On August 5, 2018, at Prof. Dr. Djajusman Auditorium and Performance Hall of Campus B, LSPR – Jakarta, Class 21-3A presented a performance of a tragic traditional Javanese story based on the historical events. The story begins in 1937, during the Dutch invasion into lands of Indonesia. The main heroine, Betari, is a 27-years-old girl from Central Java. She is a dancer who highly values her heritage and culture.
Betari and Alex falling in love with each other
One day, she fell in love with a retired Dutch Army General named Alexander van Rujben Zar Smith. At that time, the Dutch Community did not except a relationship with Javanese women, but it didn’t frighten Alex and Betari to follow their feelings and to be together.
Surya readed text from his homeland
Alex has retired, but he receives various orders from time to time from his homeland. One day, Alex receives an order to assassinate Betari because she was as a renowned figure for Indonesian people. Alex hesitates to do this. Instead, his friend, Surya, kidnaps Betari and kills all the dancers simultaneously. After that, Surya commands him to kill Betari. Alex rejects. Being annoyed with his hesitation, Surya takes his gun. He aims to kill Betari. ‘If dancers are killed, they will dance in the hell,’ Betari warns. But nothing stops Surya to fulfill the order and he kills Betari. She falls down on the floor.
Surya tried to kill Betari
Some moments later, Surya celebrates his success and tries to cheer Alex up. Suddenly and unexpectedly for everyone, Betari and her dancers wearing masks appear out of nowhere. They are dancing around Surya and torturing him with enormous pain. (Irfan/Tarrasch)
