 Javanese dance
 Alliance Française of Madras and Prakriti Foundation present 'Java, the Lotus in the Red Ocean', an evening of dance and literature with Didik Nini Thowok, eminent Javanese Dancer and Elizabeth D Inandiak, Writer, on Friday, 3rd March, 2006, at the Museum Theatre,
Egmore.
‘O! My Fire! My Flower!
Let's enjoy the tale of the Fool and his flying lantern.’
At the crossroads of two civilisations, Indian and Chinese, Java, Indonesia’s ancient island, is a place where different cultures and religions have blended together in a unique way that is still largely unknown. Hinduism, Animism, Islam, Buddhism, have been for centuries the main inspiration for these lands across the Indian Ocean and have given birth to a culture and its expressions that have no parallel.
This evening will give an insight into the essence of Javanese arts through a masterpiece of its literature: Serat
Centhini.
The action takes place in the 16th century in Java at a time when Islam began to conquer the island, overcoming the ancient practices of Hindu-Buddhism Tantrism of the important kingdom of Majapahit. An Epic which brings together legends, Sufi texts from the 10th, 13th and 14th centuries imported from Baghdad, myths of the Mahabharata, the king’s chronicles from the Javanese court in a Arabian Night style. A story combining the mystic and the erotic, wisdom and ecstasy.
The programme will be an occasion to discover simultaneously the different types of dance from Java, by one of its most famous dancers, Didik Nini Thowok and listen to an introduction to this literary masterpiece of South east Asia on which Elizabeth D. Inandiak has been working for more than seven years (a French version was published in 2002 in France that received several awards, she is currently working on the Indonesian, English and Japanese versions).
Didik Nini Thowok whose real name is Didik Hadi Prayitno was born in 1954 in Java Island, Indonesia. His fame has propelled him throughout Indonesia for his unique dance style, combining classical, folk, modern and comical dance forms. He is one of the few artistes to continue the long tradition of 'Traditional Cross Gender' in the dance form. His talent in impersonating female characters as well as his incredible skill in various dance traditions such as topeng (mask dance), Sundanese, Cirebon, Balinese, and of course Central Javanese has, on many occasions, dumbfounded the audience in determining the gender of the artiste. Didik Nini Thowok has performed for the highest dignitaries throughout the world and has been awarded several
international awards.
Elizabeth D Inandiak, writer and reporter for several newspapers and magazines (Libération, Actuel, Le Monde, Marie-Claire, Elle, Télérama, Géo... and France Culture), conducted a workshop on Journalistic writing at the Department of French, Madras University, from February 28 to March 2nd, 2006.
R Rangaraj
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