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Astra Roma Ballet reimagines the future with ‘Balloon!’
Robots and superheroes take a stand in Jakarta's Astra Roma Ballet performance.
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For the first time, Astra Roma Ballet perform in Indonesia with their two-part contemporary ballet show at the Ciputra Artpreneur in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Sept. 22. (Courtesy of Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta) (Courtesy of Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta/Courtesy of Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta)
Robots and superheroes take a stand in Jakarta's Astra Roma Ballet performance.
The Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute have collaborated in their two-part production by the Astra Roma Ballet troupe, titled Balloon!, with A New World, choreographed by Fausto Paparozzi, and Time Score choreographed by Giada Primiaro.
The performances were held at Ciputra Artpreneur Theatre Retail Podium in South Jakarta on Sept. 22.
“We convened such a performance in Indonesia, meticulously after two years due to the pandemic,” Maria Battaglia, director of the Italian Cultural Institute, said.
Paparozzi and Primiaro affirmed that their main challenge lay in nailing each of the robots’ expressions.
“Some dancers, in the dance segment, have to act as the robot character who has no feelings, but at the same time being a human who is part of the show, demanding an expressive impression,” Primiaro highlighted.
"It is unfortunately ironic, but an entertaining show [that] enables the audience [time for] reflection [or] contemplation,” Primiaro continued.
The show
The show commenced with A New World, which narrates a story about a robot named Robert created by an engineer called Peter. Robert has a mission to save the earth.
One day, Robert runs away from the laboratory, and meets his robot counterpart named Loving. Together they explore the world and develop feelings for each other. As their feelings for each other escalate, Robert is conflicted between saving the Earth or moving to another planet with the other robot to save themselves from the global warming that has damaged the Earth.
However, Robert realizes his main mission and decides to save the Earth, despite dealing with humans’ emotions that he deems complicated. The show lasts for 30 minutes.
Time score, the second performance, centers on the Red family in 2062 that consists of a father and three daughters with a robot assistant named Ronself. Ronself has been part of the Red family through all seasons.
However, while humans are able to feel emotions, such as sadness and happiness and experience aging, as a robot, Ronself could only watch and stay the same by doing repetitive household tasks such as cleaning the house.
Ronself starts to question: “Why do humans worry about the passage of time? Why do humans always work hard, fall in love and experience sadness in a short duration of time?”
The second part of the show runs for 45 minutes.
‘Approachable story’
Audience members have enthusiastically praised the show.
"It's a different ballet performance from what I have previously watched; with this show, it exhibits numerous contemporary ballet features instead of classical ones," Milya Urfa, one member of the audience shared.
"It's a unique and novel experience for me."
Felicia Harenya Suniastari and Tri Prasetyaningtyas, both classical ballet dancers from Namarina studio, also said the show was exquisite, noting that the performances were different from other ballet shows.
The narration on the stage assisted the audience to understand everything happening in each segment of the story; unlike in classical performances, where dancers are only accompanied by musical instruments, hindering the available dance formula.
“The narrations helped explain what’s going on, enabling me to understand by watching the performance, instead of pondering each segment,” Felicia concluded.
“The facial expressions of the dancers are more expressive compared with traditional ballet performances, which in my opinion, helped the performance to be unfettered,” Felicia said.
Tri added that Astra Roma Ballet's performance was delivered with a lighter tone than a classical performance, which is more acceptable for the wider audience.
“Incomparably, it was exquisite, but [in both segments of A New World and Time Score it] depicted a more approachable story, favored by a younger audience,” Tri mentioned.
Lastly, Italian Cultural Institute director Battaglia hoped that the ballet dance would not be viewed as an intimidating or exclusive performance in years to come, and that the team would be able to perform in other parts of Indonesia.
“I don’t know. I hope we can perform in other parts of Indonesia. Come what may,” Battaglia expressed.
