Fourth Indonesian Dance Festival starts today

Fourth Indonesian Dance Festival starts today

By Mariam K. Sutalaksana

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Institute for the Arts (IKJ) and
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta have been bouncing with dancers,
choreographers and patrons of this art since July 22.

Early in the morning in IKJ's Room C, Linda Hoemar from
Indonesia taught modern dance technique as part of a creative
dance workshop. At 11 a.m., the event continued with
choreographers Maxine Haeppner from Canada and Leyson Ponce from
Venezuela conducting dance composition workshops.

On the same day at IKJ's Graha Bhakti Budaya, another workshop
on educational dance was held. The next day, while Hoemar,
Haeppner and Ponce shared their knowledge, Laura Schuster (USA)
and Marianne Ariyanto talked about Laban movement at the Jakarta
International School.

These scenes were just glimpses of the Fourth Indonesian Dance
Festival, which officially runs from July 25 to 31 but was
buzzing with activity before its formal start.

Sal Murgiyanto, the executive chairman of the festival, said
at a press conference last Thursday that the theme of this year's
celebration is When Tradition Modernizes: An Intercultural
Dialog. The festival events will be a mixture of traditional
modern dances, modern traditional dances as well as an exchange
of thoughts during the seminars and workshops.

There will be performances showcasing selected young
choreographers and a children's dance show on July 27. The main
presentations will display the works of senior and more
experienced choreographers from 11 countries.

From Indonesia, Farida Oetoyo and her Sumber Cipta group will
perform Putih Kembali while Bagong Kussudiardjo will present Tari
Semar. Others performing from Indonesia include Dasa Manao
(Fataelusa), Bekti Laksmini (Tari Tane), Linda Hoemar (Lalu),
Mugiyono (Kosong), Mas Nanu Munajar (Kosong), Syaiful Erman
(Jalo), M. Miroto (Incarnation, Shadow and Penumbra), Laksmi
Simanjuntak (Time and the Past), and Eko Supriyanto (Leleh).

Canada is represented by Maxine Haeppner, who explained that
after working for so long in Asia, she almost forgot her native
languages, English and French, when she went back to Canada.
That memorable occasion led to the inspiration for her When We
Have No Words in Common. "You can interpret it as that or as when
sometimes even when you speak the same language it is sometimes
hard to express what you are feeling with words." She will also
perform My Past Follows Like a Dragon's Tail.

Leyson Ponce from Venezuela will be performing Malabar and Air
form Heaven. This is his first time in Indonesia.

Others attending the festival are Edmund G. Gaerlan from the
Philippines, Kim Mae-Ja with the Chang Mu Dance Company and Choi
Eun Hee from South Korea, Yin Mei and Mauriel Cohan/Patrick
Suzeau from the United States, Jackie Taffanel from France, Kota
Yamazaki from Japan, the Kuala Lumpur Dance Theater from
Malaysia, Angela Liong from Singapore and the Tsoying High School
from Taiwan.

Murgiyanto showed video previews of the work by the Korean
choreographers which revealed a melange of traditional Korean
costumes combined with slow movements. The high school students
from Taiwan, also seen on video, will be performing modern dance
based on traditional Chinese dance along with more modern pieces.
As high school students, according to Murgiyanto, the dancers'
nine years of training translate into strong technique.

In addition to the main performances, other novice
choreographers will be showcased on the afternoons of July 30 and
July 31.

During the world dance conference and dance seminars,
participants will discuss dance research and methods, dance
anthropology, educational dance as well as dance and performance
management. There will also be two lecture demonstrations on
Korean New Dance and Classical Cambodian Dance. To spice up the
festivities, the World Dance Alliance--Asia Pacific Center will
conduct their annual meeting on the last day of the festival.

In 1993, observer Nirwan Dewantoro commented in a newspaper
that the local dancers during the second festival were unable to
match the quality of the invited performers. That was three years
ago.

This year's local performers should be able to deliver at
least the same level of quality as our invited guests. An
international event brings a certain responsibility for the
committee and the attendees to offer the spectators, observers
and critics a gratifying performance.

If this fourth Indonesian Dance Festival is a sign of the
growing seriousness and enthusiasm of the Indonesian dance
community then it is encouraging for those in love with dance.
The unspoken language of movement is part of everybody's life.
The festival's many events are for artists, children, teachers,
critics, historians, anthropologists and even those involved in
management. One only need to pick and choose.