Treasures Salvaged from the Wreck
Lepas...tetap menari!
17-19 July 2009
Experimental Theatre, ASWARA

By Bilqis Hijjas

The most dramatic event in the dance community this year didn't happen on stage. The much-anticipated TARI '09, to which 10 international tertiary dance institutions had been invited, and which has become the bi-annual showcase of Malaysian dance at a time when no other similar opportunity exists, was postponed by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture due to the threat of AH1N1.

Needless to say all the participants were disappointed, but though the ship of TARI, in its July 2009 incarnation, is well and truly sunk, some things of value have still been salvaged from the wreck. From 17 to 19 July, ten short contemporary dance works (still a mere fraction of the number of items on the original program) were performed at ASWARA's Experimental Theatre in the mixed bill show Lepas...tetap menari! Some of the works had been staged before, and looked a little worn and tired, and many more were laid low by heedless theatricality.  But from amongst the flotsam and jetsam a few true pearls emerged.

Angela Goh's solo work filled and spilt was the first treasure on the night's program. Like water rising in a bowl, projected light slowly worked its way up from illuminating just her feet -- describing articulate configurations on the floor -- to displaying her whole body. Simple text in the projection heralded a change of tone from one of quiet and restricted contemplation to larger and faster movement filling a greater space. A nicely balanced work, filled and spilt was especially charming for Angela's unforced movement quality throughout, even in quick challenging moments. The softness with which she folded at the hip into forward bend, or caught herself on the floor in one of many liquid falls, displayed a great respect for the natural workings of the body and a degree of understated sincerity that many other items on the program would have done well to emulate.

The second highlight of the evening came during intermission, in a site-specific work outside the theatre. A representation of the story of Adam and Eve, Shakti featured choreographer Shafirul Azmi Suhaimi and Mahani Izzati Suleiman in a sand-filled courtyard at the base of one of the school's stairwells, and was viewed by the audience standing in the stairs and corridors in the five storeys above it. Creating a work to be viewed exclusively from above brings with it certain challenges, which Shakti overcame with the simple expedient of transforming normally vertical movement into horizontal ones, with the two dancers twisting and writhing in full bodily contact with the sand, which was being constantly doused with water from a downpipe.

Lit dramatically from the side in primary red and green, Shakti presented the familiar tale of Adam and Eve living harmoniously in Eden before the fall, then succumbing to the temptation of apples (dropped accurately into their waiting hands by accomplices from above), which incited a frenzy of self-knowledge which eventually forced Adam, at least, to quit paradise, leaving Eve to gnaw her apple with insatiable greed. The site itself, hemmed in by metal balustrades and thick foliage, created a claustrophobic air, as if paradise was a pit, a cage, begging for escape. In an appropriate homage to the recently departed Pina Bausch, Shakti was a work of self-punishing and painful-looking physical abandon. The dancers hurled themselves face-first, back-first, head-first onto the wet sand. Their inhibition was also notable in moments of thrilling danger, as when Shafirul walked on the surrounding metal balustrade in wet feet, or when he lifted Mahani onto a wooden bench balanced, apparently precariously to the watchers from above, on top of the balustrade. This work took the dramatic sensibility, which seems inbred in ASWARA dancers, as well as their predilection for iconic and mythical themes, and raised them a new and exciting level.

In the second half of the show, gears shifted again into a quieter and more cerebral mode with The Red Rose, a duet choreographed by South Korean dancer Kim Jungyeon and performed by Jungyeon and former ASWARA dancer Liu Yong Shean who has recently been studying in South Korea. Revisiting the classical ballet work Le Spectre de la Rose, this duet used impressionistic projected video – of hands sorting through rose petals, papers folded into turrets and towers, and finally petals made out of paper – as a backdrop for a work that contrasted the restrained and thoughtful movements of Jungyeon (depicting the woman who is imagining the spirit of the rose) with Yong Shean as the extroverted and extravagant rose himself.

The various scenes of The Red Rose were beautifully composed. In one scene Yong Shean’s hands played graceful shadow puppets in front of the projector, a reminder to ASWARA audiences of how his hands alone once dominated entire Mak Yong performances with their clarity and style. In another scene, Jungyeon moved with sliding feet and jerking hands in a rose-tinted solo, every step seeming exactly where she wanted it to be, not so much grounded as inevitable. And one multimedia effect worked particularly well, in which the dancers moved in front of the projector although the projection was not bright enough to illuminate the dancer’s body. Instead the shadow of the dancer on the screen behind became the focus of attention, a black void in a field of dancing lights. Although occasionally The Red Rose was a bit of an unjustified mish-mash of Southeast Asian dance styles, it was shot through with a thread of memorable images.

The evening’s program ended on an energetic note with Tapak 4, also choreographed by Shafirul. A group work for some of the most talented students of ASWARA’s recent diploma graduating class, the work displaying them all to their advantage. With the spirit and accent of silat but incorporating movement vocabulary from contemporary dance, Tapak 4 was a rollicking affair that rocked the audience to cheers. The dancers performed the work with combative seriousness, but occasionally they were so overtaken by the pure joy inherent in the movement that could not help bursting into grins as they went into the attack. Naim Syahrazad and Mahani Izzati Suleiman were particularly striking in their enjoyment coupled with their respect for the powerful and stylish movement.

With Tapak 4, Shafirul has created one of those happy works which please both dancers and audience. It was a fitting and uplifting finale for the program, illustrating the resilience of ASWARA and the dance community, and the unquenchable urge to dance even when times are tough. For these pearls, and the many more from Lepas…tetap menari! which are too numerous to be mentioned here, I am truly grateful.