Dancers celebrate power and beauty of warfare

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 11/22/2007 11:36 AM  |  Life

Leon Agusta, Contributor, Jakarta

The world is a small place if you see it through the current progress of human interactions. Access, communication and the intensity of dialogues between creative artists from various nations all have expanded existing horizons and created new ones in the aesthetic world.

One of these artists is Astad Deboo, an Indian dancer, choreographer and innovator, who inspired by the grand traditions of India's classic dances Kathak and Kathakali, and shaped by the rich experiences in the world of dance in his motherland, India, is now celebrated as the pioneer of Indian modern dances. What makes him truly special is that he decided to step out of the firm and binding classic tradition.

The catalyst for this came when he met American contemporary dance instructor Murray Louis, who encouraged him to imbue his own pieces with distinct characteristics. What he did then was combine classic moves, which he had learned since he was a child, with multifarious dance styles from different countries. Since then, he has been conducting extensive exploration of the dance traditions of Australia, China, Europe, Japan, South America and Central America, as well as Indonesia. He has visited Indonesia 10 times, the first visit being in 1973.

During his current visit, he brought a dance piece for performance at Art Summit Indonesia V 2007 on November 16-17. Celebrations, an expression of the unity of body and spirit, performed at Teater Luwes in Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, is a dance piece created by Deboo in collaboration with the martial art group of the Manipurian theater company. The martial art dancers presented a dancing technique called Thang Ta, in which the movements, originally physical exercises, were treated and adapted into the art of movement known as dance; with the musical accompaniment especially created for these unique martial art dance routines. The synchronization of dance movements and fighting techniques in this expression of ""Souls and Spears"", as Deboo calls it, resulted in a series of acrobatic warlike scenes, with the dancers gracefully moving across the stage with real swords and spears, sparks flashing as the swords clashed one against the other.

Unlike the traditional Javanese war dances that tend to lull the performer into a trance-like state with the subtle, swaying movements of a cobra, the Manipurian martial art dance, with the thrusting of spears and aggressive movement, caused the heart to throb fast. The dancer-warriors wove their powerful magic on the floor, in the air, swirling, rolling, prancing and crawling, all movements integrated into a solidly bound composition.

The presence of Deboo as the lead dancer left lastingly deep impressions through his ability to enhance the expression of the courageousness of the human psyche or ""Souls"" and the power of the human body or the ""Spears"". Energy rose not only from the muscles, but also from the spirits of the dancers, while the aesthetic emerged in various forms manifested in the rhythmic movements. The beat of the classic Indian Dhrupad music, combined with modern music represented by the sound of a saxophone, introduced a richer and more impressive expression, bringing the performance out of the realm of tradition and into the world of contemporary art.

The troupe, with only Deboo and four Manupuri martial art dancers -- Ranjeet Chingtham, Brojen Sanasam, Shuraj Kumar Shrma and Dinesh Sigh -- might seem small and even too simple for such a massive artistic undertaking, yet this compactness is, in fact, a big advantage for this group that has performed in so many countries. Deboo has traveled to 17 countries, always garnering a high level of appreciation from world-class dance critics. He has amazed the world with his performance on The Great Wall of China, and has also performed in Chelsea Town Hall, London, and many other prestigious locations, eventually also being asked to choreograph for well-known ballerina Maja Plisetskaia of the Bolshoi Ballet.

Watching Deboo's performance on Friday night, gave rise to a deeper understanding of how movements form a fantastic language of expression. One of the strongest elements of this expression grew out of the Kathakali tradition, with its thick make-up to emphasize the detailed movements of the eyebrows, the eyes, the facial muscles, the cheekbones, the nose, the expression of the mouth -- from smile to grimace -- and the movements of the chin. With the spotlight focusing on the faces, the unity of the movements were enhanced to not only greatly entertain, but to elicit deep admiration. The incessantly played mrindangam drum increased the audience's enchantment with the charms of Kathakali, which is a new experience for most Indonesian audiences.

There is no question that Deboo is one of the world's first class dance artists. Yet there was no easy path to recognition for him. Deboo has accomplished his current stellar artistic reputation through a long, arduous journey.

India, his homeland, is a country that has developed and maintained a high level of culture over many centuries. The legacy of its art traditions is extraordinary, and the people preserve it uncompromisingly. The peaks of their art in theatrical dances, such as Kathakali and Kathak, are grand. The gurus of these art forms are particularly respected. And, as traditions, in the hearts of Indians these dances must not be altered; they must not be disturbed by anyone who simply desires to tinker with them on a whim to make them look different or more alluring in the present. There is not and never will be any ""Contemporary Kathakali Dance Theater"".

Deboo knows all of this very well. He has studied Kathakali since he was small, and his last guru was the famed Krishna Panicker. He also studied Manipurian Martial Art from the teacher Deva Brata Sanam in 1978. However, the spirit of the age in which he lived and worked lured him with the idea of a change, drawing Deboo into the contemporary art arena. Not one of the gurus or anyone else could stop him. He persevered no matter what resistance or criticism he encountered.

Deboo acknowledges that the response from his own people to his experimentation was painfully slow. He had to strive for a very long time to even gain a glimmer of acceptance from his own public, while in other parts of the world, in foreign countries, his name has made its way high up onto the list of the most influential choreographers. Only recently has this news of his success been acknowledged among his own people who now firmly acknowledge him as a contemporary artist.

The main reason for this slow but sure emergence of respect and eventually even praise from the audience of his homeland is rooted deeply in the understanding that he has always treated and presented the traditional art that he has studied and learned from childhood with love and the deepest respect.

This reverence for the old and impetus toward the new can be seen clearly in Celebrations, in which the Kathakali traditions are showcased in the most remarkable way. Although Deboo's gurus might have had some concerns had they watched it, they surely could never have been angry because the result of his loving innovation was flawless.

For those not very knowledgeable of Kathakali and India's martial arts traditions, Celebrations might have given the impression of some basis in the martial art of kung fu from China. Yet, according to Ranjeet Chingtham, the martial art in the troupe's dances have no link to China, but are deeply rooted in the Manipurian culture of Manipur, a state in northeastern India near the border of Myanmar. However, the tendency to experiment with martial arts in dance forms has been simmering throughout Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, since the 1970s.

It is, therefore, not surprising to sense a unity in the experiences and the spirit of innovation in Deboo's generation and those of other dance artists from Indonesia and other Asian countries.

In fact, Indonesia has its own forms of martial arts, for instance pencak silat from the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, which has been developed into contemporary dances by choreographers such as Huriah Adam, Yuliani Parani and Gusmiati Suid. In 1985, the now departed Gusmiati presented a pencak silat-based dance performance during the Martial Arts and Dance Festival in Calcutta that drew a lot of praise. Now,Deboo's striking innovation of dance and martial arts from the traditions of India has earned a similarly positive response in Indonesia.

Deboo has truly succeeded in creating what he calls ""Poetry in Movements"" with his Celebrations piece. He has developed movements from both dance and martial arts into a unique and specific language, and has presented that language in the form of poetry that is sure to linger long in the hearts and minds of those experiencing it in the recent performance.

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