Indonesian dancer making big impact overseas

Indonesian dancer making big impact overseas

By Helly Minarti

HAMBURG (JP): The stage was dimly lit -- with a line of ropes
hanging down dramatically from dark ceilings. The audience was
absorbed watching every step of a Caucasian dancer who explored
the floor. All of sudden, from one rope a living object in black
jumped on the dancer's back, tightly embracing his body.

Retaining the audience's astonishment, the object moved -- at
times abruptly, at times graciously. It took a little while to
ascertain what it was: a tiny, skinny woman with hair cascading
down to her waist.

"This was the idea: I had to be invisible. But the start was
the most difficult part. I had to hang on the rope for like 10
minutes, motionless," said the 'object', Ditta Miranda Jasfji.

Ditta, a 31-year-old Indonesian, was playing the central role
in La Chute (The Jump), in Bremen in May. It is a modern
choreography from Susanne Linke, a German choreographer and one
of two artistic directors of the Bremer Tanztheater dance
company.

She joined the distinguished dance company in 1994 and has had
her contract renewed every year since.

But it was not easy to attain her current status.

She started learning ballet when she was three years old in
Paris, while her family was living there for a few years. When
Ditta was seven they returned to Jakarta and she joined Sumber
Cipta Dance Company.

The founder, Farida Oetojo, put a great deal of emphasis on
learning a cross-section of dances.

"She compelled us to learn various traditional dances after
three years of ballet training," said Ditta.

She was with the dance group for 12 years and taught jazz
dancing to junior students. In 1989 she was chosen to play the
main role in Farida's choreography, titled Pilihan Sinta (Sinta's
choice). "But I broke a rib in the dress rehearsal and the show
had to be postponed from April to July," said Ditta.

She danced both in serious and entertaining numbers, like
those of Swara Mahardhikka, who was popular in the 1980s, and
Chandra Kirana, a TV-music program.

Dancing grew in her, becoming her passion. "I always wanted to
dance for an international company," she said. But her parents
told her to keep it merely as a hobby. So she pursued her college
education in a private university in Jakarta, majoring in
Japanese.

At that time two of her dancing friends, Linda Hoemar and Judi
Sjuman, Farida Oetojo's son, continued their dancing education
abroad. "And I wondered, 'why can't I?'".

Linda got a scholarship to learn at Alvin Ailey's modern dance
school in New York, and later made her way to dance for the
American Elisa Monte dance company. Meanwhile Judi enrolled at
Folkwangschule Tanztheater in Essen, Germany.

Coming from a typically conservative middle class family,
Ditta said she had to beg for her parents' permission to study
dance overseas. "I was acting 'crazy' -- crying and simply being
stubbornly bold." She started sending letters to Folkwangschule
-- the home of Germany's contemporary choreographers.

She was in a small town, Schwaebische Hall, studying German on
a three-month scholarship from the Goethe Institut, when
Folkwangschule finally invited her for an audition.

"It was October 1989 -- the new semester had already started,
in June," said Ditta. But the school decided to take her right
away after seeing her dance. The real hard work was about to
begin.

She quickly became accustomed to long rehearsals and living on
her own.

Ditta did well at Folkwang. She graduated as the best student
in 1993 and won DM1500 (US$840) plus a workshop in Austria from
Josef & Classen Foundation. There she created her first solo
routine, Saluang Batuandak. Her second was Selepas Pasung, was
staged in Bremen later the same year. Both were put on in young
choreographer forums and were well received.

Ditta loves solitary solos the most. "Too big an ego? I think
every performer has to possess that. Besides, Susanne started as
a solo dancer herself."

Ditta's next goal after graduation was to become a member of
FTS -- Folkwangschule Tanz Studio -- a prestigious company, then
led by the living icon of German modern dance, Pina Bausch. "My
faith was fragile, knowing that I was too 'small' and had to
compete with 300 other dancers," said Ditta of her tiny figure.
But she made it, being the only one who passed the audition led
by Bausch herself.

It seemed to be her peak time, but this plateau lasted only a
few months as Ditta soon reached even greater heights. In 1994,
still with her big-ambition-but-lack-of self-confidence mind-set,
Ditta auditioned for Bremer Tanztheater, led together by Susanne
Linke and Urs Dietriech. She was selected along with a few other
dancers of different nationalities.

"The most difficult thing about the European style is not how
to dance beautifully, but how to deliver your inner self into the
simple steps," she explained.

1998 is her fourth year in the company and ninth year in
Germany.

Her early tutor, Farida, has asked her many times to teach
and/or choreograph in Indonesia, but something still holds her
back. She is not ready to face the lack of discipline prevalent
among dancers here.

"I attended a dance rehearsal in Jakarta during my last
vacation (last year). All the dancers came very late, giggled and
hung around instead of getting prepared quickly. I'm just not
used to it," said Ditta. "To be a good dancer you have to be a
minimum of 100 percent dedicated," she said.

"I'll return to Indonesia -- someday. But at least for the
next four years I'd like to keep dancing before deciding anything
specific."

Ditta will perform with Bremer Tanztheater at the Jakarta Arts
Summit next October. "A moment I've been waiting for years."