Urban lifestyle inspires 'Forbidden Passion'
Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta
Ideas continue to be juggled and much sweat is being shed as Forbidden Passion prepares to kick off the city's dance season this year.
Put together by members of the very avant garde Eksotika Karmawibhangga Indonesia (EKI), the 60-minute-long performance is divided into four compositions, with each piece attempting to communicate to the audience issues that the dancers consider absolutely essential.
For choreographer and dancer Rusdy Rukmarata, 40, it is of the utmost importance to know what young people are thinking today.
Society may find it difficult to accept their desires but we still have to be aware about what it is that youngsters hold most sacred in life, feels Rusdy, himself a father and founder of EKI.
Rusdy insists it is not true that to be modern is to be western. He is quick to remind us that Indonesia was greatest when it had been unafraid in the past and passionate about embracing cultures and peoples from other parts of the world.
In those ancient times, Indonesia was already forward-looking and modern. Today, he sees his country bogged down by too many divisions in society and rites and rituals. Instead of helping them, many of the outdated traditions and customs confuse and frustrate youngsters and often force them into antisocial activities.
So he calls as many youngsters as he can to come to him. They are encouraged not just to dance with him but he takes time out to talk to them and together they learn how to best express their respective feelings through dance.
If they really want to they are even able to stay at the EKI compound, which has a boarding school for all those who love theater and dance. The idea is not to perform and to forget, but to live and practice the arts in one's day-to-day life. The ultimate goal is to be a good artist as well as a good human being, and to be loving and giving all the time.
It bothers Rusdy that so many teenagers in Jakarta feel so alienated from their surroundings today.
He regrets the gang wars between different schools and neighborhoods. He tries talking to as many young people as possible before choreographing their dreams, anger and aspirations into dance.
The opening sequence of Breath is a fast-paced flurry of movements performed to the tune of a hypnotic piece of music composed by Sujiwo Tejo, the resident music director of EKI.
Sujiwo's voice is a swaying chant similar to priestly invocations to the gods from past civilizations. Sometimes it is like the sound of thunder, at other times like the rustling of wind among bamboo groves. Rusdy has tried to weave the dreams of young people into modern movements to match the ancient sounds as old as life itself.
Rusdy, an alumni of the London Contemporary Dance School, appears on stage in Children of Revolution with many a martial movement that hints of rebellion at every nook and cranny. But even a little scratch at all the sound and fury behind the torn jeans and metal jewelry reveals just a simple desire of young people to be allowed to be themselves.
The Tie is a somewhat humorous look at all the raw passion that is hidden behind the sophisticated black-and-white lifestyle of the white-collar workforce. What happens when the very important board of directors and chief of executives decide to let the tie fly away with the sparrow? Popular electronic music along with traditional percussion sounds combine to raise many an eyebrow.
Domestic Issue is a 20-minute-long piece of choreography by Chichi Kadijono who has been teaching modern dance at EKI since 1997. Along with her younger sister, Chichi initially learnt both Balinese dancing and ballet. But, as an adult, it is modern dance that still attracts her. The pixie-faced Chichi trained at the Dance University of London and for two years worked with Yul Bryner on stage for The King and I.
Back in Jakarta and under pressure from the family, Chichi felt six years were not long enough to be in London. She has been in Jakarta since 1981, often regretting having left Europe.
Now 47 years old, Chichi almost gave up dancing, but now enjoys her role as teacher and choreographer. But she is sorry that so few people want to learn modern dance. This is a pity as modern dance is highly expressive and allows liberation from repetitive and tutored movements.
As she gets older she finds herself a little more interested in traditional dance, particularly percussion-based dances from West Sumatra. The politics of the day leave her uninspired and she feels that her work will probably remain the same despite the tremendous economic and political changes that have taken place around her in recent times.
Domestic Issue, the fourth piece to be performed as part of Forbidden Passion is choreographed by Chichi. It is a piece that is inspired by the day-to-day routine of her personal life and is also a typical example of her increasingly mature role as a choreographer.
Forbidden Passion will be performed on March 27 and March 28 at 8 p.m., Taman Ismail Marzuki. Tel: 8313029/3154087