A glimpse of Dunas

Last week, two of our da:ns programmers, Faith and Jobina, flew off to Barcelona/Girona, Spain, where they spent lots of time with Maria Pages and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and also previewed Dunas for the first time. They got back into the office today, and Jobina shares her thoughts on the piece here:

“It is not about contemporary meeting flamenco – it is about a meeting between two people – Maria and I”, says Larbi. And what a soulful union it is. Watching these two great dancemakers whom I admire so much – both for their work and as people – it reminds you again how dance has ability and complexity far beyond words to express so clearly, so deeply what the heart feels, and is. Even at rehearsal, watching Maria and Larbi feeling their way afresh each time with each other, accompanied to the stirring, aching tunes by Szymon Broska of piano, violin, flamenco and arab voice – you are transfixed and mesmerized – transported into the shadowy world of the Moroccon sandscape, where the varying shades of the emotions become so intense you can’t quite pin down what they are – you feel joy, as well as pain, you want to jump and clap along, as well as sit in quiet contemplation - and most of all, you feel this is why art must exist – to not just take your breath away – but to breathe life into you.

Every day, as we watch and watch again, we see new things, we feel new things, and think new things – and every time, we want to go back again, and again as though to learn to become more human once more. And to quote words from Karthika’s (Larbi’s manager whom I also have had a privilege of finally meeting face to face) newly published book of poems called Bearings - “I think I would like to die watching you dance.”

Go buy tickets for everyone you love, or even those you don’t – for a shared experience like this will transform all those polite and often general ways we try to find each other into a calm, centred nod of knowing we’ve already found each other in ourselves.

Jobina

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Wow. I mean, maybe it's best left at that because more words might do the work a disservice. Once in a long while, you get to watch something that is so astounding in its beauty, or profundity, that words don't quite seem to get the job done. For the rest of us who haven't seen it, maybe Dunas will be one of those rare gems. I certainly hope it is!

From T.H.E in indonesia, with love

hi guys!! sorry for the long long hiatus. we've all been swamped with putting together the best da:ns festival yet- hard to believe it's only 7.5weeks away.

Here, we've got a guest entry from Mun Wai, who is from T.H.E Dance Company - one of Singapore's best regarded, most dynamic contemporary dance companies. T.H.E is now in Indonesia for the first half of their da:ns artist residence - in the jungle at renowned Indonesian choreographer Boi Sakti's house in Depok (1 hr outside Jakarta). So this is a shoutout to da:ns fans and those excited to see the work :)

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It has been almost 2 weeks here in Depok, Indonesia. We the dancers of T.H.E Dance Company have been having a rather exciting time working with Boi Sakti at his studio. Depok is one sprawling rural town about 1 hour away from Jakarta. With it’s dusty roads and thousands of scooters zipping through the streets, it’s a far cry from the orderliness of Singapore. But Depok’s chaos is in a way strangely enjoyable.

Right now, we have just almost finished creating the prologue of the dance. The direction of the entire piece seems to be heading down an expressionistic, modernist work that talks about the discontents of modern civilisation. Boi is a man with very strong points of view and he seems intent to make these points very apparent in the work. It’s very interesting because all the pieces I have been dancing with T.H.E Dance Company so far have allowed me the space to distance myself slightly from emotion to enjoy the flow of the movements themselves but now with Boi’s work, I can’t dance convincingly without putting myself in a certain character and frame of mind.

Just yesterday, there was an earthquake in Indonesia. The epicentre of the quake was about 200km away from the Depok/Jakarta region and measured 7.3 on the richter scale. At last count, Indonesian news reported a death toll of approximately 29 people in the town nearest to the epicentre, there were minor damages to some buildings in Jakarta. We felt slight tremors in our dance studio. They were minor tremors but for a Singaporean chap whose most exciting weather experiences so far have been the afternoon Singapore showers, to feel the earth actually move put a lot of things into perspective. I shan’t venture into the cheesy clichés about life but suffice to say my being was very moved in a big way, literally and figuratively.

Mun Wai.

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Do expect more from them as they continue their residency in Indonesia, before they move to the Esplanade Rehearsal Studio for the rest of it.

Don't miss:

VOID
Jendela Peradaban (Window of Civilisation)
23 Oct 09, Fri, 8pm
24 Oct 09, Sat, 330pm & 8pm
$30