Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tuesday, November 11, 1969
. .. . ..... .H. ...HIGA.DA.LY Tue.ay, .ove.er .1, .96
AT
dance
Drawn into the delicate net of the Budaya Troupe
r
Don't Look For
a la mode Here!
By SARA WEISBLAT
At a time when most Amer-
icans know only, and painfully,
the political-military aspects of
Southeast Asia, the Saturday
performance of the Budaya
Troupe from Indonesia provided
a welcome glimpse into tradi-
tional Southeast Asian culture.
Dance forms from Java, Bali
and Sunda as well as two of
the puppet theatre forms were
used to recount a famous epi-
sode from the Ramayana, one
of the great epic poems brought
from India and a favorite
source of Indonesian dance-
drama stories.
The Ramayana is the story
of the beautiful Sita, wife of
the kingly hero Rama, is ab-
ducted by the demon king Raw-
ana. Rama's bird-friend tells
him of her plight and he sets
out to rescue her. After many
events leading to a climactic and
huge battle, the two are re-
united.
Despite the switching from
dance to puppets and the in-
terruptions of applause, the ac-
tions remained dominant, uni-
fied and flowing. For example
in the battle scene, in which
Rawana and Rama "changed"
from shadow figures projected
on a screen to fiercely dancing
men on stage.
The narration, with reminders
of our historical era and our
cultural intrusion in Asia, was
at times a barrier between the
audience and action. But the
narrator skillfully removed him-
self near the climax of the ac-
tion allowing it to build and
finish without the intervention
of such a perspective.
Since one could tell the status
of each character by his cos-
tumes and his manner of danc-
ing such detailed explanations
were almost unnecessary. The
use of hands is especially im-
portant in Indonesian dance
and not just as part of dance
technique; the more royal the
character, the morerbending and
articulation of the fingers.
evil is not in terms for force as
in the West. The Ramayana is
filled with signs of right be-
havior and appearance although
both royal and demonic char-
acters were portrayed with sym-
pathy and skill: Rawana as well
as Rama is a king. But there
were differences in deportment
which reflected the differences
in character. In the Sita-Hanu-
man scene the forces of the
greater good moved more grace-
fully and had a greater power
of bodily control. Their finger
movements were agile and deli-
cate, their physical features
were more refined and exhibited
the ideal type of the handsome
and the well bred-the unclut-
sinuous movement of arm and
fingers; the dancer personified
the notes sounded.
As in Indian civilization, the
arts of music, dance, painting
and sculpture are united as dif-
ferent aspects of one Idea. It
is this philosophic and visible
unity plus the skill of the
Budaya Troupe that draws the
audience into their delicate joy-
ous net. Indrajit's incantations
and his incense made us invis-
ible too and we were one with
them.
The Daiy extends its apologies
to Deborah Linderman for the
misleading headline on her re-
view of "The Boys in the Band."
-L.W.
you can
see it THURSDAY
SGC
VOTE
LAST DAY
Animal characteristics of the tered profile swept elegantly
frightening but lovable monkey from forehead to long and
Hanuman were emphasized by slender nose. In contrast, the
his use of fists, and separating demon types were ugly, moved
his fingers, the evil masked In- jerkily and did not have the
drajit just shook his outstretch- bearing and order of their op-
ed hands, while Sita, Rama and posite numbers. Balinese chil-
the noble Wibisana showed their dren can unmistakably tell
courtly upbringing though har- which characters are good and
monious movement of -individ- which are bad and can surely
ual fingers. determine the correct behavioral
Contrasting this subtly, great model.
vigor was displayed especially The desirability of order and
by the male dancers who pro- harmony, both theatrical and
jected their limbs into space in social which were brought out
an almost sculptural metaphor by the physical movement and
for dominance and power. Com- appearance, were underscored
pared to traditional European by the gamelon's almost mys-
dance, the costumes were color- tical union with the dancers.
ful and contributed to the ef- The gamelon which is exciting
fect - drapery scarves for ex- to hear alone, presented a de-
ample, were masterfully used to lightful change from Western
convey character. (and especially Big Ten) con-
The Ramayana was not just ceptions of a percussion section.
a narration of a story or even And combined with the dance,
of the triumph of good over evil; thedmusic effectively punc-
the division between good and tuated the thrust of a leg, the
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music
trang musical Directions'
By JOE PEHRSON
T lie Composition Department
of the School of Music present-
ed the second of four "Contem-
porary Directions" concerts Sat-
urday night at Rackham Aud.
Unlike the Festival of Contem-
porary Music Series, "Contem-
porary Directions" is a forum
for new ideas in composition,
many of which a r e decidedly
experimental in nature. If Sat-
u day's concert is any indica-
tion, these experiments are get-
ting strangr.
The prurm opened quite un-
officially w i t h a rendition of
('lassie pianio rags, performed by
William Albright, The lights
hiad not yet. dimmed, and the
audience was not suore whether
She concert na really started.
Mlost of theni atrial had been
comiposcd hby Albmight himself,
and consisted of fragments from
some- of his larger works. Al-
bight hias a penchant for the
pop)-art antics of rag-time tunes,
and set the tone of the concert
a 1 i g h t and experimental
moodzr of precision,
Uonomusic, by Joel Chadabe,
is a study in sound. Timbres of
ldifferent instruments
combninet to illustrate an ex-
reme ited pitch range,
Eachl instrumrent loses its char-
acter and separ??ate identity, but
from t his results a ''white
sound," a cons-tant pitch, but a
ng in sound quality, as one
becomes predomi-
nant over anther. The constant
ifn colr requires a tightly
integated-nsemble, and Jack
Fortuer, conducting this work,
vas able to acieve this unity.
In Lius 3Memorium, a piece by
Seymour Shifrin, falls short of
his works heard as part of the
Contemporary Festival. T h i s
piece is unbalanced every-
thing revolves about the piano
part, and depends on this in-
strument for form and content.
The other instruments add little
new material, and the elabora-
tion of themes seems almost pre-
dictable.
A Solemn Music II, by Casti-
glinoni, was performed as part
of the Festival of Contemporary
Music. At that time, the per-
fornance had been far f r o m
perfected. Castiglioni has creat-
ed a powerful and intricate
work, and this repeat perform-
ance did it justice. The percus-
sive sections, in particular, had
been re-defined, and each musi-
cal event became secure in its
precision. The first performance
had been almost devoid of ex-
pressive content, but this has
been added, to the point of ex-
aggeration. The impact of this
work lies in dynamic contrast,
and the emphasis of this con-
trast accounted for most of the
success of this second perform-
amce.
The intermission marked the
end of any remnants of tradi-
tion. The three following works
were of varying quality, but
were new directions. Ballad, by
Salvatore Martirano, was the
least successful. This Frank
Zappa sound extravaganza, com-
plete with an astonishing array
of per-cussive equipment, at-
tempted to mimic the sound
ualiles of a typical night club
setting, The sounds, unfortun-
ately, had little r'elationship to
the activities on stage-the off-
key howling of James Shields,
playing the role of a popular
performer.
Projections, by Joji Yuasa,
explored the sound qualities of
amplified piano and cello. Oc-
casionally, the overtone feed-
back from each instrument
combined to create some excit-
ing sounds, but the work was
much too disjointed. Yuasa
could not convince the listener
that each of his sound events
belonged with the others.
Cave! Four Primates with
Nine Legs!, by Richmond
Browne, is undoubtedly the
strangest work to ever be pre-
sented by the School of Music.
Three performers dressed as
apes and carrying, in turn, sax-
ophone, trombone, and violin,
rushed from the back of the
auditorium and proceeded to
chase each other around the
three-legged primate, the piano.
Eachvisual expression was ac-
companied with a sound event,
as the primates encountered
curiosity, aggression, and the
harmony of attempting to work
together. Their normal means of
expression were forced upon
them. Oddly enough, the instru-
ment-carrying apes were not
greeted with warm reception:
their antics were not as subtle
as those of human variety.
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Get out and vote
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Vote NO on the bookstore referendum.
WABX Presents:
GORDON LIGHTFOOT
Friday, Nov. 21
8:30 P.M.
FORD AUDITORIUM (Detroit)
TICKETS: $4.50, 3.50, 2.50
Tickets available at Ford Aud.
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MAIL ORDERS: Send checks or
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The producers of the All American College Show, hosted by Arthur
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Those chosen willebe flown to Hollywood to appear o a national tele-
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