The room was abuzz with anticipation from the ladies lunching at the arts fundraiser. Eko was coming, they knew, he was just about to appear, and this was the kind of crowd that could really appreciate him. When the host announced the performance, an expectant, reverent hush descended over the room.
Eko Supriyanto does not command such rapt attention from sheer appearance. At 5 feet 4 inches, he does not impose physically. But when he stalked into the room — strikingly different in a sheer, one-shouldered black costume
— he was a giant: silently striking a pose, then holding his audience spellbound as he sinuously drew dance and rhythmic patterns out of the music floating in the air, the look on his face intense, unwavering. Eko Supriyanto does not command such rapt attention from sheer appearance. At 5 feet 4 inches, he does not impose physically. But when he stalked into the room — strikingly different in a sheer, one-shouldered black costume
“The dance is called ‘Bird,’ ” Eko said simply after the performance, explaining the inspiration for the choreography.
For the 50 or so well-dressed women who had been happily chatting at Grand Indonesia Mall’s Palalada restaurant (the event was a lunch fundraiser for the Institute Kesenian Jakarta, or Jakarta Institute of the Arts), the world-renowned choreographer and dancer’s visit was a knockout way to drum up support.
For Eko, it was a chance to engage with and show off his irreprssible love for dance. In the restaurant’s VIP lounge that also served as his dressing room, he explianed how, like most artists, he has always been faced with the dilemma of how to make a living from his passion. For him, the biggest pleasure he derives from his art is the chance that it gives him to connect with a lot of people, a pleasure he has been able to indulge as a dancer and choreographer across Asia, Europe and United States.
In that circular way the arts have of reminding you of your roots, it was the same Institute Kesenian Jakarta that gave him a big break in the early day. He performed abroad for the first time in the early 1990s when a group of teachers from the institute chipped in to help shoulder the costs for him to attend the American Dance Festival. “We do not regret the decision now that he has become a maestro,” smiled Nungki Kusumastuti, one of the teachers who supported Eko at the time.
Eko got his big international break in 2001 as one of six dancers chosen among 6,000 aspirants for pop icon Madonna’s “Drowned” world tour.
In the nine months he was on tour with the Queen of Pop, Eko said, he was able to soak up knowledge and experience about performing on stage, lights and music arrangement. Eko describes Madonna as a smart and beautiful artist who knows what she wants. She is a hard worker who would practice Mondays to Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., he said. “This is what I don’t see from Indonesian artists, the willingness to practise,” he says sadly.
He added that a performance should integrate both singers and dancers on stage because everything has to be well-executed and precise. “For example, without her dancers, a singer like Madonna is nothing. She said so herself.”
Since then, Eko has done collaborations with master teachers like Judy Mitoma, David Rouseve Peter Sellar and Sardono Kusumo. He has also appeared as lead actor, dancer and choreographer in “Opera Jawa,” an Indonesian-Austrian film produced by Peter Sellar and directed by Garin Nugroho.
How has Eko handled his success so far? “For me, it’s not about the big success, it’s about what comes after,” Eko said. He explained that continuity is an important aspect of living his life as an artist. The challenge is for him to continue as a choreographer.
At the moment, Eko is hard at work on his first projects to be showcased in Indonesia. He is currently the choreographer for two upcoming musicals in Jakarta.
The first project, “Onrop,” directed by Joko Anwar, is in its casting stage. “It’s great, we have a mission to create an original musical show, which means we don’t adapt the story from anything, and it reflects the reality in this country,” Eko said.
At the same time, he is also busy working on “Opera Diana,” another musical show, directed by Garin Nugroho, which is scheduled to premiere on July 28 at the Jakarta Convention Center. The show pays homage to Koes Plus, a legendary music group from the ’70s. Eko, who is into traditional and modern dance, is capable of executing a variety of dances, from Java, Sunda, Minang, Bali and Yogyakarta in Indonesia, to salsa, samba, Latin, Irish and African dances.
“Indonesia’s traditional dances are very good to photograph,” Eko said. “Through Bali dances, for example, we can see the expression of Balinese artists. The eyes are an important part of their dancing culture, as are flowers because [the dances] are also performed during rituals.”
He added that Javanese dances are usually tender and neither aggressive nor expressive, but more about hidden norms that lie in royal Javanese culture. In contrast, American modern dance on the other hand emphasizes individualism and tries to break the rules of classical dance from Europe like ballet.
Born in Semarang, Central Java, in November 1970, Eko grew up in a family of art lovers. He got his start in dance at the age of six because his grandfather was a wayang orang (human puppet) dancer for a show in Semarang. “All the men in the family had to practise dance every Saturday morning,” Eko said.
He learned the classic Javanese and folk dances from his father. On Sundays, they would also practice silat , the local martial arts form. However, it was not until he enrolled at the Surakarta Institute of Arts that he started to enjoy dancing. “When I learned about choreography, I suddenly felt that my creativity was being challenged,” said Eko, who is currently a faculty member at the school.
For his final university exam, Eko created a dance that reflected his appreciation and interpretation for Ronggeng, a nearly extinct traditional dance in West Java. After, the opportunity to learn more about dance choreography started to come his way.
In 1998, Eko received a full scholarship to study world arts, choreography and performance at the University of California in Los Angeles. Right now, Eko is pursuing his post graduate degree in performance studies at the Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta.
Eko is determined to concentrate on creating new choreography, a process that he says that can take up to a year. “I usually do research before I choreograph. I read books, meet people and learn about the tradition,” Eko said.
To learn about dancing techniques is easy, but to get the feel for the dance is what occupies Eko’s energy and attention. “It is hard to fully understand a culture,” Eko said. “I find it hard to even get the feel for performing dances from East Java and Madura, let alone American dances.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment