Cahwati Sugiarto

Born in Banyumas in 1982, Cahwati is a composer, singer, musician, dancer and choreographer. She has performed in numerous dance, music and theatre productions since 2000: with Slamet Gundono (in Wayang Suket), Garin Nugroho (in Opera Jawa, Selendang Merah, Nyai, Pager Bumi and Setan Jawa touring Netherlands, France, Melbourne, Jakarta and Solo), Goenawan Mohamad, Tony Prabowo and Melati Suryodarmo (in operas Sisyphus, Macbeth and Gandari touring Jakarta, Belgium and Frankfurt), Deddy Luthan Dance Company and Sen Hea Ha (touring Belgium, Netherland, France, Singapore and Austria). She has also performed as a dancer for Eko Supriyanto, Didik Nini Thowok, Fajar Satriadi amongst other artists.

As choreographer, she has created Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (taken from Ahmad Tohari's trilogy), Sang Nak, Ronggeng Manis, Bedhaya Idek, Brantrara, and other choreographies.

In more recent years, as she became involved in productions as musician, she started to develop work as a composer, even though she is a graduate of the Dance Department of Indonesian Arts Institut in Central Jawa.

Cahwati’s husband Waluyo is a dalang (wayang puppeteer), and together they presented their work Wayang Pesisir in Berlin and Turkey. 

Rianto and Cahwati have been working together since 2016. They presented Medium (touring Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, France, Switzerland, USA, Prague, Italy, Bulgaria and China). Cahwati composed the music and performed it in Rianto's latest work, Hijrah, which premiered at De SIngel in Antwerp, Belgium and will be presented at Rising Festival in Melbourne, Australia in June 2022. 

Cahwati has also composed music for Gavin Nugroho at the Pesta Raya Malay Festival of Art at Singapore, Melati Suryodarmo for International Co-Production Fund, Bathara Saverigadi, and Razan Wirdjosanjojo for his film Sweating Rocks for A_PART.