RI should start professional ballet company: Tamara<\/p>\n
By Mariam Sutalaksana<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A former principal dancer for Martha Graham
\ncompany, Helen McGehee, once said, \"You don't choose dance, it
\nchooses you.\" If that statement rings true in Indonesia, then
\nperhaps only a handful of individuals are chosen to be ballet or
\nmodern dancers in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The world of ballet and modern dance in Indonesia is young and
\nthe quality of both the performers and choreographers cannot and
\nshould not be compared to those abroad, such as the New York City
\nBallet or the Lyon Opera Ballet who were in Jakarta last March.
\nHowever, there are a handful of individuals who, in the struggle
\nto continuously improve the quality of ballet and modern dance,
\nhave decided to embrace this art seriously. Among them is Maya
\nTamara, the director of the Namarina School of Ballet, Jazz and
\nFitness, who has consistently lived and breathed dance both as a
\nchoreographer and a leader to her school.<\/p>\n
This friendly and confident lady in her mid-30s recalled in an
\ninterview with The Jakarta Post her early dance training and her
\njourney as a performer and a choreographer in Indonesia. The
\ninterview, which started as a getting-to-know-you question-and-
\nanswer session, turned into a warm discussion ranging from
\nquestioning the quality of male Indonesian dancers to the
\nposition of ballet amidst the rich tradition of local dances.<\/p>\n
Question: What should I call you?<\/p>\n
\"You could just call me Maya,\" Tamara said while she brought
\nwith her a few booklets on her school and some programs on past
\nperformances of Namarina. In them, her dance training history was
\nlaid out. Upon graduation on July 1981, this mother of boys aged
\neight and four, became the first Indonesian to receive three
\ndegrees from The Royal Academy of Dancing, London, which were
\nLRAD (Teacher's Diploma), ARAD (Dancer's Diploma) and AISTD
\n(Teacher's and Dancer's Diploma National Branch ISTD). While she
\nstarted dancing at the age of five, she professes she had always
\nenjoyed dancing and was never forced to become a dancer by her
\nmother the late Nanny Lubis, a pioneer of Indonesian Ballet.<\/p>\n
What exactly did you learn at the Royal Academy of dancing?<\/p>\n
Some of the courses that I studied were anatomy, classical
\nballet, music, history of dance, Laban notation, modern and jazz
\nand national dances. But I concentrated mostly in classical
\nballet, as my degree represents.<\/p>\n
And could you explain a little bit about your activities in
\nIndonesia?<\/p>\n
\"I came back in 1981 and became the artistic director
\nalongside my mother who was the director then. I performed
\nuntil ... in 1986 I got married to an entrepreneur in graphic
\ndesign who is also my technical advisor for the productions and
\ndecided to quit performing and concentrate as a director and
\nchoreographer.\"<\/p>\n
Tamara decided this when at one time she was dancing as
\nGiselle on stage and forgot to throw her flowers because she
\nworried too much about whether the dancers were ready to enter,
\nor whether the costumes were right. Tamara is now preparing to
\nregenerate the Namarina school.<\/p>\n
\"Ever since my mother passed away in 1993, I am now both the
\nexecutive director as well as the artistic director. I am in
\nsearch of who's the best to replace one of my positions. I don't
\nknow yet. I'm also trying to clean up the internal management of
\nmy school. This year is also the 40-years of Namarina and some
\nprograms are lined up for its celebration. I've also been asked
\nonce again by the government to choreograph for PON (National
\nGames) this year. You see, here (in Indonesia) once they're
\ncomfortable with one person they tend to stick to that one
\nperson.\"<\/p>\n
Have you thought about asking one of you children to follow in
\nyour footsteps?<\/p>\n
\"I don't think my eldest son would, but maybe the youngest.
\nHe's only four years old. Now what we really need are male ballet
\ndancers, there are already thousands of female dancers.\"<\/p>\n
Tamara believes most of the male dancers start their training
\nlate, sometimes in their 20s.<\/p>\n
\"Maybe because there are not too many of them, they study at
\nmany different schools of ballet and dance with different dance
\ngroups and do not stick to one school. I suppose they dance at
\ndifferent places to earn a living. However, it becomes hard to
\ntrain them to a maximum level of technique.\"<\/p>\n
I saw some male dancers at a Namarina performance last month
\nin the piece The Best of Times, I suppose they are not from your
\nschool?<\/p>\n
\"No, they occasionally take classes here but are not full-time
\nstudents.\"<\/p>\n
When asked to describe ballet's position in Indonesia's dance
\nscene, she comments that people here have a misconception about
\nballet as a dance from the West. She thinks ballet should be seen
\nas international.<\/p>\n
\"I think Indonesia should start an official professional
\nballet company that would represent this country. For example,
\nThailand, the Philippines and Singapore already have a national
\nballet company. Some dance groups here call themselves
\nprofessional but are not managed like one.\"<\/p>\n
Tamara's idea is a dance company with up to ten dancers
\nworking full time under professional management. She did not deny
\nthe need for massive funding and sponsorship, nevertheless she
\nthinks it is possible.<\/p>\n
\"We probably would need to pay these dancers about US$500 a
\nmonth and we need someone to concentrate fully in the running of
\nsuch a company.\"<\/p>\n
The problem now, according to Tamara, is that many qualified
\nteachers, choreographers and dancers usually own a school so
\ntheir minds are split, and it would be hard to achieve maximum
\nresults with the shared concentration and efforts.<\/p>\n
You think the dancers would be willing to work full time as
\ndancers?<\/p>\n
\"I am pretty sure those dancers who love this field would
\nright away leave their current professions to dance if such a
\ncompany is realized. Dancing in a company is different than
\ndancing at school, this would help improve on the quality of
\ndancers. The competition is greater.\"<\/p>\n
Tamara also commented on the slight incompatibility of ballet
\nto the Indonesian body. She described the situation of dark skin
\nunder lighting looks bluish, while yellow skin would look pale.
\nHowever, she still thought it should be adopted as technique. Her
\nhesitation to call foreign choreographers to set a dance piece
\nfor her school was to encourage Indonesian choreographers to
\ncreate and to avoid the perception that Indonesians are only fit
\nas dancers and not creators.<\/p>\n
Tamara believes that ballet when handled by Indonesians would
\nhave the characteristics of Indonesia. Rather than diminish, it
\nshould enrich the Indonesian dance culture. She said she would
\nnot create, for example, a nude dance, like an American might.<\/p>\n
\"I would probably create on the basis of ballet but I would
\nfollow the norms of our culture, in terms of costumes and
\nsometimes themes.\"<\/p>\n
Tamara explained that a ballet based on Indonesian stories,
\nfor instance, on Siti Nurbaya or Malin Kundang, may be possible.<\/p>\n
This lively woman is still searching for a successor for her
\nschool to achieve her ambition to start a professional ballet
\ncompany. Judging from the 40 years the Namarina school has
\noperated, and her experience in Indonesia, Tamara believes that
\ninterest in and the quality of Indonesian ballet has increased.
\nShe mentioned a couple of hopefuls from her school's fifth
\ngeneration such as Adella and Aletta. The audience for the
\nIndonesian ballet has also grown from the parents-of-dancers to a
\nmore general public. As for the future of Indonesian professional
\nballet, even if other ballet figures in Indonesia such as Farida
\nFeisol or Cici Dumais start a company first, Tamara said she
\nwould still support their efforts wholeheartedly. Maybe with the
\nright kind of backing, an official company for dance could come
\ninto existence, like the Twilight Chamber Orchestra for music.<\/p>",
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