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."