Jecko Siompo: Let's Dance Papua!

Jecko Siompo: Let's Dance Papua!

Helly Minarti, Contributor/Jakarta

What can a young Papuan man aspire to these days?

It is common for most educated Papuans to picture their
futures either working in the government or holding down an
office job.

The choice Jecko Siompo, 29, made about a decade ago was
indeed an anomaly -- he moved to Jakarta to enroll in the Jakarta
Arts Institute's dance department. There a cultural journey
began.

At the institute, the Fakfak-born Jecko learned various dance
styles, both traditional and modern. His sturdy, angular Papuan
build tried to be as supple as a Javanese prince, or as agile as
a Minang (West Sumatra) martial arts master; quite a process of
crossing cultures. Out of school, later, he tried ballet and
street dance (hip-hop dance culture), which added body and
movement vocabulary to his resume.

"What's so funny, the more I learned about these `foreign'
dances, the more I understand the Papuan ones -- something that I
used to do by habit. I mean, we dance for every occasion --
hunting, fishing or weddings," he said.

Back in Papua dancing was indeed part of daily life for Jecko
-- so why bother to study it? "I just wanted to," he shrugs.

Jecko was lucky to have experienced living in different areas
of Papua, from hinterland Wamena, coastal Fakfak, to the
provincial capital Jayapura.

Dancing accompanied him throughout his childhood and
adolescence, and he immersed in both hinterland (pedalaman) and
coastal (pesisir) dance forms.

Entering high school, he occasionally visited the capital
Jakarta, and briefly enrolled in a high school there. "I missed
one class, so I decided to finish high school back in Papua,
before I moved here later."

At the institute, his physical features and his body movements
attracted the older students, and soon he was being asked to
dance in some of their pieces -- most of them were already big
names, or at least rising stars. "I danced for Mas Don (Sardono
W. Kusumo), Gumarang Sakti, my teachers such as Mas Deddy
(Luthan) and some others."

He also became involved in choreography. Some of his early
works seemed detached from Papua, which was a problem because
Jecko always shone the most when working with Papua materials.

Apart from showcasing his work at local venues, he also
performed at festivals such as the Indonesian Dance Festival. He
was eventually invited to the Bates Dance Festival in Port Maine,
U.S., as a guest choreographer.

During a trip to New York, he strolled through the city and
saw with his own eyes the "original" hip-hop culture he learned
about in the 1980s.

"I think something links North America and Papua when it comes
to body and dance cultures, because the traces are so apparent,"
he muses, theorizing how these two cultures might have criss-
crossed in ancient times, through trade or other encounters.

"If Papua was technology-wise on a par with America, we would
all be dancing like those people in Manhattan because we come
from the same roots," he said.

Returning home, he founded Jakarta Breakin', a hip-hop group
that performed in pubs, cafes and during different occasions.

"I stopped breaking since I hurt my knee, but I still keep in
touch with them," he said.

In 2003 he received a scholarship to study dance theater in
Germany for four months. Instead of attending classes at Folkwang
Tanz Studio, he tried to catch as many performances as possible
in Germany and France.

"I skipped classes. I was way too tired," he says. "Still, I
learned a lot."

There seems to be a sense of indifference in his conduct. Even
in Jakarta, he would pop into a dance workshop (by an
international artist) very late and spend the whole time sitting
on a bench, watching.

He can appear moody and nonchalant, hiding a very keen
perception. Once he refused to hold a general rehearsal for a
solo dance, as if trying to hide his choreography, to the
annoyance of everyone else around. But then, a few minutes into
conversation, Jecko demonstrated that he stays up-to-date on
issues in international contemporary dance and is aware of his
artistic choices (which do not always end in rave reviews).

In his most recent dance piece, In Front Papua, Jecko narrated
his own story -- the "journeys" he made, but was far from
literal. Instead, he projected images and impression of Papua
through dancing bodies woven into Papua's natural landscape.

The stage turned into various cultural/natural sights from his
memory: the hanging bridge made of tree roots over the Membramo
River, with all its alligators, pedestrians in Jayapura or
Manhattan, beaches, mountains.

He also merges different body movements -- stylized Papuan
tribal dance steps, trivial gestures, the moonwalking he
obviously copied from the King of Pop.

"Of course I will always have to come back to Papua, but
sometimes I need distance. I position myself in front of Papua,
outside it. Only then can I get inside again."

With the support of a Papua-born government official who is a
fan, Jecko might have the chance to go back to Papua more often
and build new links with the sanggar (dance studio) founded by
the local community. "I do not think I have 'ruined' my
traditions. All I have taken is the spirit (of tradition) and my
life in Papua."