Goethe-Institut TanzConnexions

We are back with the last post in this small series on Fire! Fire! Fire!, reporting from Solo. Same as in Jakarta, the venue in Solo, the Teater Besar at the ISI, was sold out. After the show all choreographers took a seat on stage for a public question and answer session.
Here is an excerpt.

(To Sophiline) Would you call your dance a contemporary or a classical piece?

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro: My piece is a classical Cambodian dance with a contemporary sensibility. Cambodian classical dance is full of poses and I want to be technically correct, letting the dancers stretching their fingers to the limit and straigthen up their toes. However, my interpretation of Sita´s trial by fire contains contemporary elements.
The dancers are wearing classical costumes, but in contemporary colours, a grey and light blue, that reminds me of a suit. Sita and Rama tilt their head and hands together and create an intimacy that has never been expressed this way in Cambodian dance before. I also experimented with face colour. The four dancers, who are representing the giants, having their faces and hands painted red. During the performance in Solo I even used traditional Javanese face painting. I transformed the traditional pose of the giants by pushing their bodies together, using the concept of connection, to create a new sculpture-like pose.

How long did you work on this piece?

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro: I designed the piece in about a month, but I still enhance and modify it. With the voice-over in my piece, the storyline becomes visible and while the costume is like a uniform, the red stains and face-paintings are defining the characters.
My piece is about the value of a woman and the value of a human being in general, it’s about essential questions in relationships. I already had those questions in mind for a long time. In my piece Rama asks Sita: Do you only want me as a husband if I am compassionate? And Sita asks him in return: Do you only accept meas a wife if I am clean?

(to Pitchet) What is the connection between Sita’s trial by fire and your piece?

Pichet Klunchun: I think the connection is very clear. The dancers are burning, they are forming a circle and there is a burning man in the middle, silently crying out for help.
I like to create a conflict and to confront the audience with a big question mark.

I wanted to remind them that when the Russian choreographer Nijinsky worked in Paris for the ballet he used Asian techniques to create the The Rite of Spring. During my four years of research about Nijinsky, I came up with the idea that the so-called ‘contemporary’ had already happened in Asia five hundred years ago. I tried to put my body into Nijinsky’s idea, making the costumes tremble like flames and combine the Asian concept and the idea of the contemporary. I dealt with the question: Why do we try to be contemporary?

The second part of the music during my piece is a theme of Stravinsky’s piece of music The Rite of Spring, but out of a contemporary movie, where you can hear people talking and screaming. There is a connection between The Rite of Spring and Sita’s trial by fire.


(to Eko) Why did you not dance yourself in your piece?

Eko Supriyanto: I focussed on the choreography itself and on the process of creating. Me and my dancers found the way to this piece together. For six months I was rehearsing eight hours every day together with my friend, the choreographer Arco Renz in Leuwen, Belgium and in Solo, Indonesia.
I dealt with the essence of the spiral movement, the flame, and tried to interpret the confrontation between man and woman. I questioned the traditional story, where Rama asks for Sita’s virginity and loyalty with the trial by fire. This demand would not be possible in our generation and our contemporary times, or with my own wife or daughter. This piece is a different way of treating the question of equality and commitment between man and woman. I also want the Asians to be louder and to speak up.

In the short break between the rehearsals at the Gedung Kesenian in Jakarta, we meet the 38-year-old Thai dancer Sunon Wachirawarakan. We find him reading the Thai poetry version of the Ramayana epic (in Thai Ramakien).

He joined Pichet Klunchun‘s Khon class nine years ago, learned a lot about traditional and modern dance, became a workshop leader and won the ACC grant of the New York Dance Festival, where he got the idea for his first solo piece titled Home which premiered in 2012.

What is your interpretation of the piece you are performing now?

In my interpretation of the Thai version of the Ramakien, the scene of Sita‘s trial on fire is a deep conversation between Sita and Rama. I think there is no real fire, but Rama‘s words are hurting Sita deeply inside, she experiences a burning in her mind and heart. The dance piece is open for any interpretation and the audience may be reminded of different burning sensations.

What was the inspiration for this piece?

The piece is a mix of traditional and modern dance elements and a reference to the Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Nijinsky, who adapted some Thai dance elements 100 years ago and caused a strong reception among the western public. After researching about Nijinsky, Pichet Klunchun changed the piece completely to last year‘s version.

While in history Asian dance elements were adapted by Western choreographers, nowadays Asian choreographers use Western techniques. In this piece there are some movements inspired by the Russian ballet and there is also a special circle from Khon technique employed. The music is divided into two parts, the first one is traditional Thai music and the second one a theme out of a movie.

After a tiring and bumpy flight, we have finally arrived in Jakarta for the third dance performance at Gedung Kesenian. The evening before the show everyone gathered at the house of the Director of the Goethe Institut, Franz Xaver Augustin, for a dinner reception.


On that occasion, we interviewed the six Indonesian dancers from the troupe. They are all professional dancers, three women and three men, hand have known each other for a long time. They all studied at ISI in Solo and have worked together with Eko Supriyanto for more then 10 years. According to Wirastuti, Putri and Astri, they are all friends, live like a family and share a fruitful dialogue with their choreographer, for example when he challenges them to learn new techniques.

An example of such a technique is the so-called spiral, a term which comes up during the interview. This is a wave-like movement performed with the whole body. Eko Supriyanto was inspired to develop this technique by his friend Arco Renz, and used it to transform traditional Javanese dance into his contemporary expression of Sita‘s trial on fire.


The six dancers are: Wirastuti Susilaningtyas, Putri Pramesti Wigaringtyas, Astri Kusuma Klardani, Danang Cahyo Wijayanto, Muslimin Bagus Paramowo and Eko Wahyudi.

What are your expectations about the show in Jakarta?

Jakarta is a big city! We are under pressure performing in front of our friends, critics and an intellectual, metropolitan audience, which knows about contemporary dance and about the Ramayana epic.

Danang: I hope the audience will accept the collaboration between the three choreographers and the confrontation of the traditional and the contemporary. Eko Supriyanto is a famous and well-known choreographer in Indonesia and we hope that we can meet the public‘s expectations. It is even more exciting dancing in our home country, nevertheless we are getting better each time and we are looking forward to interact with the spectators.

Muslimin: I will give my best on the stage.

Eko: The piece is always different depending on the expextations of the audience.

How do you feel dancing this piece?

We just learned this new technique, the so called ’Spiral’ four months ago.

Putri: During the piece I‘m just a flame.

Wirastuti: We are transforming ourselves, but always facing and confronting the audience. The piece is open for interpretations, but it´s still about the Ramayana epic. The new technique was hard to learn, but dancing it strengthens me.

Astri: Dancing this piece is a new experience. In this interpretation of the Ramayana the woman can have more power.