Surabaya street dancer fights for livelihood

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Street dancer Laksmi's heavily made up face glistens with perspiration. The heat is stifling but the 42-year-old, who makes a living performing the jaranan (traditional dance), barely notices.

Arriving out of breathe due to the cumbersome tape recorder used for her performance of the "welcoming" dance from Tulungagung, the dancer benefits from a quick rest in a shady spot nearby Surabaya's municipal council.

First, Laksmi plays her tape of traditional Javanese songs; then she waves her red scarf, indicating that she is about to begin.

A crowd gathers around her, some people give her money, moved by the dance.

She hides the money in her clothing and heads off in search of another suitable dancing venue.

It has been the same everyday since 1999, from 8 a.m. until sunset Laksmi roams the streets of the overcrowded city of Surabaya.

Though she is playing a key role in preserving the jaranan, which is rarely performed today, money is the dancer's main motivation.

"I'm exhausted but happy. My children are both in elementary school and any money I make is put toward their education costs," said the woman, who earns Rp 20,000 (US$2.10) a day performing the dance she learned in her hometown of Banyuwangi, about a 30- kilometer ferry trip from Gilimanuk harbor, Bali.

Laksmi said she had worked at a factory in Surabaya in 1998, but it closed when the economic crisis hit, leaving her jobless.

She became a street dancer as her husband's income -- as a pedicab driver near the Joyoboyo bus terminal in Surabaya -- was barely enough to feed the family. She sewed the dancing costume herself with materials bought from money saved during her factory stint.

Her family keeps moving from one place to another. At one time they were evicted from their house in the slum area of Nginden, Surabaya. They now live in a modest house near the old Joyoboyo bus terminal on Jl. Wonokromo.

For others dancing is an art form, but for Laksmi it's a means of giving her children a chance in life.