Gusmiati Suid pools talent with German<\/p>\n
By Michael Dusche<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Gusmiati Suid, chief of Gumarang Sakti Dance
\nCompany, and Joachim Schlomer, chief choreographer of Tanz
\nTheater Basel, will reveal this weekend the fruit of four weeks
\nof intense intercultural collaboration.<\/p>\n
It is expected that the premiere on Friday, followed by
\nperformances on Saturday and Sunday, at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
\nwill be an exciting event since the collaboration of Gusmiati
\nSuid, born in 1942 in West Sumatra, and Joachim Schlomer, born in
\n1962 in West Germany, involves two internationally acclaimed
\nartists from nearly antagonistic schools.<\/p>\n
Gusmiati Suid learned to dance in the Minangkabau style of
\nrural West Sumatra. Her family endowed her with the skills of the
\ntraditional martial art pencak silat. She attended the Academy of
\nTraditional Music and Arts in Padang Panjang where she majored in
\nMinang traditional music.<\/p>\n
At the heart of Minang culture lies silat whose many
\nvariations she studied in years of field research, traveling from
\nvillage to village in West Sumatra.<\/p>\n
In 1982 Gusmiati Suid founded the Gumarang Sakti Dance
\nCompany. In 1987 she moved to Jakarta, and later to Depok on the
\nsouthern border of the city.<\/p>\n
A major breakthrough in her career was her participation in
\nthe Asian Festival of Theater, Dance and Martial Arts in India.
\nShe also took part in the International Festival of Dance
\nAcademies in Hong Kong in 1989 and was invited to the 1990
\nfestival in LaBaulle, France.<\/p>\n
During the 1990 through 1991 season, Gusmiati Suid performed
\nin New York and won the New York Dance Performance (Bessie)
\nAward.<\/p>\n
In 1994 she participated in the International Festival of
\nDance in Leverkusen, Germany, in the forum "Modern Dance -- from
\nIsadora to Pina". Gumarang Sakti performed as one of 10 selected
\ngroups together with the ensembles of Isadora Duncan and Pina
\nBausch, two of the most famous contemporary choreographers.<\/p>\n
In 1998 Gusmiati Suid opened Art Summit Indonesia with Api
\nDalam Sekam which literally translates into "fire in the rice
\nspray" or "secret desires".<\/p>\n
Schlomer, by contrast, was trained at Germany's most
\noutstanding school for contemporary dance, the FolEwanghochschule
\nin Essen, a highly urban environment. At a very young age he
\ncooperated with Pina Bausch.<\/p>\n
In 1991, Schlomer founded his own dance group, Company Josh,
\nand was appointed chief of ballet at the theater in the city of
\nUlm in Germany.<\/p>\n
In 1993, he choreographed two pieces for Mikhail Baryshnikov's
\nWhite Oak Dance Project.<\/p>\n
From 1994 to 1996, Schlomer was director of the newly founded
\nDeutsches National Theater in Goethe-town Weimar. One of the most
\noutstanding creations from the period was Highlands or the
\nRepercussions of Stones, which was performed at the Art Summit
\nIndonesia of 1995.<\/p>\n
Schlomer has been director of Tanz Theater Basel for the past
\nfive years.<\/p>\n
In accordance with the idea of pencak silat as a sublimated
\nform of ritualized fighting, Gusmiati Suid accents the
\ncommunication of the human body with its potentially threatening
\nenvironment. In fighting, movements are triggered by outside
\nsources. In contrast, Schlomer develops his choreography through
\nconcentrating on energetic poles inherent in the human body. The
\nflow of movement is thus triggered and directed by inside sources
\nwhich in turn are stimulated by the flow of the music.<\/p>\n
The structure in time is thus mainly given by the music,
\nwhereas Gusmiati Suid's approach depends heavily on the
\nnarrative. Stipulation of a naturalistic setting with the human
\nbeing exposed to imaginative threats from animals or fellow
\nhumans implies the use of storytelling as an artistic means aside
\nfrom music. Such narrative elements are almost absent in
\nSchlomer's artistic framework. Orientation is provided by an
\nabstract scheme of elementary movements in space and some
\nfundamental human dispositions such as emptiness and plenty,
\nvulnerability and strength.<\/p>\n
When artists of such different backgrounds meet, communication
\neither breaks down or they find a common language that transcends
\nthe former limitations of both. With Joachim Schlomer and
\nGusmiati Suid, the latter seems to be the case. Each arranged,
\nunder the scrutiny of the other, a piece of choreography that
\nwill be performed by a mixed group of dancers -- half of their
\nmembers European and the rest Indonesian -- and be accompanied by
\nan Indonesian group of musicians.<\/p>\n
The encounter was organized by the Goethe Institut who brought
\nthe two choreographers together back in 1997 when a first
\nworkshop was arranged in Depok, the base of Gumarang Sakti.<\/p>",
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