Javanese dances opens the Schouwburg Festival
Traditional Javanese dance, Bedhaya Sukoharjo, may not be the best choice to open an arts festival in this day and age. Its rhythmically lulling gamelan music and the meticulously slow movements of the dance could send even the most wide-awake to sleep.
So it was with great relief that the second half of the Schouwburg Festival III that night was dedicated to a more dynamic Panji Sekartaji, a dance drama about the fierce competition between two kings in winning the hand of Dewi Galuh Candrakirana.
Held again after a seven-year hiatus, this year's Schouwburg Festival focuses on classical and traditional arts, which accounts for the opening acts.
Besides the Bedhaya and Panji Sekartaji, the Keraton (palace) Surakarta in Central Java also presented the dance Srimpi Ludira Madu, created by Paku Buwono V, who ascended the Surakarta throne in 1820 to commemorate the virtues of his mother.
On Sunday, the festival will move from traditional Javanese dance to European ballet, with a performance from the Namarina Ballet and Jazz Company.
Namarina dancers will present The Tree, choreographed by director Maya Tamara, Rhythm of Life, choreographed by Sussi Anddri and Mix Sense choreographed by Dinar Karina.
On the night of Sept. 9 and Sept. 10, Actors Unlimited Bandung will present a play titled Musuh Masyarakat, taken from Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People and translated into Bahasa Indonesia by Asrul Sani.
From Italy, the Domenico Lafasciano Quartet will perform, on Sept. 11, the music they played in tribute to the victims of the World Trade Center attacks two years before, including Grief in New York, Shanghai, Dirham, Metropolitan, and Forse un Giorno.
From Java to Europe: It is back to Java on Sept. 13 and Sept. 14 with some traditional Cirebon mask dances performed by Keraton Kasepuhan dancers.
Taking the Schouwburg to a more spiritual level, the Sancta Caecilia Katedral Jakarta and Exsultate Justi choirs will take the audience through compositions from J.S. Bach's Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing unto the Lord a New Song), Allessandro Scarlatti's Exsultate Deo, Frans Schubert's Gott ist Mein Hirt (God is my Shepherd), and Mozart's Sancta Maria Mater Dei.
The Schouwburg Festival will close with a piano duet performance by Iravati M. Sudiarso and Rudy Laban on Sept. 17, 2003. -- Tantri Yuliandini
The Schouwburg Festival from Sept. 4 through Sept. 17, 2003, at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Jl. Gedung Kesenian No. 1, Central Jakarta. All performances are held at 8 p.m. For more information call 3808283 or 3441892.