Dance collaboration blends two different spirits

Kartika Bagus C., The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java

Two dancers, a man and a woman, swayed their bodies harmoniously, uncontrollably dynamic at times. The male dancer mostly moved while in sitting position, while the female dancer moved around the small stage.

Through their movements and facial expressions, the dancers, though the female was Japanese and the male was Indonesian, were able to delightfully blend their own characteristics into a harmonious dance.

The dancers were performing Gifts of Unknown Things, a work by the Japanese dancer-choreographer Keiko Nakano, who collaborated on the show with noted dancer Silvester Pamardi of Surakarta.

The choreography was one of three works created by Nakano for a show last weekend at the Surakarta Indonesian Arts Institute. The other pieces were called Breath from The Moon and Here I am.

Gifts of Unknown Things tells of the spiritual growth of a teenage girl. In the process she encounters a dance guru from Dancing Island and she also learns many things, including about nature and one's way toward perfection. The title itself was taken from a book by Lyall Watson, a biologist who is known for his views about the universe.

Gifts of Unknown Things is said to be one the choreographer's best works. Apart from the show in Surakarta, the work was earlier staged in her home country and will be presented at an international festival in Germany in October.

A respected choreographer in Japan, Nakano, an active member of the Contemporary Dance Association of Japan and a member of the Japan Center of International Theater Institute, has been creating dance pieces since 1984. Nakano also prefers to stage her own creations.

According to Silvester Pamardi, Nakano is a choreographer with a strong determination to find ideas for her dance pieces. He said that Nakano's fondness for reading helped her to explore new ideas.

"Every day she keeps moving, trying to find ideas for her dances. Her intensity in creating works is extraordinary, although sometimes the quality is ordinary," said the veteran dancer.

Nakano, he said, also includes new elements in her pieces that she discovers during the creation process. For example, the inclusion of a revving motorcycle engine in one work enriched and made her creation more lively.

According to dance observer Hari Mulyatno, who is also the head of the Indonesian Arts Institute's dance department, Nakano's works represent a multicultural dialog, in this case a dialog between Japanese and Javanese cultures, each of which has a different nature and characteristics.

"The Javanese spirit, which tends to be semeleh (calm) and submissive, is blended with the Japanese spirit, which is like a dynamic and shining sun. As a viewer, the work reminds me that cultural dialog is important to put the universe in balance," Hari said.

In presenting Gifts of Unknown Things, according to Hari, the two dancers were no longer restrained by their own dance techniques. In fact, the dancers blended into an energetic dialog, which was expressed through their dance.