Nothing sacred anymore about 'Bedaya' and 'Srimpi'

By Ahmad Solikhan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Body movement is a basic expression of human mind and feeling, vested with its own power and values. In the days of yore, men of letters in the Mataram Sultanate criticized or praised the ruling sultan through meaningful body movement, giving birth, therefore, to two "sacred" dances, Bedaya and Srimpi. These dances are often performed on particular events inside the palace.

Today, anybody interested in these two dances can go to the Ksatrian Hall of the Yogyakarta palace every Sunday morning between 10 a.m. and 12 a.m. This hall, precisely to the east of the sultanate, has, since 1973, been used for dance rehearsals by royal relatives, high-ranking court servants, and, recently, also the general public.

One of the dancing instructors, Bandoro Raden Ayu (BRAY) Kuswardani, 70, said before you could master these two dances well, you must first be able to perform the Saritunggal, a basic dance.

Ideally, the first six months will be spent on mastering Saritunggal and the next six months on Bedaya and Srimpi. "The two dances can be mastered in a year, provided you seriously take the lessons once a week," said Kuswardani, wife of the late Gusti Pangeran Haryo Yudhoyono.

You cannot start with Bedaya and Srimpi unless you have got the mastery of saritunggal, because in the case of the former, body movement must be given serious attention in view of the rich composition of movement to be suited to the accompanying gamelan sound. Student rehearsing inside the palace must put on special costumes called busana peranakan to ensure freer movement of the body and maintain decency within palace walls.

Another requirement is that students must still be single, simply to ensure that they can keep their bodies slim. A slim body will result in physical elasticity, a condition which in its turn will allow a dancer to produce the most complicated movement most esthetically. "This requirement must not lead to wild interpretation," said Kuswardani, herself one of the great grandchildren of Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono V and Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono VI.

Kuswardani, who has been a dance instructor since 1956, said presently she had some 100 students who are either dance instructors, students, locals or other enthusiasts from Yogyakarta and outside Java. They are taking the dance lessons because they want to later teach them.

The dance lessons are given free of charge every week. The dance class receives a subsidy from the palace as it develops and popularizes the culture. When you complete the course, you will receive a certificate from the palace.

Several Americans, Japanese, Englishmen, Dutchmen, Indians and Malaysians are now registered as students of the Bedaya and Srimpi dances. The students have a strong interest in our traditional dances and intend to teach this art to their compatriots.

Unfortunately, very often they have to leave before completing the course because their visas expire. Often the foreigners, generally more serious than the local participants, only manage to complete the three-month basic dance package.

"Seeing the demand, I am encouraged to give lessons in Bedaya and Srimpi dances at home," said Kuswardani, who began to learn dancing at the age of 10.

So now foreigners wishing to learn the Bedaya and Srimpi dances are asked to enroll in her three-month complete dance course at home. She can shorten the course by teaching foreigners only the core movements, omitting lessons on how to make the body elastic or move to the gamelan music.

Generally, foreigners only master a handful of dance movements. "I don't set any rates for my private lessons," said Kuswardani, who learned dancing at Kridobhekso Wiromo, Yogyakarta.

Two Americans, Jenny Park, 24, and Karen, 22, said they were interested in enrolling for the three-month dance course at Kuswardani's house as they want to learn about Indonesian dance. "Next vacation I will surely return here to learn more about the local dances," Jenny said.

Bedaya and Srimpi dance classes were halted when Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945. In the early years of Indonesia's independence, the dance rehearsals were moved to Kridobhekso Wiromo, set up in 1918 at the initiation of Gusti pangeran Haryo Tedjokoesoemo and Gusti Bandoro Pangeran Haryo Soeryodiningrat, both sons of Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII. "The rehearsals were then still under the supervision of the palace," said Kuswardani, who completed her secondary schooling at Muhammadiyah Girls' Secondary School here.

Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung Surya Puspa Hadinegara, an observer of the cultural history of Yogyakarta and Solo palaces, said the Bedaya and Srimpi dances were created at the initiative of court literary men, to be later handed over to the ruling kings so that they could be popularized within the palace.

As a matter of fact, the movements in these two dances are an artistic blend of movements made by men and animals in their natural surroundings.

Srimpi is performed by four dancers and includes the kenyut dance, which is for welcoming guests, the pandelori dance, which depicts farmers' planting and harvesting rice, the pengantin (Bride) dance, which is a unique dance performed during royal weddings or for royal guests, for example when Sultan Hamengku Buwono was visited by an in-law from Brunei Darussalam, and the ronggowarsito and anglingdarma dances, which are performed during the signing of treaties.

As for Bedaya, it is generally performed by nine dancers during special functions. It includes the ruwatan dances such as semang, astirmendung, and ketawang; the tanggon dances like eling-eling, bedah madiun, and rengget; the sumarak/sumyah dances which are for motivation, example erang-erang and malang sumirang; the sulihwarna dances to promote culture like the revolusi, tamenggati, sumilir, and kunir asem; the sengsem tulis dances, which show how creativity is inspired by good intentions, example bedaya Taman Siswa and amurwobumi; the lukitasari dances, which is choreographed for the sake of esthetics, example limaran,sanggariti and demak (besaran); and murtiaji, which shows how big a kingdom is, example Mangkubumi, handeg negari, and sekaten.

A Bedaya dance was performed in late October 2000 to celebrate the 48th birthday of Kanjeng Ratu Hemas, the wife of Sultan Hamengku Buwana X, at the Pagelaran Hall of the palace. The dance, titled Sang Amurwo Bhumi, told the story of a meeting between Ken Arok, king of Singasari, and Ken Dedes. Despite different religions, both eventually got married. A Bedaya dance was also performed in 1990 to commemorate the birthday of the late Sultan Hamengku Buwana IX and mark the awarding of the title of National Hero to the late sultan by then president Soeharto.

Although the Bedaya and Srimpi dances now involve ordinary people and may be performed in public, many people still consider them sacred, and in many respects they are still connected with ritual and religious matters. This superstitious suggestion must be abolished because in reality a dance is a beautiful body movement intended to express a certain intention. Only with this perception in mind can these two dances be popularized among the public.