'Gora-Goda', an exotic non-verbal dance piece

'Gora-Goda', an exotic non-verbal dance piece

By Carla Bianpoen

JAKARTA (JP): Power struggles are nothing new in real life,
but on stage, reality can be even more staggering.

Kang Man-hong, a Korean avant-garde performance artist of
international renown, has conceived a piece which mirrors the
destructive powers in human beings. "Like a glass of water, if it
is drunk by a cow it becomes milk, but a snake will produce
poison," says Man-hong, commenting on the piece showing the evil
side of human existence.

Based on ki energy, this mixture of dance and drama, which
speaks through ritual movements without a word being spoken,
Gora-Goda has been staged in Korea and New York City. In Jakarta,
the dance composition will be performed Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 at 8
p.m. at Gedung Graha Bakti, Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center,
Cikini Raya No. 73.

In Surakarta, Central Java, it will be staged on Dec. 30 at 1
p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Taman Budaya Surakarta, Jl. Ir. Sutami No.
57.

While it was originally inspired by oriental spirituality,
which Man-hong experienced in his home country, India and other
countries in Asia, the current production has taken cultural and
performing elements from the Indonesian dance and drama
tradition. Unlike in previous performances, Man-hong has included
Indonesian performers.

Awakening

Kang Man-hong is a practitioner and choreographer of Korean
traditional dance, mask and ritual dance as well as Indian Chhau
dance. He was born in Chonan, Chungchong-namdo, and graduated
from the Seoul Institute of the Arts. He traveled to India to be
involved in meditation and study the Indian Chau dance.

A teacher of movement meditation and Asian dance at Trinity
College in Hartford, Connecticut, in the late 1980s, Kang Man-
hong is presently a professor at the Seoul Institute of the Arts,
where he has designed his own curriculum combining acting with
Zen meditation and Tao training. He has described his approach to
meditation in Awakening, his first book which is in its sixth
printing in South Korea.

Kang Man-hong's American experience includes a long list of
involvement. In 1987, he made his debut as choreographer and
performer in Stabat Mater at the Arts at St. Ann's, New York. In
1988 and 1989 he played the title role in Mythos Oedipus, which
was directed by Ellen Stewart at the La Mama theater in New York
City.

In 1988, he conceived, directed and designed Summ, a ritual
dance theater piece which premiered at Arts at St. Ann's during
his stay there as artist-in-residence. In 1989, the performance
was staged at the Apple Corps Theater in New York and the
Manhattan Triplex.

He returned to Seoul in 1990 and founded his own theater
company called Summ (Breath). Since then he has continued seeking
a new form of drama that limits the use of verbal language. He
has conceived, directed and produced various pieces based on his
spiritual journeys through eastern cultures.

His first encounter with Indonesia was during the Second
Indonesian Dance Festival in 1993, to which he contributed Flower
of Incense, choreographed and performed by himself.

His second encounter with Indonesia was in Korea, when
Sulystio Tirtokusumo's work Panji Sepuh was performed in Seoul in
1995. Man-hong says he is inspired by Indonesia's cultural
diversity and the "heart" as opposed to "head" realities where
people are led by the forces of the heart. He loves the primitive
elements still existing in Indonesia and appreciates the
sophistication which he finds here at the same time.

"There is such a rich culture, so much human potential, so
many interesting elements. We need to do more to bring these to
an elevated and developed level," he says. "It is time for Asia
to awake and stop looking to the West."

The cast

Produced by Adilla Suwarno, Gora Goda includes many players
who have been involved in performances in Indonesia as well as
abroad. These include Restu Imansari, as assistant choreographer
and performer, Tony Prabowo as the music director, Margesti as a
performer, and vocalist Nyak Ina Raseuki.

If Kang Man-hong's original version called Seduction earned
Jack Anderson's appreciative article in The New York Times, Jan.
16, 1996, then we can expect a dance-theater performance of rare
quality. Anderson wrote:

"Although unrelievedly somber, Seduction never turned
monotonous thanks to Mr. Kang's ability to devise ever-startling
variations on the theme of human evil."