Dancer Horn shares insight with local peers

Helly Minarti, Contributor, Jakarta

It was a typically hot and humid afternoon in Jakarta. Inside the studio of Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia (EKI) dance company all the doors were open as about 20 sweating young dancers did their best at an improvisation session.

Henrietta Horn -- the German choreographer who staged her premiere dance piece in the Indonesia Arts Summit last year -- seemed pleased to see the results.

The 33-year-old Horn had kept her promise to return to Jakarta to complete the workshop which had been scheduled for after her Arts Summit performance which was canceled, partly due to the Sept. 11 tragedy.

Now, she shared dance techniques she had mastered at dance schools in Cologne and in Folkwang Tanzschule in Essen, Germany. A simple movement was introduced and bits added during the course of the four-hour-a-day, five-day workshop.

"I've also taken a small part from Auftaucher (Emerging), a repertoire, for them to work on," she explained.

Auftaucher was her piece performed at the Summit. The work is full of wit, flowing with a style that requires dancers to excel in doing quick and harmonious parallel movements.

"It's a short part of the repertoire, but nevertheless not easy at all." At the end of the session, she asked the dancers -- most of them young but with some on-stage experience under famous Indonesian choreographers -- to pair and create their own par-de- deux based on what they've been taught in the last five days.

"It's very interesting and useful," said Benny Krisnawardi, a choreographer who has graduated from the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ).

Benny, one of Gumarang Sakti's main dancers, said he had not only learned a new technique and dancing style, but was now inspired to compose. Others commented that Horn passed it in a very systematic way to make it accessible and enjoyable at the same time. In the afternoon, Horn took time to show some videos of well-known German choreographers.

"There's a piece of Pina (Bausch) where Indonesian dancer Ditta (Miranda Jasfji) was taking part. And something crazy from choreographer Mark Siskarek of Folkwang Tanz Studio with Ditta and Judi (Sjuman) also in it," she said of the videos.

This is to give the dancers insights to the German Tanztheater -- a genre that defined the contemporary dance as it is now widely known in Germany.

Jakarta has been lucky with workshops delivered by world-class dancers-cum-choreographers.

Before Henrietta Horn, the Goethe Institute invited Juan Kruz Diaz Garainola, a Spanish dancer working for German company Sasha Waltz & Guests, to give a five-day session last year.

During the Summit, apart from Horn, The British Council also asked Akhram Khan -- the British-Bangladeshi who has been adapting the technique of classical Kathak to modern dance -- to give some classes. Both were intensive courses, taking a few hours a day for almost a week.

Later, the Canadian Les Ballet du Montreal, a group that gave a stunning dance night, also gave a very short workshop, limited to 15 dancers.

The local dancers quickly grabbed the opportunity. In a country where modern dance is still very much in development, the visits of these world acts provided a boost to encourage local dancers to perform onstage. Most of the participating dancers have finished their dance training here, and the opportunity to travel abroad to study is restricted to all but a lucky few.

The workshop provides this window: Besides learning some new dance technique and exposure to certain artistic styles, it also creates a rare chance to meet the choreographers and talk about dance in their part of the world.

Horn, for example, has a load of experience that can benefit the aspiring young.

After beginning dancing at an early age, the Berlin-born Horn switched paths to sport, and studied in Cologne, home to a vibrant dance scene.

"But then the sport academy has a dance department, and I was re-converted," she laughed. This sport-dance combination prepared her for the future.

"In sport they have a discipline that people don't in dance. It's a different approach, of course. In sport you are driven by certain targets in physical ability -- to be higher, faster, whatever while in dance it's about the art. But it does help to apply some principle in sport to dance: The warming et cetera up for example. Athletes always know how to bring themselves down," she said.

She did well with her dancing, but was told that her physique was not that of a professional dancer. That is when she started choreography -- and found her strength in it.

Now, despite her young age, she is the Artistic Director of Folkwang Tanz Studio (FTS), a company that can be traced back to the traditions of its founder, Kurt Joos, seventy years before.

FTS earns its fame after being led by big names in Tanztheater such as Bausch and Susanne Linke (both performed in Jakarta in 1974 and 1998 respectively).

"Well, I try not to think about it," Horn said, commenting the "historical baggage" she carries with her title. "If it becomes too much, I'll just go away," she shrugged, lightly. Though she admits, that this burden also has a bright side as it does open doors to many opportunities.

Horn was pleased with the workshop in Jakarta. "The participants are mixed in their dance backgrounds, and that's not easy. But they seemed focused, willing to learn. I can see the development from day one to the end."

Rushing back to Germany the next day after the workshop, Horn said she would like to see her FTS dancers performing a Bausch piece.

"After that, it is my turn to dance in a production of my dancers. I simply need a break before working on my next piece that is based on a Japanese Opera."

A shooting star she is, but she is very aware of the fact that this is the result of balancing sheer determination with her sense of on-stage artistry.

The writer is employed by the British Council