Solo Dance Festival 2009
Solo, Central Java, Indonesia
5 August 2009

By ADC and Agung Priyo Wibowo
Photography by FD Sukhmana, Performing Arts Photographer

The Solo Dance Festival 2009 is a festival conceptualized and organized by Mataya Arts & Heritage, a non-profit organization that focuses on organizing dance festivals, arts networking, preservation of intangible heritage (living cultural heritage), and hosting performing arts in public spaces and old buildings in Solo.  The organization, founded on 8 October 1996, is based in Solo city, Central Java, Indonesia.  The bi-annual dance festival was held since 2001.

The Solo Dance Festival is a dance festival in which solo (single) dancers express their works in order to understand the biography of their bodies as influenced by the intra-/intercultural communications in the globalized era.  The objectives of the festival are to provide a venue for solo dancers to meet, share and discuss the journey of their bodies in a multicultural spirit.  It is also to help understand the extent to which the body of the solo dancer is capable of interacting artistically beyond a singular culture.

The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Mask and Body.’  In most parts of Asia, including Indonesia, India, Japan, China, and so on, the mask is universal culture.  In the past, the mask was used as a bridge between micro- and macrocosmos, as a living culture.  Today, the modern world belittles mask as being tools for cosmetic disguise and negative connotations are often attached to it.  The ancient world treated masks as instruments of revelations - a pathway to the world of gods and other invisible powers - by giving form to the formless. So, in the festival the mask is placed once more, as the source of inspiration to bear works.

The four prominent dancers who participated in this festival performed mostly contemporary work, which are rooted in traditional dance.

Aerli Rasinah performed “Panji & Kelana Gandrung” an Indramayu traditional mask dance.  Indramayu is a city in West Java with a mask tradition that is still very much alive.  Born on 7 September 1985, she is the grandchild of Rasinah, a maestro of Indramayu mask dance.

                            Aerli Rasinah in ‘Panji & Kelana Gandrung’

Didik Ninik Thowok developed a piece from the Panji mask dance tradition entitled “Dewi Sarag Jodag Gandrung” using a multimedia approach.  Born on 13 November 1954 in Temanggung, he graduated from Jogjakarta Arts Institute in 1982. He consistently creates and performs cross-gender tradition in his works.

                         Didik Nini Thowok in ‘Dewi Sarag Jodag Gandrung’

I Made Sidia presented “Tri Semaya,” a Balinese mask in dance-theatre approach.  Hailing from Bona village, Gianyar, Bali, he is a dancer, choreographer, dalang (story teller), and lecturer at the Theatre Department of Bali Arts Institute.

 I Made Sidia in ‘Tri Semaya’

Bambang Besur Suryono’s “Offerings” is a Solo mask dance that explored Javanese classical movement and Tibetan voice with minimized movement in his work. Born on 26 October1960, he has been a classical and contemporary dancer sincethe early 1980s up to present.  His early dancing was mainly at both Kasunanan and Puro Mangkunegaran Palace with Royal Court dancers such as Bedhaya, Srimpi and Wireng where he learnt his basic classical dances from the masters of classical dances in both these palaces. He is also a choreographer and some of his works have been presented in dance festivals in Indonesia and foreign countries. Till today, he frequently performs, gives workshops and collaborates with other dancers and choreographers trained in Javanese classical dance at the Surakarta Pura Mangkunegara Palace.

 Bambang Besur Suryono in ‘Offerings’