Aboriginal dance to be staged at TIM

JAKARTA (JP): Australian Contemporary Dance troupe, the Bangarra Dance Theater, will perform at the Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki art center, tomorrow and Thursday.

The dance group will open its performance with Ochre Spirit choreographed by Stephen Page. The group will present its five newest creations at the two-day performance in Jakarta.

Jo Mercurio, manager of the Bangarra Dance Theater, said Tuesday that most of the dance creations deal with the spiritual journey of Aborigine people in Australia which portrayed through the dancers' artistic gestures. The dances are the combination of tradition and modernism, Mercurio said.

"Our mission is to introduce the arts of the Aborigine people worldwide. The centuries-old art and tradition of this people still exist up to the present," Mercurio said.

The Bangarra Dance Theater is one of Australia's prominent dance groups that gives a new dimension to the country's contemporary art world. The group has received several awards, including the Sydney Myer performing Arts Award.

Tickets for the group's performances in Jakarta are between Rp 15,000 and Rp 20,000. Tickets for local students are Rp 5,000. (raw)