Tanztheater to dance in Art Summit

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): The one-month long Art Summit, is not only an opportunity for the public to indulge in the works of the best local talent, but also to see the work of international artists. One of these is the dance performance of Bremer Tanztheater from Germany.

This dance troupe from Bremen, which has an Indonesian member, Ditta Miranda Jasfji, is led by Susanne Linke, 54. The troupe will present three of her best choreographies on Thursday and Friday in Gedung Kesenian Jakarta.

The three choreographies are Frauenballet (Women's Ballet), Heisse Luft (Hot Air) and Also Egmont, Bitte (So Please, Egmont). Two dances, with Frauenballet as the main draw-card, will be presented each night.

Created in 1981, Frauenballet is considered Linke's most legendary piece. It depicts the dance of housewives in their daily struggle. In the piece, Linke comes out with the imagery of the elementary ritual of housewives through her dance steps, mostly by playing with layers of fabrics in delivering the movements and moments. With her wit, Linke twists this theme into light humor - far from treating it as an issue of emancipation.

Frauenballet was originally composed for Folkwang Tanzstudio - a dance company of Linke's almamater, Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany. Also Egmont, Bitte! was created in 1986 and Heisse Luft 10 years later.

The Bremer Tanztheater premiered Heisse Luft last year in Bremen, along with Frauenballet, which had been reworked by Linke.

In Also Egmont, Bitte! Linke uses a chair and gives it various meanings in the choreography. Firstly she uses it as a disturbing factor. "It always gets in the way", she says. But with the chair, she also represents a loss, an illusion like a poem, or a standpoint such as shallowness.

Linke created Egmont for the Limon Dance Company in New York, where she was invited as guest choreographer.

The latter work, Heisse Luft, was composed when she already held her current post as the creative director of the respected Bremer Tanztheater.

Susanne Linke started her dancing a little bit late. In her 20's she received her first lesson from one of the noted choreographers in Germany, Mary Wigman, in Berlin. Three years later, she went to Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, which was led by the living icon of Germany's Tanztheater, Pina Bausch, who performed in Jakarta in the 1970s. She later joined the Folkwang Tanzstudio, a dance company also led by Pina Bausch.

Linke began her choreographies in the early 1970s and since then she has won various awards both in Germany and abroad.

Linke choreographed for Folkwang Tanzstudio together with Reinhild Hoffmann for a decade (1975-1985). She also had the chance to lead Folkwang Tanzstudio, which was originally founded as a place where the young choreographers and dancers could explore their talents and skills. Under Linke's leadership, it turned out to be a professional and profitable dance company. It received international recognition in the 1980s and was frequently invited to perform abroad.

In 1977, Linke composed her first solo repertoire, Ach Unsinn (Ah, Nonsense) and established a reputation as an eloquent soloist. She began her solo work in 1981 and soon gained applause from the critics as well as the public. After working as a guest choreographer for several companies overseas, Linke attained her current post as the creative director of Bremer Tanztheater in 1994. For the first two years she worked with Urs Dietrich.

Linke considers the solo an important part of her creation. Every solo's role in her choreography is strongly related to the dancer's personality.

Ditta Miranda Jasfji, 31, her former student who now also dances for Bremer Tanztheater, said that dancers also play a role in the choreography.

"Linke, as well as most European choreographers, consider the role of dancers important. We are heavily involved in the creative process, not just to perform the finished choreography as I experienced with Indonesian choreographers," said Ditta.