faces Close-up
Ratih Soe Kosasie’s many talents as acquired along life’s adventures and surprises
s most of life’s beginnings are small, so is Ratih Soe Kosasie’s. She first posed as a 16-year-old for a Canon shop in Malang. After moving to Malang from Blitar for university, Ratih started to model more seriously. “I was introduced to Surabaya’s then-top model, Lisa Gunawan, who took me under her Know How agency,” Ratih said. “There I won competitions such as Top Model Indonesia 1985 by model and designer Rahadian Yamin.”
Interspersed with her studies in Business Administration, Ratih always took a week off schooling each month and rode on the night bus to Jakrta. “Beforehand, I’d sent telegrams asking for a job to designers, magazines, and so on,” said Ratih. Luckily, her teachers understood that she strived to earn good grades while pursuing her profession.
Ratih quickly outgrew the job, both the modelling and a short stint at a bank, so she braved moving to Cambridge in the UK to learn interior design and to meet her husband, who was then a boyfriend she knew after four months of phone-dating.
“Before, I thought these educations were just knowledge to manage my own home,” Ratih said, “It turned out well now that my family owns a hotel in Bali and my friends often consult me regarding interior designs.”
Abroad, her future husband brought yet another adventure: tango. While he loves the music, for Ratih it was boring and bleak— words that would prove otherwise once she agreed to see a performance around 10 years ago. “Deep within, it just clicked and I felt connected to the meanings conveyed by tango,” said Ratih. “The man and the woman are always connected and communicating with each other, be it near or far.”
Thus began her journey in tango starting from a month-long, two-hour practice each day both to test her newfound passion and her commitment to it. Her husband understands that, as a social dancer, her intimacy and close contact to another man is limited to the mere minutes on the dance floor.
The month quickly passed to almost two years, when the late Maria Lukito approached her to dance at The Only One Club, or The O1, a few times a month. Maria further pushed Ratih to develop an identity in her dancing, so she danced in a kebaya by Anne Avantie. Moreover, Maria helped brought Ratih to the international tango circuit starting from a diplomatic event in Argentina in 2011. That year, with Ratih’s name and Maria’s support, Tango in Paradise (TIP) started in Bali with Indonesian touches such as last year’s Bali theme involving traditional dancers.
Humanity is another side to the festival as the proceeds go to Yayasan Senyum Bali, which channels it for surgeries on children with craniofacial disabilities. This year’s TIP was more special not only because of its last-minute relocation to grandkemang Jakarta due to Mt Agung’s eruption. “I dedicated the latest TIP to the late Ibu Maria, because without her role this tango festival wouldn’t be,” said Ratih.
Now enjoying all she is both in life and in tango, Ratih is even taking up rumba, as tested out at last year’s festival when Ratih paired up with the second-rank World Latin Professional dancer Stefano di Filippo after touch-and-go yearlong practice.
“I did say a few times that tango is the last dance I’d ever learn,” Ratih said. “But by learning other dances I can promote tango by reaching out to more dance communities.” Tango is still her top priority for now as the beat has also happily infecting her husband and two daughters.