In the modern world, where money is everything, it is a rare occasion when really good art is free. But, the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy and the Department of State’s Performing Arts Initiative brought a great dance group all the way from America, and the performance was free.
Founded in 1976, the Battery Dance Company has performed in over 40 countries worldwide and is currently based in New York. With its mission to teach, present and advocate in the field of dance and with the motto “Dancing to connect New York and the world”, it has supported over 200,000 public school students through its Dancing to Connect program. The Company believes in bringing free classes, lecturers and performances across geographic and linguistic borders to relate with people through dance.
The company has also produced 100 original pieces of choreography, created by its founder and artistic director Jonathan Hollander. With five outstanding dancers, the Battery Dance Company has choreographed many fresh contemporary dances and one of them was showcased on Oct. 10 at Teater Jakarta, Taman Ismail Marzuki.
For one night, Teater Jakarta was packed with over 1,000 people who were keen to watch one of America’s best dance companies. The show was introduced with a speech from the US Ambassador to Indonesia, Scot Marciel. The dance itself was separated into two parts; the first part, Autobiographica, consisting of 10 different acts mixing ballet with hip hop and other contemporary dance forms.
Autobiographica started with ballet, the dancers in black costumes, lulling the audience into the idea that this was going to be just another ballet performance. However by act 5, this all changed with a video of the dancers dancing underwater in slow motion with an ambient backing track, transforming the theater into a giant underwater theme park. The act continued with a female dancer dancing solo against a background of pool tiles and a NO DIVING sign. The female dancer was dancing as though diving and being continuously dragged offstage by two male dancers to stop her from “diving” – the men eventually spitting water over the female dancer to finally stop her diving.
Every act in Autobiographica seemed to illustrate the struggle of human beings in staying true to their own selves while society demands that everyone be in conformity, and how that conformity can lead to frustration and exhaustion. For example, in act 7 a female dancer is forced to stay in her group and dance in harmony with the other dancers. The backdrop was an eye with a lifeline, and the backbeat a female voice whispering “why are you staring at me?” At the end of the act the lifeline goes flat and the eye half-closes.
One of the most enjoyable acts was the eighth act, where all of the dancers wore bright and colorful shirts as they performed random joyful dances and movements. During this act they created their own music, with each dancer stepping one by one, recording their voices and then gradually overlapping them in a resultant musical rhythm. This act, the last of the first part, emphasized that every human being has their own color and style, unique from one another but when put together they create a harmonious life like an overlapping musical rhythm.
The second part of the dance performance was titled Layapriya, a Sanskrit term for “one who loves rhythm”. For about 30 minutes, the dancers wore traditional Indian-inspired white costumes and danced to Indian music. Robert Johnson of Tanssi, the dance magazine of Finland, wrote that the dance borrows from the Indian tradition, showing true understanding and assimilation while also an observation of East Asian style.
