Mateus Suwarsono, Dedication to Ethnic Arts

KOMPAS/MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ

Mateus Suwarsono

Mateus Suwarsono has chosen to live in and dedicate his life to Medan, where he feels his role is more needed than in his hometown, Yogyakarta. He has lived immersed in ethnic arts and created hundreds of choreographic works by involving local people. In his hands, arts elevate social cohesion.

The sound of alternate Quran recitations from the loudspeakers of several mosques was clearly heard at Sanggar Seni Balai Pertunjukan Bale Marojahan, his art performance studio. It was in the early evening when Suwarsono started recounting his activity. We were sitting amid various art paraphernalia like nine drums, bamboo horses and a host of theatre costumes. “This is where we are training,” said Suwarsono on Tuesday (12/4/2022).

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During the pandemic, his studio held many more training breaks, and turned to the Zoom application. It was just the first year of the pandemic when Suwarsono took the initiative to encourage artists, and anyone interested, to keep searching for new areas of expression that, at the same time, serve as a catharsis for many people to maintain their sanity. There were those narrating monologues, dancing, reading poetry and singing. Sadly, the performances only ran in six episodes with the participation of 12 people, because when the pandemic peaked in the middle of last year, participants concentrated more on seeking personal safety.

Suwarsono is no stranger to such a dance as he has for 25 years delved into ethnic-based arts in Medan.

Not long afterward, Suwarsono called on studio activists to train, because in October 2021 they had to appear at the closing of National Games (PON) XX in Papua. In that exhilarating evening, Bale Marojahan presented a multiethnic dance. Eight subethnic and ethnic groups in North Sumatra, which are Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Pakpak Bharat, Dairi, Angkola, Mandailing and Malay, were staged in a choreographic composition. Suwarsono is no stranger to such a dance as he has for 25 years delved into ethnic-based arts in Medan.

For instance, around 10 years ago, Suwarsono created a choreographic piece, Shinta Hilang (Shinta Disappears), which was shown at National Ramayana Festival 2012 on the Ramayana Open Stage of Prambanan Temple. He combined the typical pencak silat movements of the eight ethnic and subethnic groups. For example, Toba silat movements, which imitate a tiger, were projected as the character of Rahwana; Simalungun silat advances, which are repetitive and short, were matched with the character of monkeys; while Malay silat, which tends to assume different forms, was integrated into the characters of knights. The widely acclaimed and criticized dance was based on Suwarsono’s four-month research.

Praise and criticism are for him natural in art. What he expects is that critics will not only assess his works from the Java-centric point of view, as he is engaged in acculturation to the North Sumatra locality.

Call of mission

Suwarsono graduated from the Dance Art Department of the Performing Arts Faculty, Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta, in 1994. In 1997 he was assigned by the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry to fulfill the request of the North Sumatra Cultural Park for music and dance scholars.

KOMPAS/MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ

Mateus Suwarsono

In his early period in Medan, he observed and found that its cultural potential was remarkable due to the high diversity of this region. There are at least 14 subethnic groups including those coming from outside North Sumatra as well as other countries. For example, there are also Indian, Chinese and Arab communities in the region. “But there were few art proponents. There was even no pure art education. There was only music, but it was not pure art; it was ethnomusicology,” said Suwarsono about the past situation.

For this reason, he was even more determined to live in Medan, because of his feeling of being more needed there than in Yogyakarta. Gradually, Suwarsono gathered data and studied local culture and traditions. He was doing this while performing contemporary dances all over Sumatra from Special Region of Aceh to Lampung.

When he felt he had sufficient knowledge and empirical data, starting in 2002, he began to address ethnicity as the basis for his choreographic creations.

The man who has several times won North Sumatra ethnic dance competitions is trying to discover local wisdom to be projected into movements. One of his compositions was a dance drama, the Fighting Spirit of King Sisingamangaraja XII, in June 2011. He portrayed the heroism and ritualism of Toba subethnic people in this work. The dance was seen as capable of representing the fighting spirit of Sisingamangaraja to such an extent that the great grandchild of Sisingamangaraja had the dance drama staged at her wedding.

This is a form of Suwarsono’s appreciation of the exalted position of Karo women, who are soft-hearted and willing to sacrifice themselves for the success of their children.

In 2012, Suwarsono created the Nande dance by combining Java’s classical bedaya dance as a configuration with the typical movements of Karo women. This is a form of Suwarsono’s appreciation of the exalted position of Karo women, who are soft-hearted and willing to sacrifice themselves for the success of their children.

“It resulted from a visit to observe and identify the characteristics of Karo women. For the Karo community, women constitute the center. They are prepared to die for their families. They are ready to dig in the ground to get some money for their children’s schooling,” said Suwarsono about the inspiration for the 30-minute dance.

The man who has frequently been invited to Malaysia, China and Germany to stage dances or dance dramas has composed hundreds of choreographic works based on local wisdom and ethnicity in North Sumatra.

Suwarsono accommodated youths of various ethnic and religious backgrounds to train at his studio. He also allows local residents who are multicultural to watch performances there. The studio and dances have become a means of community members’ cohesion.

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Mateus Suwarsono

Regarding this, he explained, “Through arts, we are exchanging food. Here everybody wishing to eat or drink join together. It means that arts can make disintegration thaw out.”

“Small children follow dance training. Here we are gathering to build a family, a house without dividing walls. There are no religious and ethnic divisions. Entering Bale Marojahan should foster mutual affection,” said the man who has since his primary-school age been a wayang (shadow puppet) and theater buff. He will continue to dance and perform in the theater until he loses his ability to move.

Mateus Suwarsono

Born: Yogyakarta, 12 September 1965

Wife: Rosadelima Yuliningsih

Activity:

- Founder and Chairman of Sanggar Seni Bale Marojahan

- Executive of Medan Arts Council, 2017-2021

Awards, including:

- Award for culture in the form of the Title Ompu Datu Pinasindar Tuan Warso NOB by the Batak Opera Training Center, 2012

- Certificate of Honor of the Republic of Indonesia, Satyalencana Karya Satya X 2015, 13 November 2015

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.