Bimo to perform at Japan's Die Pratze Festival

Bimo to perform at Japan's Die Pratze Festival

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta

Fatamorgana (illusion), a dance exhibition choreographed by Bimo Wiwohatmo of Yogyakarta's Bimo Dance Theater is set for Aug. 7 and Aug. 8 during the Die Pratze VII Festival held in Tokyo, Japan, which began on July 12 and runs through Aug. 25.

With four dance repertoires -- entitled Mitos (Myths), Voice, Radians, and Maya (Virtual), the performance represents Indonesia during the annual international festival and is scheduled to be staged four times.

Mitos and Voice are to be performed during the morning sessions, while Radians and Maya are during the evening sessions.

"I myself was surprised to learn that I was being elected to represent Indonesia during the festival," Bimo told The Jakarta Post on Monday evening, during a dress rehearsal at Padepokan Bagong Kussudiardja here prior to the departure of his group to Japan.

With artists from all over the world including Korea, the U.S., France, Laos and the host nation, according to Bimo, the festival does not have a particular selection system. Participants are appointed based on networks.

"It happens to be me who was appointed to represent Indonesia," said Bimo, adding that he had spent three months preparing, which included nightly rehearsals on 10 consecutive evenings with the finale held at Padepokan Bagong Kussudiardja.

"I deliberately chose the padepokan (workshop) to do our final rehearsal before leaving for Japan because this is the place where I learned to dance. I dedicated this performance to Pak Bagong (dance maestro for the late Bagong Kussudiardja) who taught me to dance," Bimo explained.

For the dance community in the ancient city, Bimo Wiwohatmo is indeed not a strange name. Since 1991, his shows have been held not only in Yogyakarta, but also Singapore and Malaysia.

The final rehearsal on Monday night was also meant as a goodbye performance before the Japan trip. Three local dancers -- namely Artur Asmonotedjo, Besar Widodo and Eko Purnomo, along with Surabaya-based ballet dancer Aprilia Ekasari, will star in the performances.

Fatamorgana, Bimo explained, would portray human life that ranges from myth to modern conditions as represented by the emergence of countless shopping malls.

In the dance repertoire of Mitos, Bimo wants to describe the mythical life of the community including the myth about Nyi Roro Kidul, who many Javanese believe to be the ruler of the South Seas.

It opens with the emergence of a woman in white lying on the stage, followed by the emergence of three male dancers from behind the curtain. Moving slowly, they elastically move their bodies in a way that conjures up a worshiping ritual.

They then move around the lying woman, as if they want to wake her up. Indeed, the woman awakens and a minute late she is engrossed in her elegant dance movements. Mitos is created in 2002.

Voice, the second set, was created this year especially for the festival. Unlike Mitos, the music that accompanies Voice is more dynamic, and so are the dance movements of both the female and male dancers. The voices of Buddhist monks reading out magic words is sometimes heard in between.

This particular repertoire, according to Bimo, indeed describes traditions in the community. Both Mitos and Voice last for about 30 minutes.

The third dance, Radians, has no musical accompaniment. Only the sounds of particular gamelan instruments played intermittently are heard. The repertoire is more dominated by dance movements and a light display.

Unfortunately, the last dance, Maya, could not be fully performed during Monday's finale, mostly due to the difficulties of stage arrangement.

"Maya requires a sophisticated stage arrangement that could not be accomplished here," said Bimo, explaining that this particular dance deals with the subject of dehumanism.

It tells a story of how people do not see a need to interact with one another to live, how money controls everything, how people do not need to leave home to work and how price negotiation is not longer done in modern markets. What people fell they now need to do to shop is just go to the shopping malls and money will talk.