Night-long Woodstockian event at Megamendung

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

MEGAMENDUNG, Bogor (JP): Picture Romeo and Juliet throwing ballet slippers at each other, sharing narcissistic fetishes while the world looks on. Picture another scene in which Juliet carries a soulfully disheveled Romeo in her arms and later gives him a shower from a watering can, while watching his face with reverence.

If this is not enough to excite Shakespearean minds, imagine the characters at an unfinished Roman amphitheater, built by seemingly eccentric cavemen, surrounded by pine forest.

All this and more was on offer during an evening of dance and love talks organized by the Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia (EKI) dance company in the hillside resort near Bogor on Oct. 31.

Farida Oetoyo's Perjalanan 20 Detik ... (A 20-second Journey) -- modified by choreographer Teguh Ostenrik -- was one of three dance performances at the Amerta stage.

After the performance, Farida explained the more abstract concepts to the audience.

"Romeo and Juliet ..two teenagers who love each other ... promise to live and die together .. and then ... I'd rather leave it unfinished," she said.

Performed by dancers Chendra Effendy and Jonita Sjah, it described the nascent sense of liberation that comes with young love.

The next performance was Edmund Gaerlan's Mimpi Buruk, Mungkin ... (A Nightmare, Maybe ...).

It centered on a man dreaming of wooing and being seduced by beautiful women, only to be let down time and time again in his dreams. He wakes feeling lucky to have a loving wife sleeping by his side.

Though well choreographed, many thought that Edmund's previous stage show When The Sun Sets at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta was more imaginative and innovative.

The same was said about Rusdy Rukmarata's choreography of EKI's production Ken Dedes. (The earlier choreographies of Rusdy and Edmund were staged on Aug. 30 - Aug. 31).

The modern dance-drama, Ken Dedes, expressed unexpected ruthlessness in its gender clashes but ended happily with a surreal scene -- Ken Dedes (the ever-charming Takako Leen) and Ken Arok (Siswanto Kodrata) walking hand in hand, a symbol of gender equality.

Story

The performance had its high moments with puppet master Sujiwo Tedjo's poetic narration of despair and frustration over power games and Djaduk Ferianto's mind-blowing music.

The surprise of the evening was Butet Kertarejasa's powerful delivery of the monolog Saksi Mata (Eyewitness), an intriguing short story by Seno Gumira Ajidharma. Accompanied by Djaduk's hauntingly operatic composition, Butet scored a direct hit with his delivery, conveying a truth that the story only hinted at.

It begins with the tale of an ill-fated innocent entering a courtroom with blood gushing from his eye sockets, childishly telling the astounded judge and audience that his eyes were gouged out to make soup.

The man continues to explain that because he was an eyewitness to heinous crimes, uniformed "Ninjas" entered his dreams and "took his eyes out with a spoon".

Butet's delivery conveyed the helplessness of the victim and the apathy of those indirectly involved in the incident. They were blind to the "blood that flowed like tears from the 'no-eye- witness' -- blood that filled the city and climbed up buildings".

The "no-eye-witness", who later decides to testify in court, is confronted once again in his dreams by the five men and his tongue is yanked out.

Butet dedicated his monolog to the people of Maumere, Irian Jaya. He said that love should be dedicated to "humanity, respect for humankind and, most of all, independence".

The most memorable hours of the night were spent in the refuge of life's most complex and questionable virtue -- love.

Artists Farida Oetoyo, Butet Kertarejasa, Sujiwo Tedjo, Djaduk Ferianto, Rusdy Rukmarata, as well as photographer and sometime painter Firman Ichsan -- who was solely responsible for the stage settings -- sat together to reassess love during a seminar, titled Expressions of Love in Indonesian Art.

But they ended up initiating a night-long Woodstockian event, exchanging their own thoughts on love in general.

Those present at the seminar openly expressed their feelings. They read poetry, shared experiences and spoke about things rarely broached in daily life.

Notorious scene-stealer Sujiwo relished in the attention of his besotted listeners. One of his spiels was about strangers sharing beautiful moments together.

"Love could also be expressed when a stranger, who considers you a lover in his mind, comes up to you," he said. "He speaks to you truthfully, as if you were soul mates. You respond and speak to him the same way."

Art-movie director Teguh Karya shared his thoughts on the loss of Indonesian culture in "modern dancing", which Firman promptly dismissed. (The story of Ken Dedes outlines the history of Javanese culture).

Rusdy's talk touched on sensitive topics. He spoke about society's "belligerent" indifference to matters of "love between men and men, women and women, a man with several women and a woman with several men".

He concluded that ignorance on taboo matters had long been the cause of several "misunderstandings" and "fatal mistakes", which were harmful to society.

Djaduk's Javanese talk had the audience in fits of laughter, with jokes like: "I was taught to accept the woman I loved as my wife the second she knocked on my door (expressing her love). But she farted and I said marry me."

An interesting contrast of sorts was the Buddhist chanting that complemented the evening's discussions. The chants emanated from the neighboring Buddhist temple, Sadaparibhuta, which is expected to be officially opened in December.

Whether for the atmosphere or the talks, people stayed late into the night sharing coffee. And those at the seminar were, at the very least, grateful to experience a long absent phenomenon -- it rained in Megamendung.