Description:
A performance of Javanese gamelan music and dance as part of the Soundwaves – Ripple Festival presented by Warringah Council featuring the solo dance Gambir Anom in Central Javanese style (danced by Tabitha Williams) and a selection of traditional instrumental gamelan pieces in the pelog scale from gendhing alus (refined) to gendhing soran (loud style) to gendhing gecul (humorous).
Performers
Dancer:
Tabitha Williams (Gambir Anom)
Musicians:
Kath Azali, Anne Bourke, Giles Gaskell, Prue Gibbs, Roger Gilchrist, Grace Hadiwijaya, Sophian Hoe, Camilla Ip, Lydia Kieven, Tracy Kinchington, Peggy Polias, David Shannon, Thomas Stewart, Danny Yee
Program
Ladrang Slamet, laras pelog
Gendhing Dhenggung Turulare, laras pelog pathet lima
Ketawang Subakastawa, laras pelog pathet nem
Beksan Gambir Anom, laras pelog pathet nem
In this popular dance which draws heavily in its vocabulary of movements from masked dance, the male character Gambir Anom is usually performed by a female dancer. He is on his way to war but is constantly distracted by thoughts of his loved one. Imagining that she is there before him, he becomes excited and ecstatic and grooms and preens himself in order to impress her. His hallucinations are so powerful that he even reaches out to embrace her. When reality eventually hits, he becomes disconsolate and resigns himself to his duty.
