Bedhaya Dirodo Meto Dance: Surakarta, East Java

Dance and drama in Java takes many forms and revolve around the mysticism of ancient kingdoms and the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. But to witness a dance not performed for more than a century would have been spectacular. Making it even better is the fact that it was written by a Sultan.

Blontank Poer was fortunate to be present at the presentation of the Bedhaya Dirodo Meto Dance in the Pendhapi Ageng Mangkunegaran in Surakarta:

Dancing Dramas of the Past in Surakarta

It was a magic moment in Pendhapi Ageng Mangkunegaran, the majestic palace audience hall in Surakarta, Central Java.

In mid-March a dance that hadn’t been witnessed for more than a century was performed in fine style, recalling great feats of bravery, martial skill and spirited defiance against great odds.
It also celebrates a major victory that lives on as an important event in Indonesian history and the nation’s long struggle for independence.

Accompanied by seven men paying obeisance in the traditional Javanese style of crouching, kneeling and shuffling forward, a total of 21 performers gracefully moved onto the stage.

They showed their respect to the story and Javanese culture through stately dancing movements that entranced about 200 guests and visitors.

This bracket took only two minutes and was immediately followed by humadeg. In this sequence the dancers took standing positions before moving into the sekaran laras — a sudden dashing of bodies, inter-cut with moments of meditation and slower, more measured movements.

The dancing of Bedhaya Dirodo Meto was accompanied by the sound of gending kemanak. These are small traditional metal drums shaped like bananas. (Dirodo Meto — meaning “Furious Elephant” — is a sacred dance.)

The steps symbolizing war were made by three dancers armed with three-pronged lances, and four more armed with bows and arrows.

The three principal dancers personified Raden Mas Said and two close companions. (Raden Mas, or RM, is a title reserved for Javanese nobility.)

RM Said (1725-1795) was later to be named Hamengkunegara or Mangkunegara I. He was also known as Prince Sambernyawa. The other two dancers played the parts of his compatriots-at-arms, Patih Kudanawarsa and Ranggapanambang.

Sitokepyak Battle

The rest of the cast represented the 85 men who fought alongside RM Said during his guerrilla campaign against the Dutch colonizers and their 1,000-strong army.

This formidable force consisted of around 200 soldiers from the Vereneeging Oost-Indissche Compagnie (the Dutch East Indies Trading Company, widely known as the VOC), 400 Bugis soldiers from South Sulawesi, soldiers from the Kasultanan Palace in Yogyakarta and 400 troops from the Kasunanan Palace in Surakarta.

The fighting took place in 1756 at the Sitokepyak forest in Rembang, Central Java.

According to the Mangkunegaran Temple version of the battle, only 15 of RM Said’s men died while 100 VOC and other troops perished.

Despite being outnumbered by 10 to one, RM Said and his soldiers won the battle decisively. His trophy was the severed head of the VOC Commander, Captain Van der Pol. RM Said presented this grisly memento to his wife, Ajeng Wiyah.

“The background to the mutilation and slaughter is a story of revenge because Ajeng Wiyah’s father was murdered by Dutch soldiers,” said GPH Herwasto Kusumo, a brother of Mangkunegoro IX, the present Sultan.

“The battle has been immortalized by the Dirodo Meto dance.
“The movements in this dance involve a lance and a bow. They are accompanied by rousing durma music that celebrates the heroism of the fighters, and their determination to oppose the oppression of the colonists.”

Sadly, there are no authentic references to the dance movements, the structure of the original play, the language used or the performers’ costumes.

So the Dirodo Meto performance presented on March 17 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Mangkunegaran Temple is a totally new work, though based on the limited facts available.

It was choreographed by Herwasto with dancers Mangkunegaran and Daryono, and researchers from the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) in Surakarta.

Herwasto said the original version of the dance had been lost because it hadn’t been performed for more than a century and no records remained.

It is believed that there were originally three dances written by RM Said when he became Mangkunegara I. Details of the steps for the Bedhaya Anglir Mendhung still exist. Research is being undertaken into the Bedhaya Sukopratomo in the hope that it can be reconstructed and performed anew.

Daryono, a researcher into dance who was also the principal dancer in Dirodo Meto, said the steps and songs are based on the classic movements of the Mangkunegaran era.

Among other preserved dances are Wireng Wirun and Bedhaya Bedhah Madiun.

Some dancers, musicians, and pesinden (a woman singer with a gamelan orchestra) prefer to refer back to Bedhaya Anglir Mendhung as their authority.

Wireng dancing is a prelude to war. It belongs to the Mangkunegaran Temple and is always danced by a man.

“Anglir Mendhung is the first masterpiece of Mangkunegara I,” said Daryono.

“It recalls the heroism of an unknown woman soldier who led an army known as the Laskar Ladrang Mangungkung. These fighters successfully opposed the troops of Prince Mangkubumi (Sultan Hamengkubuwana I). The battle took place at Kasatriyan forest in Ponorogo, East Java in 1752.

“In the Bedhaya Anglir Mendhung, all dancers, singers and musicians are women — a total of seven artists. In the Bedhaya Dirodo Meto and Bedhaya Sukopratomoi, all seven performers are men.”

Iwan Tirta’s costume design

Speaking after the show, noted Jakarta choreographer Elly D Luthan, who has worked on many masterpieces, complemented the producers and performers.

“The performance I saw of Dirodo Meto was a perfect reconstruction of the classical steps of traditional Javanese theater,” she said. “It faithfully followed the great traditions of the Mangkunegaran era.”

In the absence of accurate information from the period, some artistic license has been taken with the costumes created by designer Iwan Tirta.

He used a green batik design flecked with gold motifs for the Dirodo Meto performance.

“Because the dancing interprets a battle in a forest, the batik’s pattern represents the flora and the fauna of a Javanese forest,” said Daryono.

Although no details of the original dance movements and costumes remain, the producers made solid efforts to ensure the 2007 performance respected the original work.

For more than a year Daryono and his friends consulted ancient texts preserved in Reksa Pustaka, Mangkunegaran Temple’s special library.

“We also researched the period looking carefully through anthropological and historical works,” said Wahyu Santoso Prabowo, a lecturer from ISI Surakarta. He was also part of the team that reconstructed the Bedhaya Dirodo Meto dance.

Useful clues garnered by the team included four parts of a song called durma. This recounted another battle in Sitakepyak forest, Rembang.

The score is now in Holland’s Leiden University where it has been preserved through the work of historian Dr Clara Brakel who specializes in old Javanese dancing and singing.

The other main references come from Restructuring Javanese Culture by Zainuddin Fananie, a researcher into Javanese literature at Muhammadiyah University, Surakarta.

This book was first published in 2005 and is now regarded as the best scientific study on the day-by-day events during the era of Mangkunagoro I.

“A key part of the book is its study of Babad Tutur or Babad Nitik, a diary written by Mangkunagoro I’s private secretary whose name is not known,” said RM Agus Haryo Sudarmojo. He was also on the research team for Dirodo Meto.

“There’s a tradition of diary writing in that period,” said Haryo. “We also know of the Babad Lelampahan compiled by RM Said before he became Sultan of Mangkunegaran.”

Babad Tutur, also known as Babad Nitik was written before this period.

An agreement to build the Mangkunegaran Temple was signed at Salatiga, Central Java, on 17 March 1757, and witnessed by representatives of the Dutch Colonial Government and Sultan Hamengkubuwono I.

RM Said became Sultan on the same day through the signing of the agreement.

Blontank Poer