RUSINI HENDRO PURNOMO SIDI (dancer/choreography) has been a dancer and choreographer for 47 years. She is an alumna of the Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia (ASKI) Surakarta and co-founder of its dance department, and holds a master’s degree from Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Since 1976 she has served on the faculty at the Indonesian Institute for the Arts in Surakarta, where she teaches Javanese court dance Bedhaya and Srimpi. She was born and grew up in a family of artists in Surakarta, and is the daughter of a “Gathotkaca” actor and dancer, bapak Rusman and ibu Darsi (one of the oldest and greatest master dancers in Solo), from the Wayang Orang Sriwedari (human puppet performance).

Since 1980 Sidi has served as a teacher and dancer at the Mangkunegaran and Keraton Kasunanan palace in Surakarta. Her dances and choreographies have been performed on tour in Europe, Asia, and the United States with the Indonesian Institute for the Arts and Mangkunegaran palace. She danced and choreographed for Peter Sellars and John Adams’ opera A Flowering Tree, which premiered at the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna in 2006 and was subsequently performed with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, the San Francisco Symphony, the Barbican Centre in London, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln Center in New York, and now here at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Sidi is passionate about sharing her knowledge of Javanese court dances, and always open to the ideas of new contemporary vocabulary for her dances and choreography. She believes that her “rasa” of Javanese dance and willingness to engage on new collaborations add life to her dancing.