Dance in the fasting month
Dance in the fasting month
Helly Minarti, Contributor, Jakarta
If one is wondering what sort of entertainment can be enjoyed
during Ramadhan, then look no further than some of the local art
performances that are scheduled during the Muslim holy month.
A kind of mini "dance week" kicked off last night at the
Teater Utan Kayu, an independent arts community in East
Jakarta.
Opening with a dance solo by Susi Mariaha, the young, talented
dancer with the Kreativitaet Dance Company, she performed
Waiting, another work of a New York-based Malaysian choreographer
Joyce Lim.
In 2002, Lim created Solo for Susi, a taiji-inspired, fine
solo piece specially for her. On Tuesday night there will be some
dance videos by Jecko Siompo -- a graduate of the Jakarta Arts
Institute.
Siompo "warned" that his dance videos were shot very much in
do-it-yourself style, totally self-made, from concept to shooting
and editing.
"I just took out the dancers, directed their movements and
shot the scenes using a dv-camera, before cutting them to down to
these four. It's just an experimental, low-budget work -- there's
nothing serious about it," he said.
On Wednesday, there will be a screening of two dance
documentaries from China, as well as a discussion the next day,
moderated by Helly Minarti, who has just came back from nine
months of research in China under an ASIA Fellowship.
The first is a dance-theater piece by Living Dance Studio, the
first Chinese independent dance-theater company based in Beijing.
Report on the Body, is an evening-length performance
juxtaposing dance, theater, literature and visual arts into a
tale of contemporary life in Beijing.
Founded by choreographer Wen Hui and her long-time
partner/collaborator, filmmaker Wu Wenguang from the Living Dance
Studio has a particular approach to its work.
Its core members have engaged in a lot of research, actively
taking the bits of their own personal lives (and others) into the
performance.
The piece was staged in Beijing in 2002, for the first time in
10 years, they were allowed to sell tickets. Being an
"independent company" in China means that you cannot apply for a
performance permit, which prevents you from performing in a
proper, professional-standard theater.
Promotion is done by phone and word-of-mouth advertising,
since they are not supposed to hang posters publicly or
distribute leaflets.
However, the group has been touring all over the world and
receiving rave reviews -- in several cities in the US in 2003,
and several countries in Europe in 2003 and 2004.
In a festival in Zurich, they even won the ZKB-Patronage
Award; now they have been able to open their own studio in
Beijing, with additional support from a company.
The second video was done by recent graduates of Beijing Dance
Academy. Young, talented and well-trained, they show not only
virtuoso technique, but also choreographic craftsmanship.
The best of the class (28 of them) now work mostly for
prominent choreographers in China, while the rest returned to
their hometowns, and found jobs as professional dancers and/or
teachers.
Friday is for contemplating this year's Indonesian Dance
Festival (IDF), which stimulated a lot of discussion on its
program and management. The festival's director, dancer/dance
scholar Nungki Kusumastuti, will offer an insider's insight while
dance journalist/critic Ria Dewi Utari will also be on hand to
share opinions.
All events are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., apart from Tuesday's
(Jecko Siompo), which is scheduled for 7:30.p.m.