French-RI artist exchange program features wayang

By Emilie Sueur

JAKARTA (JP): Cultural collaboration between France and Indonesia seems to be on a right track as, for the second time, the French Cultural Center (CCF) in Jakarta invited French artists to take part in its artist-in-residence program.

The aim of this program, also called Nusantara, is to initiate enriching cultural exchanges between French and Indonesian artists.

This time, CCF cultural director Yves Ollivier invited Eric Wurtz, a French lighting technician for entertainment, Gladys Sanchez, a French dancer and choreographer, and Chiara, an Italian dancer.

The program for the three artists started with a two-month trip in Indonesia to explore the secrets of Wayang Kulit. They chose this particular art form as it combines the use of light, movement, storytelling and dance, allowing Gladys and Eric to work in a total "symbiosis", the dancer said.

Besides, they chose Indonesia for the richness of its artistic culture. Gladys says Indonesian dances show an interesting depth as they are synonymous with completeness.

All the elements, music or setting, are complete parts of the performance. Even the dancers, Gladys said, are totally involved in their character.

"The masks, for instance, are not only laid on the artist's face, but are completely internalized," Gladys explains.

Besides, dance is more than a representation, it is sacred. The aim of genuine traditional dances, as opposed to tourist performances, is not to be spectacular, Gladys adds.

From this discovering of Indonesian culture, they wish to create a performance.

Their aim is not to simply copy Indonesian traditions, but to be impregnated with their spirit so they can retransmit it in their creations.

But before going back to France to work on this performance, they led a lighting workshop organized by the CCF and the Jakarta Arts Institute.

This is the core of Nusantara because Indonesian students from the institute and some entertainment lighting professionals worked in association with the French artists.

Art of light

In the workshop at the institute from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, students learned and re-learned techniques of lighting and how to create different atmospheres.

Gladys and Chiara intervened on the fourth day to show students how to combine light and movement.

On the last day, three students performed two impressive creations, in which all participants eventually joined in.

The two performances were centered on the combination of dance and lights. Suhendri, theater student at the institute, for instance, danced and played with an orange square-shaped light ray.

The first lesson from this performance was summed up by Aditya, a fine arts student, who will recall from this workshop that "with only very little and simple material you can create something".

This lesson is essential for the students whose working conditions at the institute are quite hard.

When the workshop started, Eric realized available material was limited.

"To eventually transmit something", he says, "you have to fit the everyday situation of the students".

And as Eric concluded after Suhendri's performance: "With only a square of light and a dancer you can get something very interesting. The most important thing is to set what is available at the right place."

Lighting technicians said the workshop was interesting as it exposed them to a reality beyond just technical skills.

Sunarno, a lighting technician at Taman Ismail Marzuki said: "Now I know that lighting is an art in itself... that a spotlight can be a way to express something."