Multimedia show aims to redeem Sundanese dance

By Charlie Stevens

JAKARTA (JP): The female dancers, sinden, dress meticulously and paint their faces. They breath in the incense smoke and recite chants to increase an allure which has already been enhanced by susuk, the magical art of placing gemstones under the skin to create bodily radiance. When the preparations are complete, they look truly stunning.

Every night beneath the Jatinegara flyover in East Jakarta, the sinden and musicians from the jaipongan dance group Marga Selayu perform under a green veil of light to an audience of bajaj, becak and taxi drivers, market vendors and other locals.

In villages across the archipelago, women perform traditional dances as symbols of beauty and strength and as a source of inspiration, allowing spectators to escape momentarily from the pressures of daily life.

The Sundanese dance form jaipongan, which is performed in various areas of West Java, is an example of this. Despite its rich tradition, however, it is a dance form which is threatened by an increasingly negative public opinion.

Jaipongan is a social dance and is characterized by sensual and elegant movements, which are derived from a mixture of the banjet and serimpi dance forms, with elements of silat, Indonesian martial art.

During the performance, male spectators, known as bajidor, show their appreciation by giving money to the dancers. This, combined with a rising religious fundamentalism, has led to a growing perception that jaipongan is a purely exploitative form of entertainment, with the sinden functioning as sexual objects for the lusty gazes of the bajidor.

This is, however, a misperception and an underestimation of the ritual, spiritual and social role which jaipongan plays.

In an effort to redeem this once popular dance form, a multimedia exhibition celebrating the grace and tradition of jaipongan will be held from this Oct. 7 to Oct. 15 under the Jatinegara flyover, or Jl. Pisangan Timur, in East Jakarta.

The exhibition will feature photographs by Mohamad Iqbal, a video installation by Alexander Davey and, on the opening night, an art performance by Dibal.

"The aim of this exhibition is to take a small step toward reclaiming jaipongan for ordinary people. We hope to remind people of the depth and meaning of this dance form, and that it is something to be proud of and perpetuated," said photographer Mohamad Iqbal.

"By presenting images of the sinden as both ordinary human beings and consummate artists, the exhibition hopes to restore their honor in the eyes of those who see the exhibition."

Marga Selayu, which was the inspiration for the event, has held nightly performances under the flyover since 1990 and in Jakarta since the 1950s.

As you pass under the flyover, there are market stalls on the left which back onto the railway and are closed at night. On the right is a 10-meter-high concrete wall, at the base of which street barbers operate every day. It is on this wall that Iqbal's photographs will be hung.

"The focus of this project is to restore the honor of this dance form and to celebrate the talent and dignity of the women who perform it. The exhibition will not be held in a gallery but under the bridge itself, at the location of the daily performances," said video artist Alexander Davey.

"This is perhaps the first time that an exhibition of this kind has been held within the local community in Jakarta, rather than in a gallery far from the people represented in the images," he said.

The photographic exhibition will have a daytime and a nighttime element. During the day, a series of 30 of Iqbal's color photographs will be displayed on the concrete wall.

"As this is a one-way street, most of those who pass in public transportation such as mikrolet (minivans), bajaj (three-wheeled motorized vehicles) and becak (pedicabs), and in trucks and private cars, will see the images in the same order. The images will be a series expressing one movement taken from the jaipongan, rather like a flip-book animation giving the impression of movement as you pass by each image," said Iqbal.

At nighttime, these color images will be replaced by a photo essay consisting of 40 smaller black-and-white prints focusing on the life of N'cih, one of the sinden. The bajidor (spectators) can look at these works while watching the dance.

"Many of these people stay for several hours and so have plenty of time to see and absorb the photos," said Iqbal.

A video installation by Dutch/British artist Alexander Davey will accompany the photographs.

"During the day, while the market is in full swing, the stage is closed off with the typical Indonesian numbered wooden slats," said Davey. "Three holes will be cut into these slats and three monitors will be placed behind the holes. The monitors will display slow-motion images of a sinden's head and two hands with the upper monitor showing the head and the other showing one hand each. These slow-motion images will loop so that they repeat every 10 minutes or so," said Davey.

The images will be accompanied by soft jaipongan music emanating from inside the stage/stall.

"This installation represents the sleeping spirit of the jaipongan, which is always present on the jaipongan stage even when the performers are not present," said Davey.

Davey also is working on a narrative-form documentary film of the whole event, including the dance form itself, Iqbal's photographic project, and the opening night and the exhibition period.

The whole dance, photographic and video event will be accompanied by authentic Kerawang food and, of course, a performance by the inspiration for the exhibition, the jaipongan group Marga Selayu.