Dancers perform a scene of Cinta Kita, latest repertoire by renown choreographer Hartati. (JP/Paul Kadarisman)
In her latest show, renowned choreographer Hartati tried to detach herself from where she belongs, from her roots, which had by far become her signature, the very soul of most of her works.
Cinta Kita, performed Oct. 24-25 at the Jakarta Institute of Arts' Teater Luwes, looked at people's lives in general. For the 55-minute performance, Hartati stripped down the gestures of people's daily chores.
The choreographer, who is part of the Kelola Foundation's Empowering Women Artists program, has shown that she went through a transformation phase. It was as though she was shaking off her traditional-facade shell.
Cinta Kita is more personal yet at the same time universal as it tells of the choreographer's personal experiences of love. Trying not to be too romantic, Hartati extended the idea of love into the relationships between a woman and herself, a woman and a man, and women in society.
Hartati, born in Jakarta 42 years ago, tried to capture the feeling of love in three chapters. The first chapter, the beginning of the performance, opened with John Lennon's "Imagine". Two dancers, a male actor from Teater Garasi, Theodorus Christanto, and Ratna Ully, an experienced dancer, stood side by side on the edge of the stage.
Slowly, they moved with intimate gestures as if they were lovers. They tried to build a connection but, somehow, they always failed. The two people could not understand each other, and finally ran in two different directions. The subtle movements, taken from daily gestures such as blowing, touching and scratching, had been choreographed in a beautiful way to appear as fresh dance movements.
All the movements that had been so familiar to us were now presented differently as a piece of art.
In the second chapter, young dancer Siti Ajeng Soelaiman performed a solo piece. Hartati created this chapter to show how a woman feels comfortable by being herself. Ajeng moved very lightly to create an impression of flowing, as if the energy of love was pulled out of the burden of life.
She acted as a teenager who was happily playing the role by herself. Hartati used modern dance as the basis, but combined it with daily gestures such as slowly running and clapping hands.
Hartati said the essence of her idea of love existed in the last chapter in which she wanted to relate personal issues to the wider social context.
Hartati opened this last chapter with an illustration of alienation and social conflict. Carrying a charity box, Nur Hasanah played a role as a marginalized girl who has been rejected. As well as the box, Hartati chose a pink rose as a metaphor for love.
Each of the dancers wears a sack full of roses at their hips.
At various points during the performance, they picked out the roses and threw them in a choreographed movement. This part was more interesting than the first two chapters in terms of the movement and composition.
Unfortunately, the symbols, such as the box and roses, failed to bring a new criticism or new perspective of the notion of love itself.
As an idea, it remains something abstract on the stage, and the story becomes too personal and there is no symbol or metaphor that can help the audience understand the relationship between the movements and the idea of love. Hartati admitted that during the long rehearsal process, from February to October 2008, she focused on the movements, because it was also a new experience for the dancers to move in such different ways.
After a long break from 2004 to 2007, Hartati gained praise from various quarters for her last show, Hari Ini (2007).
Compared with Hari Ini, Cinta Kita shows her desire to explore something new that is outside her usual routine.
In Hari Ini, Hartati combined the movements from her Minang background with movements we usually see in yoga practice to create a beautiful and harmonious dance performance. While Cinta Kita is quite different, although that is not to say it leaves behind either the traditional Minang dance pattern or most conventions from modern dance.
Having international exposure to contemporary dance as a participant in the APPEX Program at the University of California Los Angeles in 1996 and a recipient of a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to observe the New York dance scene in 2000, Hartati shows a very strong sense of the contemporary, especially through her diligent exploration of new possibilities.
Even though Cinta Kita could not be described as a perfect example of her desire to transform, we must appreciate her personal awareness of the need to avoid becoming stuck in one style as a creator. Cinta Kita is an important point in her journey as an artist, a sign for her new path of creating.
Empowering Women Artists is a program that provides grants and learning opportunities so female performing artists can produce their works continually and improve their ability to create.
In this three-year program, three female grant recipients are obligated to create a new work each year. In addition to Hartati, Kelola Foundation selected two female theater directors, Shinta Febriany (Makassar, South Sulawesi) and Tya Setyawati (Padang Panjang, West Sumatra).
The writer is an independent art critic, working as a curator in Jakarta - based Ark Galerie.
