Introduction
On this page, we share a collection of articles and films on Amerta Movement by practitioners, researchers, artists and authors in Indonesia. Amerta Movement is described by its founder Suprapto Suryodarmo (2009) as ‘movement meditation, or dance meditation’ with the elements of ‘free movement, Vipassana, and surrendering.’
This webpage is a space to circulate new offerings in written, audio and visual formats that explore facets of Amerta Movement. It adds to and is inspired by existing web resources developed by the Amerta Movement community including the Amerta Movers WordPress, Web Art Garden, and Amerta Basics YouTube channel. We believe that web resources are an accessible and social way of sharing internationally in a digital age, as well as a means for presenting practice-based contributions. We hope including different formats will encourage new authors and highlight practice as a form of knowledge.
The contributions include a variety of themes and styles, such as personal reflections, practice knowledge, theoretical perspectives and considerations of Prapto’s legacy. We welcome both formal and informal expressions, from contributors of different generations, highlighting their relationship with Amerta Movement. To help readers navigate the content, we have grouped the materials according to the following themes:
- Personal reflections
- Deny Hermawan (memories)
- Dody Eskha Aquinas (values/nilai)
- Theresia Alit (inner movement)
- Theoretical perspectives
- Bobby Steven (religion)
- Martha Susilowati (women's empowerment)
- Yuliana Meneses (posthumanism)
- Legacy
- Diane Butler (developing the ‘Idea of Joged Amerta’)
- Sephia Putri Sriyanto (remembering five years)
- Riwanto Tirtosudarmo (poetic tribute)
- Practice knowledge
- Agus Bima Prayitna (mandala)
- Alexander Gebe (dialogue)
- Cyntia Ingrid (spontaneity, connecting, awareness)
- Otneil Tasman and Mulyani (balance in imbalance)
- Panji Satrio and Djarot B Dusarno (purification, offering, surrender)
- Panji Wibowo (mantras and mountain/soloah pujamantra dan merti gunung)
- Rifa Fitriana (moving in nature/ ngolah doyo)
- Silvia Dewi Marthaningrum (moving in nature)
- Sitras Anjalin (indoor/outdoor)
- Susana Miranti Kroeber and Yasudah S. (inner and outer/ batin lahir)
- Widya Ayu Kusuma Wardini (greeting, salam)
Alongside these, we have included a document that lists a range of other publications and videos available on Amerta Movement in Indonesia and by Indonesian authors. [Other contributions on Amerta Movement by authors in Indonesia]
We welcome you to find other themes and insights in the work, and different pathways for engaging with the material. We invite each of you to join us in dialogue about these contributions and encourage you to create your own. We hope that our collection can grow over time, with new authors and themes.
Dr. Emma Meehan, Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University; Dr Samsul Maarif, Ribka Barus, M Rizal Abdi, Centre for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Universitas Gadjah Mada
Contact: Emma Meehan (emma.meehan@coventry.ac.uk )
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank many people whose inspiration and work has made this possible. With thanks to our panel members on ‘Amerta Movement, Speaking and Writing’ (2023) at the Srawung Rukun in Rumah Banjarsari for stimulating ideas. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. Sandra Reeve, Dr. Riwanto Tirtosudarmo and Andrew Carey who have supported us to reflect on Amerta Movement and publishing. We are grateful for the ongoing contact with Dr. Diane Butler, as well as the family of Prapto including Melati and Galih. With thanks to the wider Amerta Movement community for their engagement, including Keith Miller. Thanks to the core team who worked on this project as well as the people who helped editing, translating, administration, and social media. Thanks to C-DaRE, Coventry University, CRCS, Universitas Gadjah Mada, the Coventry University ODA fund and Leverhulme Trust. And finally, to all the contributors who have given their time to create knowledge and share it on Amerta Movement, for circulation with the wider public.
References
Suprapto Suryodarmo 2009. Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’. Paper for National Seminar on The Art of Dance in Human Life convened by Jurusan Tari, Fakultas Seni Pertunjukan, Institut Seni Indonesia-Surakarta, 19 Desember. [Meditation in Dance: ‘Dance Meditation?’ translated from the Indonesian by Diane Butler.]
https://amertamovers.wordpress.com/resources/
