Indonesian Dance Festival to grace Jakarta in November
The Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF) is scheduled to be held once again in Jakarta on Nov. 4-8.
With the theme of “Expand”, the 12th biannual international contemporary dance festival is set to display various contemporary dances and collaborate with more than 100 dancers as well as 15 Indonesian and foreign choreographers.
The five-day festival will feature notable international dance masters such as Arco Renz from Belgium, Eko Supriyanto from Indonesia, Jerome Bel from France and the Tao Dance Theatre from China.
The event will take place at several venues around Jakarta including Taman Ismail Marzuki, Komunitas Salihara, The Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ), The Jakarta Playhouse (GKJ) and Goethe Haus Jakarta.
This year, the festival will be officially opened with a new dance production that reinterprets the story of Roro Mendut, a collaboration by choreographer Retno Maruti and local artist Nindityo Adipurnomo.
Meanwhile, the closing act, to be held at Komunitas Salihara, will be a presentation of “Kris Is”, a collaboration between Arco Renz from Kobalt Works Belgium and Ali Sukri from Padang Panjang. The performance will combine dynamic and intense dance movements and theatrical gestures that are based on the Minangkabau-style martial art of silat.
During a press conference last week at the IKJ, IDF executive director Maria Darmaningsih said that the theme of Expand was chosen because the festival aimed to expand its reach to a larger audience, especially youth.
“We want to encourage young people to appreciate arts more, especially dance performances,” explained Maria.
Aside from the main performances, this year's IDF will also present various other programs such as master classes, a showcase (featuring promising young choreographers), discussions and a special program with the theme of mother and child.
The special program will be held with the idea that parents, especially mothers, contribute the most to their children's education and development.
“The program aims to motivate mothers to introduce art, especially dance performance, to their children as a medium to teach them emotional and affectionate intelligence,” said Maria.
One of the young choreographers set to display her dance production in the showcase segment is Asri Mery Sidowati.
In her production “We Were One”, Asri, who has just graduated from a choreography master program at the Korea National University of Arts, will be collaborating with Japanese lighting designer Ryoya Fudetani as well as talented dancers from the Surakarta Art Institute (ISI Surakarta).
“We Were One”, which is scheduled to be performed on Nov. 6 at TIM, tells the story of the exploration of two dancers on stage.
“I was inspired and intrigued by the religious belief that man and woman are actually created from one body; that both the dancers are like yin and yang, which are inseparable but still contradicting in many ways,” said Asri.
A dance discussion entitled “Bicara Tari” will also take place at Komunitas Salihara on Nov. 8, involving world renowned choreographers such as Katia Engel, Eko Supriyanto, Melati Suryodarmo and Alison Freedman as speakers.
The discussion is meant to be a sharing medium for dance practitioners to sharpen their creativity and ideas as well as to appreciate other choreographers' works.
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