CROSSINGS - music and dance performance

CROSSINGS - music and dance performance by METAdomus and Chendra Panatan, Teater Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, 7 and 8 Sept 2007, 8 pm.

THE ROYAL BALLET

Legenda suatu tradisi

Tradisi bagai mahkota
megah silaukan mata
indah simpan pesona

Tradisi warisi Budaya
limpah air susu ibunda
denyut nadi aliri darah
tiup sumber napas cahaya

Tradisi bawa sejarah
Putar hilir menuju hulu
Cerah dunia diperkaya

London, 3 June 2007

carlos acosta in requiem, photo johan persson

darcey bussell in sylvia, photo tristram kenton

federico bonelli in symphonic variations, photo dee conway

ivan putrov in scenes de ballet, photos dee conway

BIG SALE - Protein Dance

Padu padan kata, gerak, lagu dan tari diramu dalam suatu koreography oleh Luca Silvestrini dan Bettina Strickler menjadi suatu tontonan BIG SALE yang ramai.

7 orang penari mengisi ‘The Robin Howard Dance Theatre’- The Place dengan segala atribut property dan setting panggung yang bergerak cepat dalam paduan life video dan pop music.

Physicality pemain bermutasi dengan lakon membawa perubahan suatu ‘event’ cepat berpindah, dari suatu ‘night club’, ‘market traders’ menuju ke ‘war zone’. Suatu parody yang dikemas dalam ‘catwalk’ gerak, kata dan musik.

London, 10 Nov 06

LES MISERABLES - a musical

jalan panjang perjuangan
duka, derita dan nestapa
cinta, pengorbanan dan kasih
padu dalam lagu
ekspresi pergolakan emosi
mimpi kemerdekaan
mimpi akan harapan
mimpi kehidupan

30 May 07

Queen's Theatre, 51 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6BA

Study of 'Personal Movement Style' - an independent choreography research project

The term of ‘style’ for this research is an individual expression characterized by a dancer personality and quality inside the technical trained dancing body.

My research is based on an investigation of the proposition that each dancer has their own movement quality which can be seen even within a particular dancing style. Arguably quality is personal and specific to each person even when they perform learned movement. I consider style to be something that can be learnt and embodied through practice, especially when it is focused on one specific dance or movement style. Dance styles require certain movement qualities; but there are some qualities that appear to me to be personal and I am going to investigate the idea of how ‘new personal movement style’ produced in this research.

London, 25 May 2007

The Invisible Moment

photo by Dian Rosita

Examining ‘documentation of the creative process’ as a mode to read the choreography

This essay investigates the creative process by a choreographer which usually is "invisible" and queries how it is documented. An invisible process which generally unknown by the audiences and then becomes visible if it is well informed or performed and packaged into a good form or media of documentation. How the documentation could expose in a well articulated way so it can give a good impression and adequate points of view of the choreographer its dance work. That documentation of creative process can also be seen as the final product. It’s a product within the product itself - a "cycle of process" in the creativity of a dance work. It is a cycle to see ‘process and performance’ as an eternal rotation of creativity.

Seeing and reading a documentation of creative process may help the viewers to understand and appreciate the choreography. Investigating the documentation of creative process, I will refer to Susan Leigh Foster’s (1986) model of choreographic analysis. Considering how these elements of documenting can support the audience in reading and understanding the dance. Does it also create ‘meaning’?

Dance is an event that exists as a form of performing art, presented and received by the audience when it happens. Dance is present. The identity of a dance is established when that dance is being performed. As an "event", that dance becomes the end-product when it is accepted and perceived by an audience. A dance work is not "completed" until it has observed by an audience. As the final work presented, the audience has the right to "interpret" it, and then it belongs to the public. The choreographer will have to accept this as the final result.

Meanwhile, the process of the creation of a dance work happens before the "product" is performed. This part of the creative process is usually invisible, where research and the formulation of an idea or concept by the choreographer are being done. This creative process is done through intensive practice. This journey leads to the process of selecting the materials up to the refinement of the idea which then leads to the "real" performances. This whole process is a journey of the choreographer's creativity and involves collaboration with dancers. It is a creative process which is invisible and mostly not exposed to the public.

Observing the creative process of the choreographer in creating his/her work could open new opportunities and possibilities to present and introduce the profile of the choreographer besides through his ‘masterpiece’ or finished dance work. It can also open the viewer’s eyes to the creativity of the choreographer which is normally invisible and gives an insight view and critical perspective toward the dance besides the information and description on the program note. These will develop the sense of appreciation from the audience while looking at the dance.

Dance turns out to be a ‘finished product’ because of the limited budget and time to meet a performance deadline. To create an art work, the reason of funding and timing is considered as a must. The funding body or commission needs to see the work to be performed or presented to public. They need to have and see the result, which means to have the ‘finished product’ and meeting the deadline. The artist has also an obligation as well as a moral responsibility towards the funding body to show or perform his/her works. Thus, choreographers should meet these requirements to perform their dances; however it does not mean that their creativity is blocked. As John Adams (1999), an American composer writes:
‘Can’t I come up with a better idea? But I have to just go ahead, and this is why I always work with a deadline. If I didn’t have that date, not too far in the future, a crisis of confidence might overwhelm me, and I’d simply stop’. (Adams in McCuthan, 1999: p67).

In the process of making a dance, the choreographer should decide that the work is finished and being performed, so it can be said the dance is a ‘finished product’, except if the performance is described to be a ‘work in progress’. Therefore the audience will see and value that performance differently. The existence of a dance work normally is perceived as an end product by the viewers. Seeing a documentation of the creative process as an end product or putting the creative process as part of the performance, such as lecture demonstration (performance) or lecture concert, process becomes a ‘product’ as well. Through this kind of ‘documentation’ or ‘performance’ by having the explanation of ‘the creative process’, is that help or guide or open the possibility for the audience to ‘understand’ the work? What is the effect by giving the ‘frame’ of information of creative process to the viewers? By ‘knowing how’ or ‘knowing the creative process’ of choreographers for the audience, does it help and give benefits for the choreographer as well as the audience?

Susan Leigh Foster (1986) identifies five conventions for the viewers to read and create a meaning from choreography.

‘Once familiar with movement, the viewer can apprehend the choreographic codes and conventions that give the dance its significance. By focusing on these conventions in a particular dance, the viewer comes to understand not only what the dance means but also how it creates its meaning’ (Foster, 1986: p.59).

The five broad categories of choreographic conventions are: the frame, the mode of representation, the style, the vocabulary and the syntax. Foster helps the viewers to understand how to read dance and create a meaning from choreography. The knowledge of five conventions are mainly provided and easily understood for the general public or audience. For the experienced choreographer, those five conventions are employed for reflection and reference toward his/her choreography. In the dance production, the choreographer’s creative process unconsciously implements those five conventions. Choreographer gives information in a specific “framing” to the viewers, uses movement vocabulary as well as creating style into the dance. This is a process that is made for the audience, so they can read and understand the dance. Reading or seeing the creative process through observation and documentation will also help the viewer to read and understand the choreography, so the documentation of the creative process is also important for them. Besides to understand the dance, experiencing (witnessing) the creative process will open up the strategy, skills as well as knowledge of ‘knowing how’ for the others choreographers.

Middlesex University, London 10 May 2007

Rambert Dance Company

Anatomica # 3 – Andre Gingras

Warga London mendapatkan kesempatan menyaksikan koreography Andre Gingras di Sadler’s Wells yang ditarikan oleh Rambert Dance Company.

Keseragaman manusia diawal koreography ini menampilkan gerak segar nan minimalis, repetitive dan percussive menghadirkan suatu misteri perilaku manusia. 18 penari memakai costume wanita dengan tas dan wig yg serupa bergerak dan melangkah mengikuti irama musik yang didesign oleh Joseph Hyde.

Awal yg memikat tidak berarti membuat 'content' karya tari ini bermutu. Gerak yang kemudian berkembang menjadi besar, liar dan aggressive mengisi panggung yang ditata dengan tumpukan matras di sudut kanan belakang panggung. Para penari melempar diri, melompat, ber’akrobatik’ ria dan menari dengan struktur gerak yang berpola seperti ‘class work’. Suguhan gerak yang terlalu ‘dihambur-hamburkan’ menciptakan suasana yang membosankan tanpa suatu ‘intention’ yang jelas. Variasi gerak menjadikan penampilan karya ini bak 'etalase gerak' yang cocok untuk penonton ber 'window shopping'. Menyentuh permukaan tanpa pendalaman makna, materi yang ada menjadi suatu ketersiaan belaka.

Penggalan beberapa gesture yang sempat mencuri perhatian, seperti membuka mata dan memperlihatkan bagian tubuh tertentu tidak dimanfaatkan dengan seksama oleh sang pencipta. Adegan ini berlalu begitu saja, malah terkesan menjadi tempelan yang dipaksakan untuk meredam hamburan gerak yang bombastis. Usaha memikat melalui kombinasi gerak tak berhasil sempurna karena ‘wasting movement without critical thinking’. It has become a ‘macdonaldization of movement’. More is less…..

London, 22 May 07