Sendiri di atas panggung, di dalam kegelapan, merengkuh udara, mengusap jiwa. Di atas panggung, tubuh seorang penari diuji ketika ia mementaskan sebuah tari tunggal. Di panggung yang kosong itulah teknik, imajinasi ruang, dan gagasan sang penari akan dipertaruhkan. Syahdan, Teater Utan Kayu untuk pertama kali menyelenggarakan Festival Tari Tunggal sebagai bagian dari Indonesian Dance Festival 2002. Bagaimana para penari tunggal modern kita mengambil inspirasi dari tradisi? Apa bedanya olahan tubuh para penari tunggal modern dengan tradisional? Ikuti juga perjumpaan TEMPO dengan berbagai empu tua para penari tunggal tradisional yang masih meniti hidup, menari di dalam kerut-kerut ketuaannya.
Alone on the stage, spotlighted in the darkness, pulling at the air, caressing the soul. A dancer’s entire body is tested when he performs a solo dance. On the empty stage, also at stake are the dancer’s techniques, spatial imagination, and ideas. For the first time ever, the Teater Utan Kayu held a Solo Dance Festival as part of the Indonesian Dance Festival 2002. Do our modern solo dancers draw inspiration from tradition? What is the difference in body management between the modern and traditional solo dancer? Follow TEMPO’s report and meet a variety of gurus in their twilight years, who continue to earn a living through traditional solo dancing.
For a dance maestro, the most important thing is perbawa or taksu. It’s an aura, a magical light, which announces to the world that he’s a dancer. Once on stage, even without any movement whatsoever, the audience would know and say: here’s a maestro. Of course, it isn’t easy to attain so prestigious a perbawa. It needs extreme patience and hard work. Tarwo Sumosutragio, for instance, had to go through a prihatin mood, including a puasa ngrowot, to attain perbawa. During this fasting period, she survived only on fruit and ketela roots.
What of the other maestros? Following are excerpts of interviews TEMPO recently had with some of the maestros of different traditional backgrounds:
