Dance festival goes on without trademark show

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Too many times, bad management and a shortage of funds have been cited as excuses for poor performance in the local arts scene. But it is a crying shame when this becomes the case for this year's Indonesian Dance Festival, IDF, 2002.

Since its conception in 1992, the festival has been the proving ground for young new talents eager to make it in the performing arts scene, both locally and internationally. One of the reasons for this is the international impact of the festival and the opportunity for young dancers and choreographers to showcase their creations in the event.

The festival's chairman Sal Murgiyanto said noted dancer and choreographer Eko Supriyanto -- one of Madonna's background dancers in her Drowned World Tour 2001 -- emerged from IDF, first as a newcomer then as the festival's main performance.

"It's such a shame that we are unable to hold a showcase this year, but there wasn't much time to allow a proper selection of newcomers and also our limited funding wouldn't allow it," Ratna Riantiarno of the Jakarta Arts Council said in a media conference recently.

In the past, foreign dancers and choreographers were also given the opportunity to collaborate with local artists through a residency program sponsored by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Ford Foundation.

In the 1999 festival, for example, Korean choreographer Seongjoo Joh collaborated with Farida Oetoyo's Kreativitat dance group to perform Second Name of that Woman, and China's Wen Hui collaborated with dancers from the Indonesian School of Arts in Surakarta, Central Java (STSI Surakarta) to perform Dinner with 1999.

"The interaction with foreign artists enabled local dancers and choreographers to learn and share their experiences," Nungki Kusumastuti, dancer and lecturer from the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ), said.

This year, however, aside from the missing showcase program, the organizers also no longer have the support from UNESCO and Ford Foundation. In the end, only one foreign resident artist will collaborate, Malaysia's Joyce Lim with Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia's (EKI) dancer Takako Leen.

"And that was through Joyce's own sources," IDF 2002's secretary-general Sukarji Sriman said.

However, the organizers' effort to arrange this year's festival -- which will run from Sept. 6 to Sept. 21 -- is commendable, especially when the last IDF only occurred three years ago in 1999.

"We wanted to make the festival run once in every two years, but because of the riots and the (Indonesian) Art Summit, it had to be every three years since 1996," Sukarji said, adding that the organizers will try to make the festival a biannual event again.

Also, this year's IDF will include a one-day seminar on educational dance at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) on Sept. 21, 2002. It will discuss problems faced by public school teachers in teaching dancing as an extra-curricular activity as well as part of the school's curriculum.

Former director-general of culture, dancer, and University of Indonesia lecturer, Edi Sedyawati, will give a keynote speech at the seminar.

The festival this year will open with a full production of the United States' Janis Brenner and Dancers at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ). GKJ will also host performances by Joyce Lim, Taiwan's Kwok Hiu-Wah and Cho Ting-Chu, and Japan's Osamu Jareo and Misako Terada.

In the following weeks, solo performances of various noted choreographers including Janis Brenner, Indonesia's Sardono W. Kusumo, Joyce Lim, Cho Ting-Chu, Osamu Jareo, and Misako Terada, can be seen at Teater Utan Kayu, East Jakarta.

The IKJ Dance Company will close the festival with creations of Sukarji Sriman, Jefriandi Usman, and Kristiono Soewardjo.

This year the festival, the sixth in the running, is organized by IKJ together with the Jakarta Arts Council, Teater Utan Kayu, and GKJ.

Tickets for the performances at GKJ cost between Rp 20,000 and Rp 50,000, while invitations for performances at Teater Utan Kayu can be obtained from Sept. 1 at Teater Utan Kayu, Jl. Utan Kayu No. 68 H, Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

For more information on ticket reservations call GKJ on 3808283, Teater Utan Kayu on 8573388. For information on the seminar call IKJ on 3159105.