handwriting, sketch, screenwriting

A thin semitransparent sketch paper has been attached to the watercolour 1972.08.227.A, this sheet is loose. On the loose sheet is the call for corrections in colour and dress, written in Dutch, most likely by Beata van Helsdingen Schoevers, the author of Tyra’s dansillustrations. The two women had intensive correspondence at times and Beata van Helsdingen Schoevers possessed great competence about serimpy. The watercolours depicting serimpi and bedaya in Tyra Kleen’s collection 1972.8 were partly added as illustrations to Het Serimpi Boek (Volkslectuur, Weltevreden 1925) with text based on Beata van Helsdingen Schoevers notes. Beata died hastily (1921) before the book was completed and Tyra renounced the right to his original watercolours to the publisher. However, the vast majority of watercolours are found in the museum’s collection The watercolours depict female serimpia and bedaya dancers at the main court (Susuhunan’s palace, Kraton) in Surakarta, central Java, and are published in the aforementioned book. Serimpi and the dance positions of the Bedayadans are indicated with the Javanese titles. Bedaya Ketawang (alternatively kedawang) is very statue- and symbolically charged, graceful and elegant. Strict rules prevail both during the dance’s training and at its performance. The audience of a bedaya ketawang dance is, apart from the princely “susuhunan,” itself made up of members of the court. Bedaya dancers have traditionally been recruited outside the hoof environment while serimpid dancers are usually related, daughters and grandchildren. Bedhaya Seming is a type of ketawang, also called bedaya ketawang, as specific to the sultan court in Yogyakarta.