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Benedictus Suharto, continued
I know that I love dancing and will always work in the dance field: but that is my own choice, no one told me to do so. Until now Ben, my effort has not been “to save” but “to heal” Indonesian dance, dancers, and choreographers through writing dance criticism and organizing the Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF). I do this so that they can grow and develop healthily in response to the difficulty of living in a continuously changing world.

Only recently, I began to read some of your articles based on your thesis, Dance Power: The Concept of Mataya in Yogyakarta Dance.(4) In your later writings and creative work it seems to me that you were less concerned with dancing as a theatrical art but, rather, more drawn to dance as a ritual act to achieve unity with God through transformation. “Dance...in its purest state,” you wrote, “ implies unification with the Supreme Being, entering into a state of emptiness, and ultimate freedom. Only then are the inner and outer transformation of the dancer complete.”

I fully agree with your point that a good Javanese dancer goes through two kinds of transformation. First, transformation is achieved through physical means such as dance technique, style, mode, costumes, make up or wearing a mask. Second, there is an inner, spiritual transformation, a change that occurs within the dancer’s state of consciousness. Spiritual transformation is achieved through the practice of Joged Mataram which, as stated by the late Prince Suryobrongto, encompasses four principles: Sawiji, referring to focusing or concentration; greget, or inner dynamic without being coarse; sengguh, or self-confidence without being arrogant; and ora mingkuh, or discipline. Finally, there is your concept of mataya, to dance, to worship, which incorporates aspects of Javanese mystico-religious teachings.

Photos of Ben Suharto courtesy of F.X. Widaryanto

Mataya means to worship or to unify with the supreme being. Taya can also mean a state of nothingness or emptiness that is the ultimate goal of mataya, to dance or to worship. By totally surrendering one’s self to reach a level of emptiness or nothingness, one is free to fully express the character into which he is about to transform himself. It is only from this state of emptiness that the dancer achieves true freedom. When the dancer achieves freedom, he can be said to have reached both inner and outer transformation.(4a)

You insist that to achieve this state of nothingness, one must practice ilmu kebatinan–the science of life–and direct oneself to focus on following wewengan, the voice of the inner self, which you believed to be the voice of God, the voice of truth.(5) This practice is connected to levels of worship–worship with the body, the mind, the soul, the feeling. You went on to outline that if the ultimate goal of dance is to worship then the feelings or preconditions that are necessary to enter a state of emptiness may be identified as humbleness, patience, acceptance without questions and honesty.

Your description of a simple exercise of ilmu kebatinan–of walking in a casual manner–makes your point in movement terms: No one should notice that the person is doing the exercise. One should follow the voice of his inner self with a goal of leaving home before midnight and returning home after midnight. The walking path is not predetermined, nor is it important. What is important is to follow the inner voice and feeling—to unfold a walking path. This becomes a highly individualistic exercise as the person has complete freedom in decision-making by following his inner voice.

Three of the four preconditions you mention I can accept. Humbleness, patience, and honesty are in accord with what I learned from my late dance teacher R.T. Kusumokewsowo: “to be a good dancer means also to be a good human being.” As a dance critic, however, my focus is inevitably more on the artistic than on the mystico-religious aspects of dance. Simply said, I always have to be critical. For this reason, your third precondition–acceptance without questions–will be the most difficult for me to practice. This attitude, I believe, is a result of various western oriented educations I took part in both in Indonesia and in the United States.

Your “performance” at pak Hardiyo’s house on the sacred night of Malem Jum’at Kliwon on September 22, 1994, as described by Javanese musician Saptono, was an example of how your dancing had moved from an artistic into a mystico-religious activity; from the entertaining-performance mode into the efficacious-ritual one.(6)