Local choreographers adopt brash styles
By Yogita Tahil Ramani
JAKARTA (JP): Lithe male dancers were dressed as drag queens pirouetting and balancing plates, spiritually teased by the rhythmic howlings of traditional musicians.
A man and woman got down to some dance-wrestling, flirting with one another to gain possession of coned field-hats. Or how about two women gyrating and shivering crazily while a dancing man looks on.
These were three of nine local delights of the creative gone mad, albeit in a captivatingly effusive manner. Selected from 87 groups entered into the 1997 Gedung Kesenian Jakarta choreography competition, they were performed at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, Thursday.
Celebrating a decade of music, dance, drama and theater, Gedung Kesenian Jakarta is on an artistic binge with The Jakarta Performing Arts Theater International Festival from Sept. 2 to Oct. 11.
Kurniawan S, Lalu Suryadi Mulawarman, Faisal Amri, Deslenda, Benny Andria, Rifa Susilawati, Jecko Kurniawan, Indra Zubir, Nanang Ruswandi and Maria Bernadeth are the cream of the fast- emerging crop of Indonesian choreographers.
On Thursday the performances were edged with spontaneity and shock (both musical and choreographic), even though the themes were simple -- harmony, gender war, the search for love, and human-bonding.
Even though Benny's Dantiang-Dantiang (the plate dance) had its quirky moments, the music and choreography were both traditionally classic and beautiful. Garish make-up and heavy costumes were not the attraction, as the eminent "drag-queens" danced with individual styles.
Ferarai by Rita, Jecko and Indra was entertaining. Four male dancers adorned with war paint and Irian Jayan headdress chopped the air with powerful leg and arm movements, dancing to Janet Jackson. Ferarai is a celebration dance, the likes of which are usually seen during harvests and festivals by Irianese youths.
Music varied from animalistic catcalls, a continuous drumbeat, traditional music, screaming and grunting, to fusion music, both traditionalistic and contemporary in style. As a musical element in itself, silence was experimented with as well.
A group of women playing tambourines leapt into air with precisely times jump kicks to a sense-stealing drumbeat, in Faisal Amri's splendidly choreographed Indang Saliguri. Faisal also choreographed an improvised version of a traditional dance, Randai, called Hep-Ta-Hu. Musically accentuated by constant ear- piercing slapping of thighs and clapping of hands, the dance was accompanied by traditional poetry sung by women-dancers as well.
A couple of the performances were respectively battlegrounds for love and attempts to delve into its ambiguous meanings. Deslenda's Tuduang portrayed gender problems, while Kurniawan's Goda (Temptations) had a woman giving a man the literal run- around, as he eventually learned the price of misguided emotions.
Lalu's Para Empuan had women dancing to music played for the divine beings. Swaying movements of the hands and stoic facial expressions gave the dance a somber, solemn feel.
While Nanang's Sakerah had dancing men armed with pointed traditional swords concentrating on courage and skill, Maria's Hitam Putih (Black/White), had a man seemingly torn between the confused personalities of two women.
Nowadays, many choreographers adapt traditional dances to include contemporary themes and style to enliven old routines. Nevertheless, these pieces were complex than usual, more richly defined and articulated, and some of them were definitely, modern and not traditional.