Indonesian and German choreographers come 'Face to Face'
Indonesian and German choreographers come 'Face to Face'
By Michael Dusche
JAKARTA (JP): West is West and East is East, but people from
the two places can indeed form a good team. It was plainly shown
in Face to Face, a rare performance by Gusmiati Suid from
Indonesia and Joachim Schloemer from Germany.
The performance featured Gusmiati Suid's Asa (di Ujung
Tanduk), (Hope -- Despite a Tense Situation, but it literally
means "at the tip of the horn") and Joachim Schloemer's Stadt -
Land - Fluss (City - Country - River, a popular guessing game in
Germany). It was performed at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta for three
days last weekend.
Face to Face consists of two pieces of choreography with five
dancers of Suid's Gumarang Sakti Dance Company and five from
Schloemer's Tanz Theater Basel joining talents to perform to the
compositions of a group of musicians from Padang, West Sumatra.
It was the result of a four-week-long workshop organized by
the Goethe-Institut and the Swiss Embassy, in Depok, which is
home to Gusmiati and her troupe.
The two pieces shared more in common than some expected in
view of the different cultural backgrounds of the two
choreographers, with the Minangkabau culture of West Sumatra
versus the Folkwang School of Essen, Germany. Both had a dream-
like, surrealist quality to them with slow, floating movements
underlined by sudden outbursts of action.
The first piece lasted a thrilling 30 minutes and was inspired
by a consistent idea of longing. The uniform costumes were
reminiscent of Japanese samurai dress; the men wore wide black
pants and shirts with sashes, the women were in beige batik
sarongs and black sleeveless blouses. Applause was spontaneous
and whole-hearted.
During the second half of the evening, the audience entered a
bizarre, hyperrealistic world of dreams, encountering jesters and
introverts, a motorcyclist and two female waves on a stream
passing by palm trees.
Occasionally the spectator was left guessing. Individual
colorful costumes were chosen by J'Ferry.
The stage was taken care of by the simple but powerful means
of German lighting man Lutz Deppe. His main instrument was a set
of three gauze screens at the back of the stage changing color
through orange, blue and green illumination.
'Horn'
Suid, who was substantially assisted by her son Boi G. Sakti,
revealed the idea behind Asa: "It's about the problems of women
in contemporary Indonesian society."
The "horn" points to Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose party
symbol is a bull, whose aspiration to the Indonesia presidency is
currently challenged by various groups under the pretext of
Islamic law. For Suid, who comes from a unique culture that is
profoundly Islamic and equally matriarchal, there can be no
question about women being as capable as men in leading a
community.
The legitimate desire to be treated on a par with male
Indonesians can provide one line of interpretation, but it should
not remain the only one. Asa is too rich a piece to be reduced to
a pure political demand.
A constant theme, symbolic of the hopes and longings of the
characters, is the liquid of life: water from a well, milk from
the breasts of women.
At the onset, fabulous Fabio Pink, a dancer from Brazil,
stands on the rim of a well scooping water that is subsequently
handed on from dancer to dancer as a precious substance.
Skillful Sonja Rocha from Portugal dips her head into the
liquid, wrings out her hair and feeds the liquid to the others.
The women hold their hands under their breasts, sprinkling
something to the ground -- a symbol of fertility.
Women seem to be the holders of the essence of life and as
such they need to be appreciated by men. In the final scene, the
men carefully carry those who hold the precious substance in
their hands or mouths.
Water can be symbolic of freedom, justice and love, but it
does not have to be. Many of the erotic gestures and ecstatic
dances are merely pleasurable to see and a kinesthetic experience
that one wants to comprehend.
Town - Country - River is inspired by Schloemer's experience
of exposure to the gardens, ponds and bamboo thickets around
Gumarang Sakti's training center in Depok. The piece depicts a
journey that leads out of a city, onto a river, into the
countryside and back to town.
The five acts as indicated in the program brochure suggest an
epic structure, however, no plot and no hero are to be found, and
thus the allusion of epic form remains formal.
Town is recognizable by its motorcyclists as mimed by
beautiful Ivonne Greselda. Clues for Country are dancers
revolving around brooms they carry as if they were lurking around
trees. River is nicely portrayed by two rows of dancers moving in
opposite directions, one being the river, the other being the
passing riverbank.
For the most part Schloemer plays in a humorous or even
grotesque way with gestures, postures and dances sometimes
evoking memories of puppets moving in a music box. Clown-like
figures, reminiscent of Oskar Schlemmer's 1922 Triadic Ballet,
travel in fixed orbits across the stage. They call to be named
but the spectator guesses in vain.
Such playfulness puts the ratio at rest and helps to simply
enjoy the abundance of Schloemer's imagination.
Shortage of time, the difficulties in communication and the
high aspirations of the two artists put a strain on the
collaboration between Suid and Schloemer. Most heavily affected
by this were the dancers, many of them ill on the day of the
performance due to the unaccustomed food and climate or simply
from exhaustion. They deserve praise for their accomplishment.
Throughout, they performed with the meticulous care that the
two choreographers demanded. Despite all difficulties, on the day
of the premiere their will to perform was heroic and successful.
Many have grown beyond their former limits, such as the very
young Jessica Koenig. Virginie Lauwerier can be confident of her
talent as well as Gerald Durand. David Doang is a master of his
trade. Aistyaningrum and Alvianto performed with grace.
From its premiere on Friday, the performance improved on the
next two days when the intrinsic irony and wit of the second
piece became more apparent.