Reading The Meaning of Dances Inside the Works of Indonesian Female Authors

Abstract

Related with the woman body discourse that happened a lot in the works of contemporary Indonesian female authors, the one noteworthy was that it`s often found out the close connection between dances as expression through body, and woman body. In the works of the female authors, it frequently found that dance for woman revealed as an active way to show their sense of identity. Considering definition of dance as culture and art element that showed people`s life and feeling through body moves as nonverbal communication, it could be said that looking for the meaning of dance inside the literature works is very meaningful and fascinating. Based on those things, this research has aims to discuss the meaning of dance that melt inside the women life through the Indonesian female authors` works. Looking the reality that the subject of this research is reading the meaning of dance inside the Indonesian female authors` works, thus the research materials are three works of females authors that showed strong connection between the dance and the woman protagonist (leading female role), namely Pada Sebuah Kapal by Nh. Dini, Saman by Ayu Utami and Tarian Bumi by Oka Rusmini. From the discussion about the issues, the summary of this research can be stated as follow, first, Sri`s dance in Pada Sebuah Kapal could be understood as an expression or her sense of identity as a woman. Because Sri was born as fifth child who`s actually unwanted by her parents and rarely communicate with others, she just observed her surround people. However, when she`s dancing, she could communicate both with herself and others. Through dancing, she had courage to say out loud her feelings and mentalities. Second, Shakuntala in Saman celebrated herself through dance. Through dancing, she showed the rights of her body that was belong to her, not to others or society norms. Her dance also confirmed her rejection to be just the dancer, which is “part of celebration for them.” Finally, Luh Sekar dance in Tarian Bumi could be said have strong connection to the power and the desire of women. She danced to get attention and love from men of higher caste. Thus, dance for her was a tool to achieve anything she`s ever wanted, for example higher social degree and power in the society.