By Agnes Winarti
Photo taken by Agung Parameswara
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post | April 16, 2012
I Nyoman Adi Saputra
After working in the hotel business in Denpasar from 2000 to 2006, I Nyoman Adi Saputra, 31, returned to his home in Tunjuk village, Tabanan regency, to dedicate himself to being an elementary school English teacher. Upon returning home, Nyoman also reignited his childhood passion as a Wayang Wong performer, part of his heritage as a member of the Pasak Gede Bendesa clan. This time, he is bringing along youngsters to follow in his path to preserve one of Bali’s most precious performing arts legacies.
Wayang Wong is an ancient form of masked dance usually performing stories taken from the great Hindu epic Ramayana. It is both a wali (sacred art performed only in religious context and settings), and a bebali (performing art that can be staged for entertainment purposes). Its popularity as a bebali dance has steadily decreased, primarily due to the language barrier — Wayang Wong uses the ancient Javanese Kawi as its primary language.
Here are excerpts of his views on the preservation of Wayang Wong in Tunjuk village as he shared with Bali Daily’s Agnes Winarti recently.
Question: Why do you believe your Wayang Wong is sacred?
Answer: Wayang Wong is performed in our clan temple to complete religious ceremonies or Yadnya. We call it the wali (sacred) dance, because it is not staged for entertainment purposes, although people can watch the performance. We hold a special ceremony before Wayang Wong can be performed outside our own temple, for example, at the Tabanan Arts Festival.
How have you initiated the revitalization of your clan’s Wayang Wong?
I myself have been performing Wayang Wong since I was a fourth-grade student in elementary school. I was the only kid allowed to perform, because I kept crying if the elders forbade me. I started playing a small role as a monkey soldier, then, at the age of 17, I was promoted to play in the key roles of Hanoman, Rama and Rawana. After graduating from senior high school, I joined both Wayang Wong and Wayang Kulit shadow puppet groups. Afterwards, I continued to invite more youngsters, including my nephews and nieces, to join in Wayang Wong.
From 1987 to 1992, our clan’s Wayang Wong troupe entered a quiet period. There wasn’t a single performance during that time because the dancers, who were quite old, were in low spirits and did not want to perform.
Finally, we (the younger generation) begged the elders to change their policy on who could perform in Wayang Wong. Now, little kids can perform after they have undergone a special religious purification ceremony. We have just started this regeneration recently, in the past four years. Now, we welcome kids as young as 10 years old to play both as performers or penabuh (music players).
Interestingly, after the young dancers began their training, the senior dancers started returning to the troupe. Apparently, the spirit showed by the kids inspired our older performers.
In previous years, why was there no regeneration?
The children had only limited interest in performing because Wayang Wong is regarded as tenget (highly charged with supernatural power that could hurt performers unless they are blessed by the gods first). Kids could not even touch the gamelan musical instruments, so they could not participate.
How did you develop the interest of these kids to join in?
We recruit those who can dance and sing, talk with them and convince them to join Wayang Wong training. We continue to support those who are talented; we ask their parents’ permission too. The training is not that long, two or three training sessions and then they are ready to perform. Usually, those who are talented grasp the essence very quickly. We usually place those who are still training in small assisting roles that can use a mix of languages, or have less dialogue interaction with other performers. During training, we allow new performers to use a mix of Balinese, Indonesian and Kawi languages. For the young monkey warriors, we give them a few simple Kawi words to say during the performance so they only need to memorize a little. Then the kids aren’t over-burdened and frustrated due to the language difficulties. Our first goal is to build their interest in Wayang Wong, make them happy and enjoy performing it.
Honestly, we still don’t have enough youngsters. Our current performances are played by 12-15 people, instead of the ideal 20 dancers. We are still looking for more talent, and we are not exclusively seeking people from inside the clan. We welcome anyone who wishes to join our group, even if they are from outside our village.
How crucial is the ability to use Jawa Kuna or Kawi language in the Wayang Wong dialogue?
Anyone who plays the central roles, such as Rama, Sita and Laksamana, must have full ability in Bahasa Kawi, which is a complex language. The Wayang Wong format requires the use of Jawa Kuna or Kawi. But not all people or spectators understand the language, which is why we have the punakawan (court jester and advisor) characters, such as Sangut, Delem, Merda and Twalen that will interpret the main actors’ Kawi dialogue into Balinese, Indonesian, or even English. This is why the punakawan roles are still played by the more senior performers, who have a better knowledge of vocabulary than children.
How optimistic are you that this breakthrough will help preserve Wayang Wong?
I’m quite confident that this legacy can be preserved. We will keep going with this way of preservation. Welcoming child performers into the Wayang Wong, I believe, has only been done in our village. We received warm applause when these youngsters performed in the 2010 Tabanan Arts Festival. Other villages were still featuring Wayang Wong performers of over 60 years old.
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