Simon Sudarman, collaborator, Yogyakarta | People | Tue, October 16 2012, 11: 45 AM
Paper Edition | Page: 28
Learn Javanese art and culture is like going on an endless journey.
This is the belief of Jeannie Park, 43, an American mother of two, of Korean descent. Interested and engaged with the Javanese classical dance since the age of nine, she feels that they never learn, despite her performance in this art is complete.
"If I've managed to open a door, 10 other doors within are challenging and so it goes on. it is an illustration of learning the Javanese culture, which amounts to an attempt to understand life with all his secrets, making it an infinite trip. This in itself is indeed a challenge and an amazing art of life, "said Jeannie, who is now an Indonesian citizen and lives Kembaran Bantul, Yogyakarta.
She began to cherish her love for Javanese culture when she made knowledge with the Javanese classical dance as a child. They looked at a beautiful dance performed by Rama Sasminta Mardawa, who at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), taught us, in 1979.
Little Jeannie, who had taught Balinese and Indian dancing at the time, turned to the Javanese classical art after observing Rama Sasminta excellent view. They found something subtle had touched and fascinated her.
With Rama Sas release, they could figure the soul of the Javanese culture by his dance, look, words, Javanese dress and personality.
"As soon as I saw Rama Sas, I believed he was not just a dancer, he looked so great and fascinating. But it was not easy to fathom greater depth only by glimpsing, and there would be further endless thought and reflection. That is Javanese culture, "recalled them smiling.
Her admiration of Javanese culture made her determined to deepen further in the land to which it belongs. So when she studied at UCLA, she visited Indonesia under a student exchange program in 1991.
Without wasting the opportunity, taught classical dance in the Pujakusuman hall, Jeannie Javanese Yogyakarta, where Rama Sasminta Mardawa learned the art.
"I was very lucky to train under direct leadership of Rama Sas, but only for three months," she said with pride.
Unfortunately, she had to her desire to learn of Javanese dance. Her busy schedule as Director of the Kohn Turner Gallery in Los Angeles after her graduation were very time consuming, they absorb.
However, when the Indonesian Consulate General in the u.s. in 1995 opened in a program for Americans to study the Indonesian culture, Jeannie was excited. As the news came so suddenly, she had a very short time to meet the conditions set.
"After a pretty long wait, I got bored and forgot about it because of my routine. But in 1996, I went to the program selection. The dilemma of the exercise of my career or studying Javanese culture forced me to take a one year late. Since I was engrossed in the study in Indonesia, I searched more leave and three more extensions, until finally I decided to settle here, "she smiling in context.
When Jeannie Park returned to Indonesia to continue in 1996 that her Javanese dance training, much to her chagrin, had Rama Sas passed. So she learned Ibu Sas, his wife.
"While learning, I received guidance and I experience the aura of Javanese culture in the country of origin. I was deeply impressed and enjoyed it very much, "said Jeannie, now Director of Bagong Kussudiharjo Foundation, a Javanese art center in Kembaran Bantul, Yogyakarta.
The deeper they dug in Javanese culture, the more they realized that it can only be understood through learning and experience. As she continued her search, she found the Javanese culture engulfed in mysteries.
' It is an atmosphere that is full of challenges and adventures because eventually learn to fathom of Javanese culture virtually trying to understand life and its inherent secrets, "she said in a whispering tone.
"Dance movements may be the same, but a dancer experiences some differences on stage. Javanese dance not only learn or offer a wonderful choreography as an outer appearance. On the contrary, it invites one to get immersed in his soul and faithful in a very dynamic process. That is the Javanese culture felt I have so far, "said the wife of Lantip Kuswala Daya, also a classical dancer.
Jeannie's command of Javanese classical dance, including Bedaya and Srimpi Court dances, has her taken to Singapore, America, Korea, Japan, Great Britain and other European countries, where they also performed wayang golek menak wong (classical dance drama), (wooden dolls) and mask dancing. She also has an American award for art earned in 2005.
Married In 2000 and winning the best woman player trophy at the wayang wong festival in Yogyakarta in 2001, Jeannie indicated, "the Javanese indeed strive for the preservation of their culture, but external influence is also very intense.
Their understanding of the Javanese culture so ends usually in creations instead of in the process of self-exploration. "
If she has inherited the Javanese culture, feels Jeannie also compulsory everything to the middle of the current circumstances, because superficial understanding of this culture without life by his soul will be difficult to produce
Javanese dance maestros.
"The birth of dance maestros takes time due to the process required. By his loyalty to the exploratory process, the aura of the Javanese culture by welcoming words, gentle behavior, warm look and pleasant personality without pretension, by itself will reveal "Jeannie closed.
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