Boi showcases his most acclaimed dance pieces

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

When he was in his teens, Boi G. Sakti was often involved in street brawls in his home town of Batusangkar, West Sumatra, and frequently forced people at traffic lights to give him money.

Today, Boi, 35, the son of the late noted dance choreographer Gusmiati Suid, is one of Indonesia's most important choreographers. Born as Yandi Yasin, Boi is now popular both at home and abroad.

A graduate of the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), Boi presented his first work Pitaruah at an All-Indonesia Choreography Contest at Ismail Marzuki Park (TIM) in 1987. Now with over 100 dance creations to his credit, Boi is internationally acclaimed.

Between April 24 and April 27, 10 of his choreographed works are being performed at Graha Bhakti Budaya, TIM in Dance My Indonesia - Boi G Sakti: Parade of Golden Works of Boi G. Sakti (1989 - 2001). These dances are performed by 13 of his best dancers: six male dancers (Jefri, Benny, David, Jacko, Mislam and Yanto) and seven women dancers (Eti, Vera, Grace, Dela, Leta and the twins - Devi Indri and Devi Sus). Three assistants have aided him in this event: Hartarti (his wife), Benny and David. The music is entrusted to Epi Martison, M. Halim and Piter Slayan, while lighting is in the hands of Sonny Sumarsono.

On the first night, before an audience of about 400 people, Boi chose Batagak (1989), which he has performed before at a festival at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ) and later in Hong Kong, to start the evening's program and four-day parade.

Then came Amai-amai (1992), a dance piece that has been performed before in Jakarta (GKJ), Bandung, Surakarta, Yogyakarta and Hong Kong. After a 15-minute intermission, the program continued with Shalawat (1996), which was previously staged in Jakarta, Berlin, Switzerland and Singapore (at the opening of the Singapore Arts Festival in 1997). The final piece was Warih (1997), which has been performed before at GKJ and in Singapore.

In Batagak -- performed by three male dancers and three women dancers -- Boi began with a scene of mourning beside a corpse. This is then transformed into images of the emergence of a new figure and new hope, as found in the "renewal through struggle" philosophy.

Unlike his debut performance, in which Boi danced himself, in this piece, Boi, as a choreographer, shows his maturity, along with the maturity demonstrated by his dancers in conveying his message through dance styled upon the Minang martial art.

Maturity can also be sensed in his three other works, Amai- amai,Shalawat and Warih. When these pieces were first performed, they focused on the physical, while the current performance appears significantly more contemplative.

This change can only be fully appreciated by those who have seen earlier performances of these pieces, which made the audience lose their breath because they were presented at such a high tempo with attractive but less stylized movements.

It is here that a choreographer (and also director) is luckier than a painter. A painter's work remains the same no matter how many times they are exhibited. Perhaps only the frames are different. On the other hand, when a choreographer wishes to perform his works again, he is free to make changes to suit the differing circumstances.

Boi admitted he had changed the opening of Amai-amai,Shalawat and Warih because he realized the opening of these three pieces resembled that of Batagak.

He added he had also made changes to the costumes.

The second night demonstrates Boi's experimentation with contemporary dance, influenced by the Minang tradition. The dance pieces were titled Puisi Cinta (Love Poem, 1992), Dongeng Yang Berlari (A Tale that Runs, 1992) and Abad Adab Nan Sakit (1993).

Sitinur Bahaya (1994), scheduled for Friday night, will be accompanied by live music. Previously, the musical accompaniment came from a programmed synthesizer. He said these changes were necessary to ensure greater appeal. This piece explores women's hunger: Hunger for a house, hunger for rice and hunger for freedom.

On the final evening, large-scale changes will be introduced to pieces with English titles: The Lost Space (1999) and Before the Coming of The Dark (2001). Originally, these two pieces were created in Singapore and Manila and performed with foreign dancers. Today, the dancers come from Gumarang Sakti.

This Rp 160-million parade has been financed by the management of TIM. As he found it difficult to find a financial sponsor, Boi almost abandoned the dance profession in 1995. Luckily, some overseas institutions were ready to fund him, a reason why Boi's shows are more often performed abroad than at home.

After this parade, Boi will be making preparations for the Berlin Festival and for a show in Copenhagen this June. So, we are lucky to be able to watch this dance parade, a testimony of Boi's development from a street hoodlum to dancer and choreographer.

Boi G. Sakti: Parade Karya Emas 1989-2001 in Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki, from April 24 to April 27 at 8 p.m. For ticket reservations tel: 337325, 3154087. e-mail: tim@jkt.mega.net.id