Dwi Agus Cahyono: Dedication of a Dancer

KOMPAS/SOELASTRI SOEKIRNO

Dwi Agus Cahyono, A young Banyuwangi artist

Dwi Agus Cahyono, 28, is determined to become a recognized Osing artist. He has coached many young people in dancing and playing the gamelan. He also created various new dances that add color to the arts of the Osing people of the Banyuwangi region.

At a glance, there is nothing special about Dwi. Standing among the older figures in Osing art, he looked more like an apprentice. In reality, however, he played a fairly central role in preparing more than 1,000 dancers, nayaga (gamelan players) and other artists who performed at the Sewu Gandrung Festival in October 2018. His aura as an Osing artist stood out as he led the practice session.

He did not say much, but his ears sharply caught every sound that came from the musical instruments, which accompanied the gandrung (romance) dance. Whenever he heard an off-tune tone, he stopped the music to demonstrate the correct tone.

He also corrected the sinden (singer), drummers and dancers. “Those in the middle, please stay and those on the left and right, let’s move forward,” he ordered the dancers.

The hard training over several months ended on a sweet note. The Gandrung Sewu Festival, which involved around 1,300 dancers, sinden and nayaga was as successful as in previous years. The festival, which was held at Boom Beach, attracted many spectators, including tourists from a number of regions.

“I don’t work alone. It’s a team effort; we help each other,” he said sometime ago in Banyuwangi in a humble voice.

Always busy

For the past three years, Dwi has been a choreographer for the Banyuwangi Gandrung Sewu Festival. Previously, he was known as a dance master who participated in the annual festival himself.

As a choreographer, Dwi, along with the Banyuwangi Artists Trainers Association, is tasked with selecting prospective dancers, arranging dancers’ formations, picking the songs and their appropriate accompaniment for each dance, and training the dancers, most of whom are students, to ensure all the planning and training goes well and results in a good stage performance.

His responsibilities keep Dwi very busy, so busy, in fact, that interviews with Dwi must be split into several sessions at different times and places.

Although busy, Dwi continues to pay attention to other activities, namely practicing dance in a studio and creating new dances. “Creating a new dance is a long process, it can take 3-4 months, starting with historical research. A new dance always [emerges] from existing traditions. I must know about the history and philosophy,” he said.

When he founded the dance movement, he was looking for a dance accompaniment, which meant he had to invite the nayaga to practice together. “I invited them for practices, so I had to pay them honorariums, because some of them lived 30-50 kilometers from my studio. The total amount depended on how many nayaga were invited to practice and how many times they would join the practice; it adds up,” he said.

After that, he moved on to create attire for the new dance. This stage alone could drain his wallet. Creating a new dance, Dwi said, could cost more than Rp 50 million. Because of the high costs, Dwi only creates a dance if there is a competition, for example the Dance Creation Festival.

In 2018, he created the Niskala Seblang dance, a derivative of the

seblang dance of Banyuwangi culture. The seblang is performed as a ritual to prevent disasters in Olehsari village. Traditionally, it requires some girls to get into trance for seven days.

“It is impossible for us to present the seblang dance outside the area, so I created the Niskala Seblang dance so that people outside Banyuwangi could get to know the tradition,” Dwi said.

Many titles

Dwi’s hard work to create dances has earned him many titles. At the 2018 National Dance Creation Festival, Dwi won the Best Java-Bali Presenter title with the Niskala Seblang dance. The dance also gave him several other titles.

Previously, he also won several awards from a number of competitions. Even so, the various titles did not see his savings increase, because the prize money he earned would always go to cover the costs of the process of creating a dance and making the costumes. Often, the prize money is not enough to cover all costs, so he has to spend more.

Some time ago, Dwi got a prize of Rp 10 million in a competition. The money was immediately used up to patch up the cost of purchasing a new gamelan, which cost him around Rp 70 million. That gamelan was used for the 2018 Sewu Gandrung Festival performance. “I wanted to hear a much better rhythm, so I bought a new gamelan,” he said.

Dwi has been teased by his friends, because he often used his savings to buy gamelan or finance the creation of new dances. “They say, why don’t I use the money to buy a car, so that I don’t get wet often in the rain,” he said.

“I replied, I am still happy to get wet in the rain,” he said with a laugh. He chooses to go anywhere by motorcycle.

Studio kid

Dwi has long fallen in love with traditional arts. Therefore, he wants to spend his time and money in the art world.

Dwi’s love for traditional art stems from the encouragement of the family and the surrounding community. Since preschool, he has been in dance training at Langlang Buana Studio owned by Sabar Hariyanto. Entering adolescence, he mastered various dances.

At the dance studio, he not only learned about dance, but also about the distinctive Osing culture of Banyuwangi. He also learned to be a nayaga, a musician, a violinist. For 24 years, Dwi studied at the studio.

In 2016, Dwi opened the Kuwung Wetan Studio. He used the village office’s hall to train his students. The number of students grew continuously to 150 children. He then asked his parents and relatives for permission to create a small stage behind his parents’ house near the village office’s hall. On the stage of around 50 square meters, Dwi taught dance, gamelan and more.

Dwi’s famous name has seen more and more students join the studio. Some of them live 30-50 kilometers from Dwi’s place, meaning long journeys home after practicing at the studio.

“I feel sorry for them. Indeed, the children ride motorbikes, but if they have to go home at night, I don’t have the heart [to let them],” he said.

To help his students, Dwi is building a house for boys to sleep, so they won’t have to go home at night. Later, the students can spend the night in the new house, while he stays at his parents’ house.

All this was done for the sake of his love for the traditional art of Osing, Banyuwangi.

Dwi Agus Cahyono, SPd

Born: Banyuwangi, Aug. 18, 1990

Education: History degree from Aug. 17 University in Banyuwangi

Awards:

- Best Choreographer 2013 at National Child Dance Contest 2013

- Best Choreographer at East Java Dance Creation Festival 2016

- Best Music at National Dance Creation Festival 2018

- National Pioneer Youth in Social, Culture and Tourism 2018