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‘Sitarasmi’: A dancer’s journey to personal maturity

Published 1 year, 11 months ago in Dance, Drama & Music by Bulantrisna D | 957 Views

Sitarasmi Mask Dance

Dancer : Ayu Bulantrisna Djelantik
Choreography : I Wayan Dibia and Bulantrisna
Masks : Ida Bagus Anom
Costume Designer : Harry Darsono
Costume crafter : I Md Redha
Gamelan Composer : Putu Putrawan

Synopsis:
This is newly created solo mask dance for woman, first launched in Bali on May 7th 2006 with performances at DANES ART GALLERY and later at the QUEST FOR GLOBAL HEALING CONFERENCE, UBUD BALI. This mask dance expresses the emotions of Sita in the latest stages of the Ramayana story written by Bagawan Valmiki 1000 yrs BC.

Happiness:
after taken captive by the demon King Rahwana for fifteen years, Sita was freed by her husband King Rama and his army. She prepares herself happily to at last be united again with her beloved.

Grief:
her happiness and longing, was overshadowed with sadness to leave her ladies in waiting, who have protected and accompanied her during captivity.

Pain and Despair:
when they united, King Rama and his people could not believe that his wife was faithful and rejects her. She felt the deepest pain and anger and turns away.

Healing and Strength:
Although she proofed her purity by remaining unscathed by the fire she jumped in, she rises up from the ashes, finds her healing and inner calmness and decided to leave Rama…

The Jakarta Post
Thursday, May 11, 2006

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

photo: Bulantrisna performs Sitarasmi, a dance about a woman’s effort to overcome her worldly emotions. (JP/I Wayan Juniartha)

In a refreshingly enchanting performance Sunday, one of Bali’s most renowned classical dancers, Bulantrisna Djelantik, immersed herself in one woman’s pain and victory to reveal her ongoing journey to self-realization.

On the surface, the dance composition, titled Sitarasmi (the emotions of Sita), depicted various emotional and psychological stages experienced by Sita, the beautiful heroine of great Hindu epic Ramayana, who was abducted by the ogre king Rawana. That action forced Sita’s valiant husband Rama to mobilize the monkey warriors and lay siege to Rawana’s kingdom of Alengka.

The focus of the dance was on the period following the victory of Rama and the conquest of Alengka. Sita accepted her freedom and her reunion with her husband with an enthusiastic joy and happiness. Sadly, these feelings soon turned to rage and disappointment after she discovered her husband had questioned her fidelity. Her long period of captivity in Rawana’s palace had somehow made Rama doubt Sita’s purity.

Rama then asked Sita to undergo a trial by fire to prove her innocence. Without hesitation, Sita jumped into the blazing bonfire. Brahma, the Lord of Fire, invisible to everybody but Sita, appeared in the center of the bonfire and protected her from harm.

“Sitarasmi narrates the emotional journey of Sita, from joy and happiness to anger mixed with grief, and to calm equanimity when she finally comprehends that all the joys and miseries of the world are not only transitory, but also illusory in nature,” Bulantrisna said.

The dance was choreographed by Bulantrisna and another towering figure in Bali’s performing arts, I Wayan Dibia.

To emphasize Sita’s different emotional stages, Bulantrisna utilized three different masks, each with a distinctive facial expression. Master mask-maker Ida Bagus Anom of Mas village, Ubud, employed a new technique to make the masks more realistic and convincing.

“The traditional technique, which involves applying 40 thin layers of paint on the mask, tends to give the mask a plastic look and a shiny surface, two things that do not look good under modern lighting. The new technique alleviates that tendency,” he said.

Bulantrisna also wore a new costume. Unlike traditional Balinese costumes, which are dominated by bright colors and elaborate decorative elements, Sitarasmi’s costume, which was conceived by famous designer Harry Dharsono and crafted by Balinese artist Made Redha, was quite simple and filled with subdued earth tones.

“I want the audience to focus to the character and not the glittering costume,” Bulantrisna reasoned.

She shouldn’t have worried too much about whether the audience would pay attention to the character, because they did. The audience at the Danes Art Veranda on Sunday paid generous and unflinching attention as Bulantrisna performed with each of the three masks, with such physical and psychological precision that she transformed herself into an aesthetic vessel for the joy, anguish and equanimity of Sita.

On a deeper level, Sitarasmi reflected Bulantrisna’s yearning for a new medium of aesthetic expression. For quite some time, the 58-year-old dancer realized that she couldn’t go on dancing Legong forever. The heavenly nymph dance of the Legong is Bulantrisna’s favorite dance.

“I am now an old lady. If I keep performing Legong, I might end up with broken legs,” she said.

“Moreover, I am now trying to find an aesthetic expression that can convey my yearning for the sublime, tranquil and spiritual side of life. Legong is way too vigorous and passionate for this purpose,” she added.

Sitarasmi, she conceded, was her effort to understand the nature and course of human emotions; her emotions.

“I always believe that through the arts we can refine ourselves as well as attain spiritual self-realization,” she stated.

By choreographing Sitarasmi, Bulantrisna also wanted to make an artistic contribution to her fellow female dancers in Bali.

“I want to give them a female, solo mask dance. I don’t know whether Bali has ever possessed such a dance before,” she said.

One of Bali’s most prominent cultural scholars, I Made Bandem, praised Sitarasmi as a beautiful piece of choreography as well as an influential work that would inspire female Balinese artists to play a more active role in the development of the island’s arts.

“Bulantrisna has set an example that age and gender should not prevent an artist from being esthetically productive,” he said.

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