'Widung', a bit of childhood nostalgia
Tarko Sudiarno, Yogyakarta
PlayStation is all the rage among children, particularly urbanites. The video game not only brings joy and relief to schoolchildren after a day of school, but to a wider audience it represents social and cultural differences.
"Mom, the electricity is out, I can't play PlayStation," a child complained to his mother in Yogyakarta. "What is PlayStation? Why don't you go out and play with your friends?" her mother replied.
High-tech games and toys have sidetracked Indonesia's traditional games, which don't need any consoles or TV screens, just an abundance of passion and materials that are readily available in nature.
Many people, particularly those from earlier generations, are concerned that traditional games are being lost, and with them the essential life values that they teach of friendship and equality.
Such concerns prompted choreographer Ida Manu Tranggana to try to revive interest in traditional games with a piece titled Widung, which was performed in Kembaran village, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, last Wednesday.
In Widung, which literally means "children's game" in old Javanese, 30 child dancers present games played by children in the past.
Ida, who is the daughter of noted choreographer Bagong Kussudiardja, said the performance was not meant to glorify the past, but to remind people of the values inherent in traditional games.
"In the performance, there are some traditional children games like Dhingklik Oglak-Aglik, Bethet Thing Thong, Gajah Talena, Kucing-Kucingan, Egrang Bambu, Egrang Bathok and Jaranan. Each of the games is accompanied by tembang (songs)," Ida said.
From the way they were played, Ida said those games were educational.
Widung was performed in a village surrounding. The stage was the spacious front yard of a traditional Javanese house, with trees everywhere to shelter the audience.
Child dancers from the Bagong Kussudiardja Dance Center played the games accompanied by songs and a keroncong orchestra. It was as if they had come from the past, freezing time for 30 minutes and transporting the audience back to a time when TV was a luxury and electricity was absent from most village houses.
Though the performance was staged in the evening, it reflected the pleasure of children playing games under the full moon.
There were no lines or roles to separate boys from girls, and overall the performance gave the impression of a peaceful village scene.
Nonetheless, 30 minutes is not enough time to showcase all the traditional games, such as gobak sodor or nini thowong. But it was a good start in the effort to preserve tradition and to cultivate the positive values of traditional games among children.