Goethe-Institut TanzConnexions

02.02.13, Solo. Talking with the audience

nospam@example.com (Corinna Egdorf) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:54:39 +0100

Part of the team on a road trip to Borobudur, a buddhist monument close to Solo and Yogyakarta © Corinna Egdorf

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.

Scene from the third act, choreographed by Eko Supriyanto© Khvay Samnang

(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.

30.01.13, Jakarta. The mix of East and West, Traditional and Modern

nospam@example.com (Corinna Egdorf) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:09:00 +0100

Sunon Wachirawarakan: Backstage © Corinna Egdorf

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.

29.01.2013, Jakarta. Talk with the dancers: Like dancing flames

nospam@example.com (Corinna Egdorf) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:16:15 +0100

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.

Dinner reception at Franz Xaver Augustin‘s house © Corinna Egdorf

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.

Kedung Kesenian in Jakarta, with Istiqlal Cathedral and Monas, the national monument, in the background © Corinna Egdorf

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.

29.1.2013, Bangkok. Our show in the program of Our Roots Right Now festival

nospam@example.com (Dinyah Latuconsina, Goethe-Institut) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:29:57 +0100

There is always a great excitement, yet also anxiety when your project is presented in a festival organized by an institution as big as the Chulalangkorn University Bangkok, Thailand!

Fire! Fire! Fire! was invited to Our Roots Right Now, a public program of contemporary Thai/ASEAN theatre organized by the Faculty of Arts of Chulalangkorn University. Ours was the closing performance of the festival.

A Thai meal, at the welcome dinner organized by the Festival Our Roots Right Now and the Faculty of Arts Chulalangkorn University © Dinyah Latuconsina

We knew that this event has hundreds of international artists, educators and critics from all over the world, and there was not much we could do but to stay focused and present our work with the highest standard possible. Here is a recount of what happened at the big show in Bangkok. Enjoy reading!

300 guests at Maha Chakri Sirindhorn theatre

After 1,5 hours of performance, we finally heard the clapping of hands of around 300 people at the theatre in Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building, cheering on the three choreographers and their dancers. The atmosphere was beautiful and everyone in the team was relieved. Pawit Mahasarinand, one of the professors of Department of Dramatic Arts, then invited all dancers and the lighting director Iskandar Loedin to come to the stage to receive traditional Thai flowers.

From the performance, a scene of the piece choreographed by Pichet © Khvay Samnang

Shortly after the acknowledgment, Pawit, accompanied by Danny Yung, a cultural activist and theatre expert from Hong Kong, talked about the three pieces with Sophiline, Pichet and Eko on stage. Pawit and Danny agreed on the diversity of the pieces and were particularly interested in how the collaboration works were built during the three years of collaboration.

Then, the Q & A session turned into a lively discussion between the artists and the audience.

With Pichet as the home choreographer, it was obvious that many questions were directed at him. Pichet’s often very philosophical answers (for example about The Rite of Spring as his inspiration) was translated to English for the international audience by Pawit, who seemed to have mastered all the tricks for understanding Pichet’s words and reflecting it back to audience with humor.

All three choreographers share the vision that a future collaboration is possible. Speaking about their experience in this project, Sophiline, Pichet and Eko mentioned what a great opportunity it has been to work focused and without any interference during the creative process and to be able to direct the work with all the freedom they want.

28.1.2013, Bangkok. The flight was short but the hopes are high!

nospam@example.com (Dinyah Latuconsina, Goethe-Institut) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:07:40 +0100

After the successful world premiere on January 24, 2013 at the Khmer Arts Theatre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Fire! Fire! Fire! troupe of dancers and choreographers left Phnom Penh to the capital city of Thailand, Bangkok. The flight was relatively short – only less than one hour – but the hope and excitement among the members for the next three cities are high.

The group stays in a hotel at Siam Square © Dinyah Latuconsina

Bangkok – Pichet Klunchun’s hometown knows all about dance

Bangkok is unmistakably a very vibrant city in the region in terms of economics and politics. Yet nowadays it is also internationally known as home for many respectable contemporary dancers, choreographers and dance critics, one of them is Pichet Klunchun who is also taking part on the Fire! Fire! Fire! project.

Fire! Fire! Fire! – through the eyes of Vanndy, a Cambodian court dancer

According to Sovanndy Sot (Vanndy), one of the Cambodian dancers, Pichet’s work on Fire! Fire! Fire! is the most intriguing piece of all. She found it very refined even if the story line was not clear for her, at least not as clear as Sophiline’s piece. Trained since her early teenage years as a classical Cambodian court dancer, Vanndy is very keen to learn more about Pichet’s way of choreographing and expressing a story. Vanndy said, a piece like Pichet’s is rarely to be seen in Phnom Penh. Therefore she really is grateful that the Fire! Fire! Fire! project has given her more chance to be with international dancers and choreographers whose works and expressions are totally different from what she usually sees in Cambodia.

In Sophiline’s piece for Fire! Fire! Fire! Vanndy plays the role as Reap (Rahwana), and later as one of the four giants. Her role as a giant does not prevent her to feel the sorrow of Neang Seda (Sita) though when she learns that Preah Ream (Rama) doesn’t want to take her back as his wife after knowing about the kidnapping by Reap. Vanndy shares Sophiline’s idea about Seda’s role that represents a woman’s way of thinking and feeling. Women usually do not talk loudly about their affection and hurt even in their love relationship. Sophiline brings in a genuine idea to twist the end of the story of Sita’s trial episode. She and her six dancers try to bring this new approach to the Ramayana epic through the classical movements of Cambodian dance, which are remarkably still much loved by the Cambodians and international audience.

Sophiline with two dancers: Sovanndy (Vanndy) Sot, Sophiline Cheam Saphiro, Socheata Chao © Dinyah Latuconsina

Wrapping up Bangkok

In Bangkok Fire! Fire! Fire! is the closing performance of the dance festival Our Roots Right Now organized by the Faculty of Arts Chulalangkorn University. The three choreographers, Sophiline, Pichet and Eko will give workshop for registered participants before the show on January 28, 2013 and are scheduled to have a Q & A session for the audience after it.

26.1.2013, Phnom Penh, Interview with Karlien Meganck

nospam@example.com (Nadine Freischlad, Goethe-Institut) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:27:59 +0100

Greetings from Pnom Penh!

This is the second day after the first performance. Everything went well, as you can tell from the photo. Please find more photos from the show on our FB page.

Performance © Kvay Samnang

Today, everyone came together again for an open workshop on the breathtaking stage of the Khmer Arts Theater. And as you are reading this, we are probably already in Bangkok, Thailand, getting ready for round 2!

Workshop © Verena Lehmkuhl

At the show, we also interviewed Karlien Meganck, a dance programmer from the prestigious deSingel International Arts Campus in Belgium. It was a great honor to know she was watching this performance closely! Here is what she told us:

Karlien, why did you come all the way to Pnom Penh to watch this performance?
I am a performing arts programmer from Belgium and it's very interesting for me to see what's happening in the South East Asian dance scene.

I am very happy that I was officially invited as a European observer to come see 'Fire! Fire! Fire!' by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, Pichet Klunchun and Eko Supriyanto, a project that gives a great insight in the scene here.

Would the pieces that we saw yesterday be interesting to a European audience?

I enjoyed the work a lot, but it also triggered many questions. Some of my questions were answered by the artist talk after the show. This leads me to think that European audiences could definitely be interested in this work, but that it would be crucial to establish a framework of theory and information around it. There exists a big gap between the Asian and European dance world.

The first step in trying to make this gap disappear, I feel, is trying to understand each other's cultures. Only by doing that, we can truly come closer to each other. And only then a true exchange could happen, an exchange that goes beyond a European audience watching an exotic show. When hearing Sophiline, Pichet and Eko talk, I became very thrilled about the dance future that is lying ahead of us.

Karlien Meganck © Verena Lehmkuhl

Related Links
Photos from the show on Facebook

24.1.2013, The dancers and choreographers have arrived in Phnom Penh

nospam@example.com (Verena Lehmkuhl, Goethe-Institut) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:11:19 +0100

Intense rehearsals before the show © Verena Lehmkuhl

The dancers and choreographers have arrived in Phnom Penh, all preparing themselves for the very first performance. We took the time to ask Sophiline, one of the choreographers of this piece and Artistic Director of the Khmer Arts Theater, two questions.

What is special about this piece?

Fire! Fire! Fire! is unique because it is the work of three Southeast Asian choreographers. All of them have a background in classical dance: Eko from Indonesia who is teaching classical Japanese dance, Pichet who is doing Chon, a traditional Thai dance and me, whose main work is Robam Boran. And in the same time Fire! Fire! Fire! is a mix of classical and contemporary dance. The three of us have a lot in common even if we each have our own focuses. It is a pleasure to see how everybody is dealing with the same work, but in a different way.

A view of Phnom Penh © Verena Lehmkuhl

Personally, what does this production mean to you?

On the one hand I really like the story of Ramayana. The perception of women is an important issue, in general. In Ramayana, Sita ist the one who is talking but nobody is listening, not even Rama, the man she loves. You can learn a lot from that story. First of all it is very important to listen, so that your counterpart can explain. If one of the two things is not working, you will never ever come to a solution.

Fire! Fire! Fire! Follow an international dance troupe on their tour through Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

nospam@example.com (Nadine Freischlad, Goethe-Institut) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:07:31 +0100

Three of Southeast Asia’s most notable choreographers, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro (Cambodia), Pichet Klunchun (Thailand) and Eko Supriyanto (Indonesia) have come together for the third year in a row, to collaborate on a contemporary dance piece with a troupe of dancers from each of the three countries.

The final result of their collaboration will be presented to the public on a tour including four performances, starting in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, moving on to Bangkok, Thailand and ending with shows in Jakarta and finally, Solo, in Indonesia.

In each city, the choreographers and dancers will also be holding open workshops, taking this opportunity to learn from each other as well as passing their knowledge and experience on to other local dancers.

This artistic exchange was made possible by Goethe-Institut Indonesien, in cooperation with the Khmer Arts Theater in Phnom Penh, Pichet Klunchun & Dancers Bangkok and the Solo Dance Studio. The program is part of the Goethe-Institut’s tanzconnexions-initiative, an ongoing effort to fuel exchange and co-productions in the field of contemporary dance in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The blog series on goethe.de/tanzconnexions

We want you to be able to follow this tour “up close and personal” through a blog series. Our team will report and deliver insights from each stage of the tour. What are a choreographers intentions when composing a piece? What are the ups and downs of a career as a professional dancer in South East Asia? What does the audience take away from this show?

There will be two reports from each of the four cities, so stay tuned!

The tour dates are
Pnom Phen: January 24, 2013
Bangkok: January 28, 2013
Jakarta: January 30, 2013
Solo: Febuary 2, 2013

Check out the links below for details about the shows, the project platform “tanzconnexions” and related info.

Related Links
Zur show in Bangkok Fire Fire Fire – Dance Performance
und dramachula.com/ourroots

Work It! Day V: Structures and Anti-Structures

nospam@example.com (Bilqis Hijjas) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:52:40 +0100

Now that the initial Work It! performances are over, the 12 participants can settle down to the main focus of this project: the week of closed-door sessions in the studio at Rimbun Dahan. Aside from the open studio session for Malaysian artists on Wednesday afternoon, and the final panel presentation which concludes the project on Saturday, the contents of this entire week are now up to the participants. The three producers -- Anna Wagner, Fumi Yokobori and I -- have resigned from our position as organisers and now serve merely as facilitators. The participants themselves are now responsible for planning what they will do.

With great freedom comes great responsibility -- too much freedom can be a curse, and it's certainly a challenge. For twelve independent, opinionated and expressive artists, deciding on a direction for their time together calls upon all their resources for collective decision-making.

On Sunday afternoon, after a relaxed but chatty brunch in which we reflected on the weekend's performances, Anna convened the group in the dance studio at Rimbun Dahan for the first time. After a second speed-dating session in which the artists responded to each other's performances, Anna asked the artists to write whatever questions they had -- both logistical and thematic -- on cards. We posted our cards on a board, and moved them around to reflect the similarities and links that emerged. Common themes emerged around the questions of what contitutes contemporary practice, how the artists negotiate the current economic situation and how their art reflects it, and their positions in relation to their gender and geographical identity.

Anna then suggested the artists brainstorm ideas for the week, either concrete plans for specific working sessions, or broader reflections upon the aims and approaches of the entire project. This provoked a storm of responses. Should they opt for time-limited sessions or organic ongoing activities? Should they split up and work as individuals or in small groups, or stay together? But once again, certain common threads emerged. Most people wanted to start the day with some kind of physical practice -- yoga, Pilates or (Doris Uhlich's contribution) 'pleasure bouncing' to popular music. Most people also wanted to pay close attention to the requirements and styles of communication of the other participants, to ensure an empowered reflective environment -- and there was a strong consciousness that doing so is part and parcel of feminist practice. And many people also wanted to address the dual position of being in Malaysia (especially for the European participants, for whom this is the first exposure to Southeast Asia) and to being in connection with the other artists in the project.

As organisers, it was interesting to see how the entire group, at first exhausted from the previous two days of rehearsals and performances, and some of them still suffering from jetlag, became energised and engaged when faced with this challenge of planning. We also observed the different styles of communication -- the personalities that tend to speak more, while others tend to listen -- as well as approaches to tasks and meaning -- those who are more interested in questioning the metastructure of the entire project, for example, in contrast to those who would prefer to propose more concrete plans for workshops.

Sunday ended with another communal meal in the open pavilion at Rimbun Dahan, with a few invited Malaysian artists who were keen to connect with the participants. Everyone had brought sweets from their home countries to share with the group, which they introduced with a story. After the intellectual challenge of the planning session, dinner was an opportunity to connect and deepen ties on a social, emotional and gastronomic level.

Work It! Day IV: On Stage, Not On Time

nospam@example.com (Bilqis Hijjas) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:23:18 +0100

Margarita Tsomou (Greece/Germany) performing in Work It! Program A on Friday night at the Black Box, MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Tanes Jitsawart.

Both public performances of Work It! at the Black Box at MAP Publika were extremely well received. On Saturday night we had a full house, despite the competition of five other significant theatrical productions going on in Kuala Lumpur on the same weekend. We were so full that many people had to sit on mats on the floor in front of the stage.

From the opening work by Cynthia Ling Lee (Taiwan/USA) depicting how a post-modern contemporary dancer negotiates 'learning to walk like Radha' in the classical Indian tradition, to the closing work by Mia Habib (Norway/Israel) and Rita Natalio (Portugal), in which Rita lay on a table in her underwear and was covered with banana leaves and Malaysian desserts which the audience was then invited to eat, the audience found the performances to be surprising, refreshing and thought-provoking.

Doris Uhlich (Austria) in an excerpt from 'Rising Swan'. Photo: Tanes Jitsawart.

On Saturday night the performance ran way over time, due to a late start to accommodate the launch of a local butoh festival in another space at MAP Publika, more artists performing on Saturday than on Friday, and one of the artists' performances running over the 15-minute limitation. But, as Anna Wagner philosophically pointed out to me, this is part of the nature of live performance! Despite the late night, an impressive number of the audience stayed for the Q&A session and to meet the artists, which I feel testifies to the novelty and value of projects like these in a Malaysian context.

Work It! Program A artists and producers during the Q&A after the performance. Photo: Tanes Jitsawart.

The informal socialising after the performances was also an opportunity for the participants to connect with some local artists, some of whom now plan attend our open studio session on Wednesday. It was an exhausting few days, and difficult for some of the participants to jump into such a packed schedule, but everyone handled it with humour, accommodation, and many creative strategies. As an opportunity for the Malaysian public to gain some access to the participants, and for the participants themselves to get a concrete insight into the variety of performance practices and approaches among the group, I feel the two days of performance were an invaluable way to begin Work It!, rather than reserving the performances for the end, as is usual in a project like this.

Despite the vast range of artistic backgrounds, the similarities among the performances were striking. "Why am I so interested in repetition? Why am I so interested in repetition?" as Cuqui Jerez (Spain) asked in her work, was something that resonated throughout. By complete coincidence, both programs also featured full-body stockings, boats, long pieces of fabric, and heros!

Geumhyung Jeong (Korea) performing 'Epic Spectacle' in Work It! Program A. Photo: Tanes Jitsawart.

DAY II & III

nospam@example.com (Bilqis Hijjas) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:24:53 +0100

Day III of “Work it!” is finished and it is already difficult for me to give an overview on what has happen within the last 48 hours.
Yesterday we started with a very intense “field trip” to Kuala Lumpur and visited Women’s aid organization and Sisters in Islam, two organizations that are involved in women’s issues and identity politics. Connecting with the local context of Malaysia was very helpful for us. First of all on a geographical level as most of us just flow in without time to really prepare where we are going and secondly in terms of the social context. Women’s activist might have different questions and concerns in Malaysia than in Germany, Portugal or Japan. But from closer it seems that there are nevertheless a lot of parallels and similarities that stucked us. Why do women accept domestic violence all over the world to protect the image of a well functioning family? Why are women often named to be guilty for the violence against them with the argument that they dressed up to provocative or that they went out of the house at a time where they shouldn’t?
In our closed door sessions we made a similar experience. What do you expect from somebody coming from a different country than you do? Do you expect that she is very different? Getting to know each other by comparing our lifes to those of our mothers when they had our age stocked me a lot. For sure, the social, political and financial situations in which our families have been living are different but in terms of position of women in the family, the daughter to mother relation and the question how much a child fulfills or resists to the wishes of the parents we found a lot of similarities.

Day III was completely dedicated to the preparation of our first showcase. The question what happens if you transfer from one context to the other was predominant for all of us, especially for the European artist. Will the audience understand the content of the performances? Will they get the different layers of it? The more we progressed in our planning the more I got conscious of the fact that before we think about the transfer of content from one place to another, from one audience to another, we consider the different codes and habits that are applied around a performance. How do you present a show? How do you let people in? Do you play any music during the opening of the house? How do you do the curtain call? Do you use music?

Anna Wagner for Work It!

WORK IT! A THINK TANK ON WOMEN & PERFROMING ARTS

nospam@example.com (Bilqis Hijjas) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:41:45 +0100

After an intense week of preparation and more than one and a half year of globale exchanges and skype conferences between Japan, Malaysia and Germany, “Work it! A creative Think Tank on women and performing arts” has started. Within the next ten days twelve female performing artists will spend time together in Rimbun Dahan a fantastic private art center close to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. They will explore together the depiction of the female body on stage and the notion of feminism in today’s world and different cultural contexts. Work it! Co-Initiators Bilqis Hijjas from Rimbun Dahan Fumi Yokobori from Dance Box Kobe and me (Anna Wagner from Theater Freiburg) have talked a lot about this issues when we have met at different occasions all over the world within the last year from different cultural perspectives. And we thought that it would be time to approach questions and ambivalences that are connected with the gendered body in a multi-perspective way. We believe that there is not one feminism as well as there are no clear gender identities.
We look forward to report in the coming days about our discussion, adventures and questions here on tanzconnexions.

Anna for Work it!

This project is supported by the Tanzconnexions program of Goethe Institut as well as the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and Arts Network Asia (ANA) as part of the programme Creative Encounters: Cultural Partnerships between Asia and Europe’. It is also supported by Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur and Women's Aid Organisation, and co-produced by Rimbun Dahan.

Bundanon Blog: Bundanon Sound Machines

nospam@example.com (Joelle Jacinto) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:08:00 +0100

This is a blog entry for the Investigating Cross Borders Collaborative Works dance lab at Bundanon Artists Center in New South Wales, Australia from November 14-24, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Jerome lead a vocal exercise on the morning of November 23, which began with a vocal warm up and then contrapuntal exercises that reminded me a lot of improv exercises but using the voice instead of the body. At a certain point, they were asked to choose one sound and were arranged in a circle. Jerome proceeded to conduct the choreographers: when he pointed at each one, they had to make that sound they chose, stopping only when Jerome pointed at someone else.

Cat decided she wanted to do the conducting also, integrating dynamics and piling on the textures. This is a video of her orchestral experiment. View here.

Jerome then asked everyone to try out movement with their sound of choice, or whatever sound they fancied, just to get a feel for how the sound they make shares their physical impetus. That is captured here. And no that sound is not an angry wombat, it's just Vicki.

Soon, Jerome started to play electronic dance music, urging everyone to keep experimenting with movement and sound, and adding other sounds if they wished. As the others took their time warming up to the idea, you could see Simon and Rhiannon start to really get into it. What I found interesting was how they didn't easily take to the "dance music." They would also regularly forget to use sound with their movements as you might notice here.

Disco time. With some violent animal possession care of Vicki Van Hout. View here
--
This is the last entry of the Cross Borders Collaborative Works blog. Please refer to this initial entry as a backgrounder on the lab. You can see the original blog at http://crossborderscollaborative.wordpress.com

Bundanon Blog: What comes out of Traffic

nospam@example.com (Joelle Jacinto) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:32:36 +0100

This is a blog entry for the Investigating Cross Borders Collaborative Works dance lab at Bundanon Artists Center in New South Wales, Australia from November 14-24, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Ly Ly set up her Traffic experiment in the studio adjacent to the main living quarters in Bundanon Artists Center (for those familiar with the place, it’s the studio with the drawing of the wombat on the wall. This space is the kind of studio that’s long enough to be divided into two, a trait that turned into a qualifier over the course of the exercise. Doris spent most of Monday assembling obstacles in the room, laying out a tiny avenue within the four walls.

On the morning of Tuesday, Ly Ly laid down the ground rules: they are to go through the paths any which way they liked but if Doris put in front of them the Stop sign (a red dust shovel tied to what I think was a microphone stand), they need to go another way.

For a very long time, the choreographers stayed in only one side of the room, and followed the rules accordingly. They all walked single file around the various structures that Doris put up. Ly Ly pretty much dictated a lot of what else could be done – other movements, like sudden turns and touching the others, slapping the obstacles – were mostly initiated by her, as if signaling what was and was not acceptable.

It was Cat who eventually rebelled against the single file and dropped to the ground to lie stretched out on the floor. They would fall into that single file now and then, but very seldomly and each did their own thing, moving around, and in Vicki’s case usually, through the obstacles.

All throughout this exercise, Vicki was holding her camera, documenting the experiment on video from start to end.
Rhiannon interacted with the furniture-as-highway more than she did with other people: the choreographers often addressed whoever they pass while walking, from simple physical acknowledgements to joining in what the other was doing. In contrast to Rhiannon, Cat would try to violently move the objects out of their original assigned places, as if trying to really disrupt the space. Simon interacted with the others also, but often broke away from everyone to stand still – in the corner, on top of a chair, by the window.

At some point, Jerome ended his ambient music and seemed to signal for everyone to wrap up the exercise. But Ly Ly went to the other half of the room, prompting the others to spill out after her. And the traffic continued.

The interesting thing about the other half of the room was here, the rules were seemingly abandoned. Instead of a flow of traffic, the choreographers started to pick things up, move them around, turn them on and off, create sculpture with them, wrap themselves in them, use them to attack other inanimate objects with, and so on.

Many of us opined that it’s possible more things happened in the other room because there were more objects to manipulate there, as opposed to the seemingly immovable structures in the first room. There was only so much you could do with couches and chairs, and they were indeed done. But in Room # 2 you had rolls of tarpaulin, a vacuum cleaner you could plug into a socket, a plastic bag hanging from the ceiling, a wastebasket, a sink full of sand, just to name a few. There was so much possibility. The movements that were then created looked more like prop improvisation than the structured walking done previously and the concept of traffic had now liquefied into something else entirely.

Later on, after the exercise and the discussion, Vicki commented that it was great that they were able to do some physical movement as the whole lab was primarily visually-motivated. It was a good reminder to dance as well.
--
Please refer to this initial entry as a backgrounder on the lab. You can see the original blog at http://crossborderscollaborative.wordpress.com

Bundanon Blog: Cat, the Lady of the Manor

nospam@example.com (Joelle Jacinto) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:15:15 +0100

This is a blog entry for the Investigating Cross Borders Collaborative Works dance lab at Bundanon Artists Center in New South Wales, Australia from November 14-24, 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Lady of the Manor first manifested on Sunday, while Cat, Latai and Vicki were playing around in the Bundanon homestead. Cat had come from getting her portrait taken by Doris for her portraiture project, with her face painted in white, and it became fun to shoot against the fireplace in the Bundanon museum. Helen asked if the people from the Bundanon Trust know that they were were there, taking photos, and Cat said they did and were very amused.

Aside from there being photos of Cat in front of thr fireplace in the homestead, there were also photos of Cat in the studio, in front of the Arthur Boyd painting that was on display. Helen points out that the painted face makes it appear to be part of the painting, “but also it looks like there’s an ownership role.”

“There were no preconceived ideas, it was just my face was painted,” Cat shares during the regroup. “(The painted face) deconstructs the body, it’s a reference to Western theater and this character kind of emerged. The river experience today is the next step and hopefully something will come of that.”

The “river experience” involved some shots taken of Cat with her face paint on, but in a bikini and sarong, with a bowl of fruit in the river, and Latai as her manservant. You can refer to this page for pictures.

Helen comments that Cat is “Sort of bringing an artifice to the natural landscape,” and at some point, she transforms from the Lady of the Manor to the Island girl serving the man. Cat agrees, laughing “Yeah, the gender roles keep shifting.”

Other comments from the group were how into the character Latai was and how it helped transform the character of the Lady of the manor (and how dedicated: even when the chair in the river was falling backwards, Latai stayed true to her character and didn’t let go of the sweet potatoes she was holding. Doris also pointed out that the presence of the fruit bowl is like a classic still life, still tying the idea of the Lady of the Manor to painting. In some some of the shots, though it also looks like she’s also wearing too much sunscreen.

Cat says she’s still playing with the idea of the exoticized image and the flatness of it. She’ll see where it goes.

--
Please refer to this initial entry as a backgrounder on the lab. You can see the original blog at http://crossborderscollaborative.wordpress.com