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Understanding Rica, reviewing sex
Intertwined: Female dancers perform a sex-themed work, a combination of dance, theater and fine art, at the Jakarta Art Institute
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Intertwined: Female dancers perform a sex-themed work, a combination of dance, theater and fine art, at the Jakarta Art Institute.
Choreographer Rica O. Darmawan, 25, presented her sex-themed work at the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ) from Feb. 17-18. There was no aura of eroticism, nor was anything sacred offered. The strange performance instead revealed our secondary personality.
To be exact, it was a total expression of man’s alter ego, rooted in the wildest imagination on the threshold of the subconscious. Rica combined theater, dance and fine art, going beyond the various corridors required for dance movements, by which the stage was merged with the audience, to the point of intimidation.
Allowing no time for complaint, the 25-minute irregular dance rhythms were marked with serene and tense motions followed by uncontrolled flings. Apparently heeding no choreographic norms, dancers moaned, swung arms, dragged and hurled each other’s bodies. Clad only in loincloths and bras with white powder all over their bodies, the four women grappled on the plastic floor.
They unexpectedly collapsed as if beyond control, lying helpless and panting. It was a weird arena, a room with dim lighting devoid of air conditioning.
Yet it could abruptly turn noisy and unruly as the dancers pulled and tore their hair, now and again thrusting through the curious spectators around them.
Rica told a limited discussion at the end of the show, “Sex can no longer be described as something noble, sacred or poetic. Horror can even express the manifestation of sex today” Indeed, sex has become ever more problematic today and the body as a sex object is burdened with suspicion and accusations.
Physical violence happens almost daily from child abuse to rape. Rica’s choreography may be a strong warning by reviewing the meaning of sex and our present awareness in Jakarta.
Preparation: A dancer makes up before the show.
Stretching the point: Dancers rehearse their moves.
Irregular motions: Some movements of the piece go against choreographic norms.
Giving a hand: The dancers were clad only in loincloths and bras with white powder all over their bodies.
Shadowy: Dancers move in line to irregular dance rhythms.
Victims of violence: The work portrays current social problems, such as violence against women and child abuse.
— Text by Bambang Asrini Widjanarko
— Photos by Sihol Sitanggang
