Borobudur to host spectacular performance
Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 05/18/2010 9:40 AM | Headlines
The Borobudur temple will host an epic cultural event on May 22 in conjunction with Buddhist Vesak Day (the birthday of the Buddha), says a director of PT Taman Wisata Borobudur, the state-owned company managing the temple.
“It will be a spectacular cultural event, with stunning lighting. Borobudur will be lit up as if it were daytime,” Taman Wisata Borobudur director of marketing Agus Kani told The Jakarta Post recently.
Some 500 dancers and traditional musicians will perform the Sendratari Mahakarya Borobudur, a 120-minute show about the legend of the Borobudur ’s coming into being. With such a huge number of performers, Agus said, the Mahakarya Borobudur show was the biggest play in Indonesia .
“The story is about King Samaratungga from the Syailendra dynasty building the Borobudur . It took around half a century to build the temple,” he said.
The show will tell how the glorious monument was built as a symbol opposing moral decadence. It will describe the lives of residents of Menoreh, a place full of evil and hostility that created an atmosphere tainted with fear, 11 centuries ago.
Their spiritual leader Rakai Pikatan was so concerned about the situation that he ordered King Samaratungga — who started to build the temple — to spread good deeds by building stone terraces around the temple. The entire monument, later called Borobudur , is a religious symbol highlighting the quest to free humans from evil so they can live in peace.
Mahakarya Borobudur tells the story behind the building of the Borobudur temple, which began during the reign of King Samaratungga and was completed during the era of King Gunadharma. Borobudur is the biggest Buddhist structure in the world and was built around 1,200 years ago.
This year will be the fifth year for the show, which will be performed at the Aksobya open theater at the foot of the temple. Organizers are expecting to sell 500 tickets to the show.
Agus said tickets would cost around Rp 500,000 each. According to the website www.borobudurpark.co.id, tickets for festival seats are selling for US$30 each, gold seats for $60 and platinum seats for $80.
The performers are from the Indonesia Art Institute in Surakarta and from communities around Borobudur . The choreographers of the dance fast while creating the dance. Agus explained, “It’s mixing history and legend and transforming them into an art form. So first they have to perform rituals.”
