The Rebel of Indonesian Dance : Bagong has both garnered praise and stirred controversy for incorporating a world of influences in his choreography.

Some people call him a genius for bringing innovation to dance. Others--even in Indonesia--say his works border on heresy for drawing on far too many modern influences.

No matter where Bagong Dance Theatre of Yogyakarta appears, whether in Asia or in Europe, audiences rarely remain neutral to its artistry. Its director, Bagong Kussudiardjo, widely regarded as Indonesia’s grand old man of Javanese dance, incorporates choreographic styles not only from the country’s regions, but also from Japanese theater and Martha Graham.

Bagong, as he is known in dance circles, began studying the art of Javanese, Sumatran, Balinese and Sundanese dance and painting at the age of 17. He choreographed his first works in his 20s and as a member of the Indonesian Painting Club visited Romania, Hungary, Italy and Sri Lanka with art exhibitions. In 1957, he studied Graham technique in New York as a Rockefeller Foundation scholar before more training in Europe and Asia.

The Bagong Kussudiardjo Dance Training Centre opened in Yogyakarta in 1958 and since then hundreds of freestyle works and dance-dramas have earned the director dozens of awards and honors.

And while the 29-member dance company has performed throughout the world, the group’s appearances Thursday and May 12 in Glendale mark part of a U. S. debut timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence.

Prophetically, the program opens with “Gema Nusantara (Echo of the Nation),” a dance to depict sound and movement from throughout Indonesia’s regions. The title’s English translation is literal.

“It’s more ‘Reverberation’ than ‘Echo,’ ” said Hardjo Susilo, associate professor of music at the University of Hawaii and a lifelong friend of Bagong since they were boys in Yogyakarta in central Java. “After the independence, artists wanted to express the creation of Indonesia, but traditional dance tended to be very divisive. What Bagong tried to do is to create his own expression of what regional elements he could use. The effect is reverberating.”

Music for all of the company’s programs will be performed by nine members of the Bagong Gamelan Orchestra, who play 35 handcrafted instruments, including drums, gongs, flutes, cymbals, string instruments and lutes.

“Bagong is really intelligent to choose this particular dance to open this event,” said Nyoman Wenten of the CalArts faculty in Valencia, one of the few colleges where Indonesian dance can be chosen as an area of emphasis for ethnomusicology majors. Wenten concentrates on Balinese dance and gamelan, his wife, Nanik, teaches “traditional” Indonesian dance, and his father-in-law, Wasitodipuro, whom students knew as “Pak” (Father) Cokro before he retired in 1991 from the CalArts faculty, is Bagong’s musical director in Yogyakarta.

Even today in Indonesia, after decades of his innovative blending of styles, both faculty members say Bagong remains the focus of controversy. Wenten says, “Bagong tries to tie it all together--West Java, East Java, Bali, the North Coast, even American modern dance, and to the purist, well. . . .”

Susilo was more specific: “When he came back after studying with Martha Graham for six months, his Javanese dance was a regional art and there was a feeling that he should be contributing more to the national picture, but still using elements from Indonesia more than ever.

“Over the years, when the company performed, those (artists) from Bali and Sunda were not happy because Bagong took a little from here, a little from there. . . . But the general public seemed to like that. It seemed to be recognizable of a lot of the dynamic from Bali.”

For its debut, the program includes two classical dances from Yogyakarta; a modern work based on a traditional folk dance; “Pesta Desa” celebrating the harvest, and “Kebyar,” a blend of modern and traditional styles using red wooden fans with the dancers portraying the night sky full of shining stars.

“Kebyar” is also the name of a dynamic Balinese dance style performed by a single male or female, Susilo said, and the two different uses of the word should be clarified. Kebyar, as an art form “was introduced around 1925 and audiences familiar with Indonesian dance may wonder, ‘What is Bagong doing here?’ His use of ‘Kebyar’ in the title may be the colloquial sense and not the artistic.”

After intermission, the remainder of the program is devoted to “Ramabargawa,” a condensation of a tale from “The Ramayana.” It tells the story of a priest’s son whose father orders him to kill his mother. Remorseful and cursed by the heavens for his deed, Ramabargawa journeys through life battling knights until he meets Rama, a brave knight who disarms him.

“This part of ‘The Ramayana’ is not as well-known as other parts and it’s a common practice to provide your own personal twist to the story,” Susilo said.

“For many people, an evening with Bagong is either pleasantly surprising or surprisingly disappointing. To me, what he does is all valid.”

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WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Bagong Dance Theatre of Yogyakarta.

Location: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

Hours: 8 p.m. Thursday and May 12.

Price: $15.50 to $32.50.

Call: (800) 233-3123.