Elly Luthan's 'Nyak' offers nothing new
Elly Luthan's 'Nyak' offers nothing new
John BadaluB, Contributor, Jakarta
The show opened with a man washing his face and arms in ablution. Then slowly, he passed the dancers onstage and disappeared backstage.
The opening scene was promising, with the music, the set and the venue, but Elly Luthan's Tjut Nyak ultimately failed to impress.
The dance performance, Nyak, was inspired by an Acehnese heroine who fought against the Dutch invasion. Nyak was a woman who dared to speak her mind and broke through the male-dominated society of the time.
Tjut Nyak was a portrayal of women who never fear to express their ideas: A woman who thinks far ahead and clearly, and presents her art for religion, family, community and her country.
Elly's previous work focused mainly on women as protagonists, but this time, Tjut Nyak's presence drowned in a sea of dancers.
Sometimes we lost her on stage; sometimes we did not even know which one was her.
With a strong background in traditional dances like those of Java, Minang in South Sumatra, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Kalimantan, Elly never ventures into the extreme reaches of modern dance.
As a result, the audience was given an excerpt of each traditional dance, linked together into one slow hour.
Should it be all about Aceh, or would a little bit of Javanese bedoyo dance look good with it? It seemed as though the choreographer had lost direction and was indecisive while creating this work.
It is unfortunate that Elly has some potentially good dancers, but they could not seem to develop their capacity within the frame of basic, mediocre choreography.
The ensemble male dancers looked more like decoration instead of a part of the piece, and with more than 15 dancers, the stage appeared cramped and circus-like.
Slamet Gundono, an performing artist from Solo, Central Java, stole the show by singing an anecdote and delivering some social criticism. But then the piece turned into street theater and the atmosphere changed from flat to worse.
The redeeming point of the piece is Trie Utami, ex-singer of the Krakatau Band, who has a powerful voice that creates an ambience on its own.
Armen, the music director, also helped with traditional tunes to indulge the ears.
Elly definitely needs a stronger thematic concept to explore and take advantage of her dancers capabilities further.