Research Catalog

Title

[Tassilo Adam film screening for Bu Laksmito] [and] [Interview with Aji Dahmeh] [videorecording].

Publication

1989 and/or 1990.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Burton, Deena.
• La Plante, Skip.

Description

2 videodiscs (NTSC) (103 min.) : sd., col.; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

In 1989-1990 a Fulbright Scholarship enabled Deena Burton to take copies of Tassilo Adam's ethnographic dance films, which she had edited, back to Indonesia. She presented screenings for Indonesian artists and scholars, eliciting their comments and background information. These screenings were recorded on 8mm videocassette. Adam's films are not visible on the screen, and there is no dance content. In the first segment of this recording, Bu Laksmito [Raden Ayu Laksmito Rukmi; Bu is an honorific], a former bedoyo dancer, is briefly seen dancing, then watching the Adam films with Burton and others, a photograph of her youthful self propped up on the monitor. The bedoyo, usually danced by nine women, was a sacred dance in the courts of Central Java, and was performed only by a special ensemble of dancers. The remainder of the recording is an informal interview with Aji Dahmeh, director of a museum in Jakarta, by Burton and Skip La Plante (both off-camera). The conversation ranges over a wide variety of topics, among them his suggestions of people whom Burton should interview in Java, wayang wong (dance drama) as a twentieth-century phenomenon, the achievements of Indonesian dancer-choreographers Sal Murgiyanto and Sardono Kusumo, the paucity of writing on Java from a Javanese perspective, the rich cultures of Indonesia and India, classical music and composers, and the difficulty of determining right and wrong.

Series Statement

Deena Burton Collection

Alternative Title

[Interview with Aji Dahmeh]

Subject

• Adam, Tassilo
• Dance > Indonesia

Genre/Form

Video.

Note

• Titles supplied by cataloger.

Event (note)

• Screening for Bu Laksmito recorded at the home of Guru Sukarno, Java, in 1989 or 1990.

Funding (note)

• Funding for the preservation and cataloging of the Deena Burton Collection was provided in part by the Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

System Details (note)

• DVD.

Source (note)

• Skip La Plante.

Biography (note)

• Deena Burton, 1948-2005, was an American dancer, choreographer, and scholar of Indonesian dance. During her first trip to Indonesia in 1976-1980, she studied a variety of Indonesian dance styles. After returning to New York City, she obtained a master's degree in arts administration from Columbia University in 1982. Working with several dance, music, and theater groups, she staged both original and Indonesian choreographies, and founded her own company, Bali-Java Dance Theater. She frequently collaborated with composer Skip La Plante, whom she later married. She was among the founders of the New York Indonesian Consulate Gamelan ensemble, later called Gamelan Kusuma Laras. She was a major force behind the not-for-profit organization Arts Indonesia. At the New York Public Library, she edited the Tassilo Adam films, an invaluable collection shot in Indonesia in the 1920s, and received a Fulbright Scholarship to take the edited films to Indonesia in 1989-1990. She received a Ph.D. in performance studies from New York University in 1997, writing her dissertation on Claire Holt. For a fuller biography, see: http://www.gamelan.org/deenaburton/deenabio.html.

Contents

Disc 1: Screening for Bu Laksmito (ca. 28 min.) -- Interview with Aji Dahmeh (ca. 63 min.) -- Disc 2: Continuation of interview with Aji Dahmeh (ca. 10 min.).

Call Number

*MGZIDVD 5-4363

OCLC

275358813

Title

[Tassilo Adam film screening for Bu Laksmito] [and] [Interview with Aji Dahmeh] [videorecording].

Imprint

1989 and/or 1990.

Series

Deena Burton Collection

System Details

DVD.

Event

Screening for Bu Laksmito recorded at the home of Guru Sukarno, Java, in 1989 or 1990.

Funding

Funding for the preservation and cataloging of the Deena Burton Collection was provided in part by the Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Biography

Deena Burton, 1948-2005, was an American dancer, choreographer, and scholar of Indonesian dance. During her first trip to Indonesia in 1976-1980, she studied a variety of Indonesian dance styles. After returning to New York City, she obtained a master's degree in arts administration from Columbia University in 1982. Working with several dance, music, and theater groups, she staged both original and Indonesian choreographies, and founded her own company, Bali-Java Dance Theater. She frequently collaborated with composer Skip La Plante, whom she later married. She was among the founders of the New York Indonesian Consulate Gamelan ensemble, later called Gamelan Kusuma Laras. She was a major force behind the not-for-profit organization Arts Indonesia. At the New York Public Library, she edited the Tassilo Adam films, an invaluable collection shot in Indonesia in the 1920s, and received a Fulbright Scholarship to take the edited films to Indonesia in 1989-1990. She received a Ph.D. in performance studies from New York University in 1997, writing her dissertation on Claire Holt. For a fuller biography, see: http://www.gamelan.org/deenaburton/deenabio.html.

Local Note

The first 20 min. of the original recording were unstable and were not transferred onto preservation and user copies.

Source

Gift; Skip La Plante.

Added Author

Burton, Deena.

La Plante, Skip.

Research Call Number

*MGZIDVD 5-4363