Students of SDN Pucangan 2, Kartasura, Sukoharjo District, Central Java, performed Nini Thowong dance in the opening of the 2nd International Rain Festival held at Studio Mugi Dance, Pucangan Village, Kartasura Subdistrict, Saturday (9/1).
Overcast sky blanket over Pucangan Village, District Kartasura, Sukoharjo regency, Central Java. A total of 21 elementary school students wears colorful rainbow rainbow rainbow. They danced livelily, rejoicing.
In the courtyard of Studio Mugi Dance in Pucangan Village, the students of Sambon 2 Boyolali Primary School along with Gabriella Rosa Bertin from Newcastle, England, and Andi Pranata performed the work of Dispersion dance: Writing in Color. They collaborated with elementary school students Pucangan 2, Kartasura, who performed Nini Thowong dance in the 2016 International Rain Festival, Saturday (9/1).
Dispersion Dance is Gaby’s creation, Gabriella’s greeting, with assisted motion stylist Andi Pranata. Accompanied by the musical composition of Dedek Wahyudi’s concoction, Gaby and the children occasionally trotted around in the audience and danced in groups in the color of their raincoats.
Raincoats of red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink immediately reminded of the beauty of the rainbow after the rain subsided. Rain and rain are like bringing joy to the children. Unfortunately, the rain never greeted even though the clouds hung and the wind blew. However, they still rejoice.
“This dance is about the creation of knowledge, how to learn through the local environment and tradition,” Gaby said.
The International Rain Festival initiated by Mugiyono Kasido dance artist was held for the second time after the first one was held in 2015. Nuri Aryati, Director of the International Rain Festival Program 2016, said there were 300 artists involved, including students and students.
They include Suprapto Suryodarmo from Solo, Jamaloge from East Kalimantan, Yuan Moro Ocampo from the Philippines, Ayu Permatasari from Lampung, Lobo Art Community from Palu, Saung Swara from Salatiga, Saka Galeries from Solo, and Black and White Community from West Sumatra. Not only dance, also performed theater, wayang kulit, and performing art.
Like last year, the festival was held in the spacious courtyard of Mugi Dance Studio at Pucangan. The artists are welcome to choose their own “stage” to perform. There are several stages, namely pendopo, buffalo cage, fish pond, open stage cement floor called mandala, and field. The performances are held in a different place.
The audience shifted as the show moved to the stage. Provided plastic chairs that can easily be lifted and moved the audience. However, there is no shade roof that protects the audience from rain drops.
The second day of the festival, Sunday (10/1), rain fell since the afternoon. The dancers are getting excited and enjoying. Spectators wear raincoats and some open umbrellas. Under the water, Jamaloge dancers, along with Nino Saputra and Sukma Devianti, performed the dance titled Pekat in front of the buffalo cage.
Loves nature
The contemporary dance of Jamal’s creation tells the story of the forest fire tragedy in Kalimantan which resulted in a dense smoke haze disaster. Accompanied by music from the Saung Swara group, the three danced with their noses covered in cloth and sounded pained. Finally, the splash of water from the sky becomes the savior of life for extinguishing the fire. “The destruction of nature in Kalimantan has caused a catastrophic smoke disaster,” he said.
Through the dance, Jamal conveyed his invitation to love nature. Local wisdom should be re-upheld in managing forests. Local wisdom teaches not to be greedy when clearing the forest.
On the mandala stage, Yuan Moro Ocampo presents a performing art called Jejaring Kehidupan. In one scene, he blows repeatedly one of the containers of white flour. The audience participated in reading sheets of paper bearing animals, plants, to the names of people and artists and world figures. From each sheet of paper read by the audience, Yuan Moro then blew a container of white flour to fly. At the end of the show, he said, “man”.
Artistic Director of the Philippine International Performance Art Festival wanted to show that every creature can be lost without trace, like dust in the wind. If there is no concern for nature, all living things including humans and their environment threatened to perish. “Hopefully with the show could increase awareness of the audience to be more concerned about the environment,” said Yuan Moro.
Nuri said the rain festival was held to invite people to be grateful for the rain. Rain should be seen as a blessing that brings prosperity to humans. In addition to displaying the variety of art, also held workshops make Biopori.
“The multidimensional rain festival is the goal. It is also to bring the arts into the village so that villagers can see directly the arts from other areas so that have a broader perspective, “said Nuri.
According to Mugiyo, in the minds of some people, the rain is seen as an obstacle, even his presence raises concerns. Fear of disasters, such as floods or landslides. In fact, the disaster actually occurs due to human activities that are neglected to the environment.
“Rain should not be viewed as a cause of disaster, but as a blessing. Just how to manage it in order to avoid disaster, “he said.
(ERWIN EDHI PRASETYA)
This paper was published in Kompas Daily, Saturday, January 16, 2016 with the title “Thankful for the Trust of the Sky”
Photo: KOMPAS / ERWIN EDHI PRASETYA
