'Ken Dedes' explores women's roles
JAKARTA (JP): In this creative assessment of women's complex personalities, goodwill and endeavors taken for the cause of maturity and good living as contemporary times hail feministic views and women-oriented struggles, Ken Dedes is said to be a heroic dance-dramatic attempt to discover the truth of being a woman, and coming to terms with it.
Ken Dedes is a modern dance-drama directed by choreographer Rusdy Rukmarata and production manager Herwindra Aiko Senosoenoto of Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia dance company.
Scheduled to be staged for two nights (Aug. 30 and Aug. 31) at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (Jakarta Playhouse), Ken Dedes is supported by resident choreographer Edmund Gaerlan, with Firman Ichsan handling art arrangements, G. Djaduk Ferianto music, and Ki Hadi Sujiwo Tejo narration and script-writing.
The primary concern of Ken Dedes is to reassess women's roles against a cacophony of upsurging women's issues that fortifies brash feminism, leaving women resentful, even indifferent toward men. Emphasis is put on unfortunate issues between men and women by epitomizing female beauty, which is said to have mythical origins.
"Even in the 1990s, women try enhancing physical allure for a man's happiness, just as a man feels pride in flaunting a beautiful woman," explained Aiko about mythical perceptions.
According to Aiko, women tend to confuse being free, independent thinkers with being feministic, even foolishly refusing to ask for necessary help.
"If women feel they don't need men, they are still not thinking independently. Their basics still revolve around the 'man' factor," she explained. "A man and a woman are two parts of a whole. To put the other down will only make both of them miserable eventually."
Aiko's clever comparisons of man-woman relationships to thought-worthy concepts are intriguing. An example would be a comparison of a fruitless relationship to that of a dagger and its sheath.
"Both treat the other as a sex object. There is no link, except for indulging in sexual acts. Just as a dagger enters into a sheath," she said.
The opposing comparison in Ken Dedes is beautiful, true, and the only way to have a relationship -- as that shared by the bow and the arrow.
"Man and woman are two different creatures. It is because they are different, they work together to form the full circle of life. Just as a sharpened arrow has no meaning without a strong bow, and a weak bow has no use at all, a man and a woman need to help each other, and work together," explained Aiko.
A noteworthy aspect of the drama is the performing dancer- dramatists. Most of the young dancers are bogged down by harsh realities and could have easily turned to life on the streets instead of taking up dancing. However, the youngsters dance with a zeal that is both self-serving and creatively productive.
The dance company helps the youngsters and "turns them into productive, useful and self-confident individuals ... we are also developing their improvisations and choreographic talents," Edmund Gaerlan said.
The dance company recruits local and international experts in fields ranging from music and dance, to promotional expertise and sponsorships. Dancers routinely practice through the eight-hour drill daily, and live up to artistic ventures.
To dancing fans, dance-dramas may not be about giving exceptional performances as much as about the filtering of dynamic frustrations with issues such as sexuality.
Ken Dedes is about reanimating realism in a softer light, giving motion and fluidity to cold, crude complexities and grace to an almost futile quest for a woman's happiness in a man- dominated world. (02)