Eko Supriyanto dances into the limelight

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java

Nothing is more irritating to Eko Supriyanto than being labeled an "artist who compromises for the market", simply because he works in collaboration with mainstream artists.

"It is as if artistic quality is equated with the success in serving one's ego and that art is only for art's sake," said the 33-year-old choreographer-cum dancer.

Eko, who teaches at the school of dance at the Indonesian Arts Academy in Surakarta, Central Java, began to make a name for himself after local media ran stories about his role as a background dancer for American pop diva Madonna last year.

His role in Madonna's tour has become something of a double edged sword. It helped catapult him to stardom but also attracted accusations that he had sacrificed his original style.

Eko isn't overly concerned by the criticism, believing the collaboration was part of his "socialization", which is vital for his creative process.

This socialization is important in enriching his experience and sharpening his skills, he insists.

It was this belief that drove Eko to participate in an open audition last March for the supporting cast in Madonna's Drowned World Tour 2001. After a rigorous selection process, he was chosen from among 3,000 applicants as one of the eight dancers the superstar needed.

At first he was not particularly interested in the offer made by a talent scout agency contracted by Madonna in Los Angeles. After all, he had already signed a contract to perform a solo dance work at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles on May 25.

Fortunately, his reputation as a dancer who has mastered both classical Javanese dance and modern compositions saw Madonna's manager give in to his request for a time-out. He was given a break from the 12-hour a day, six-day a week practice routine for the Madonna tour to perform with an American composer of Indonesian origin, I Nyoman Wenten.

Nyoman Wenten had asked him to arrange the musical accompaniment to his four dance compositions.

Eko was already well known to California's art lovers. He frequently toured American cities during the four years he spent pursuing his studies for a master's degree at the Department of World Arts and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

In California, he was known as a young dancer who was often involved in collaborations with other artists while learning the techniques of modern dance and choreography. His gurus include leading artists such as Victoria Marks, Angelia Leung, Simone Forti, Nina Martin and David Rousseve.

The American public first got to know Eko when in 1997 he was invited to participate in the International Choreographers in Residency program conducted by the world's most reputable dance festival, the American Dance Festival (ADF) in New York and Durham, North Carolina.

His success at the ADF paved the way for him to become guest dancer for the Sutra Dance Theater in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the same year.

Following this event, in 1999 Eko was again invited to participate in a program organized by UCLA's Center for Intercultural Performances in the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange (APPEX), a prominent forum presenting numerous talented young choreographers from all over the world.

His collaborative work with a Korean choreographer, Sen Hea Ha and a Tibetan artist, entitled Exile added further to his reputation. The famous dance critics, Lewis Seagal and Jennifer Fisher, wrote in glowing terms of their highly acclaimed performance.

Eko also enjoyed the invaluable experience of collaborating with some of America's leading theater and opera directors, such as Peter Sellar and Julie Taymor. Under Sellar's direction, he played an important character in an opera entitled Le Grand Macabre, which was produced by Gyorgy Ligeti at Chatelet Theatre in Paris, France in 1998.

The same performance was staged a year later during the grand opening of the most reputable theater in London's Royal Opera House.

Julie Taymor, the director and creator of the film The Lion King, asked Eko to act as a dance consultant for the musical opera at Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, famous for its Broadway area. After his success in working on the movements of The Lion King's main characters, Simba, Mala and Musafa, Eko was asked to handle another project funded by the entertainment giant, Disney, in Hamburg, Germany this month (February).

Regarding his success in The Lion King musical opera, Eko said that he felt honored to have earned Taymor's trust. Furthermore, he was able to experiment by incorporating the rich vocabulary of Javanese and Balinese dance movements.

In Indonesia, the dance masters who had the greatest influence on him during his early days were Kahari and Alit Maryono, his dance teachers at his high school in Magelang, Central Java. His other gurus were choreographer S. Pamardi and Sardono W. Kusumo as well as the doyen of Javanese classical dance, the late Ngaliman and S. Maridi.

After his project in Hamburg, Eko will concentrate on managing a dance group that he established in 1998, Solo Dance Studio. This year he plans to produce his latest creation, which will be performed in two cities, Surabaya and Pekanbaru, Riau.

Some of his works that have been performed include: Leleh (in Surakarta and Jakarta, 1996), Nya-hi (various cities, 1998), Continental Shift (Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles, 2000), Second Journey (Indonesia and Korea, 1997 - 2000) and Joged (Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2001).