windows of this old building.

Unfortunately, this art performance by experienced dancers like Yudhoyono, Wiwik and Beghawan Ciptaning was disturbed by the unruly behavior of the audience. The atmosphere of peace and quiet created through this ritual dance was lost because some people and illegal photographers freely went to and fro.

In brief, this performing art was an attempt to delve deeper into past values in an archaeological site. This art performance could at least show to the present generation that the Water Castle, which was destroyed by a earthquake on June 10, 1867 then rebuilt, was not only a defense fort for the palace in the past but that it was a place where the king made his excursions and also a site where God was worshiped.