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Biennial dance festival blends tech to launch IDF2020.zip
The Indonesian Dance Festival has morphed with the times to go fully online in keeping with its celebration of human resilience and adaptability.
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Timely move: The Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF), which is held every two years, has taken this year's event entirely online to present its 15th edition on Nov. 7-14. (Courtesy of IDF2020/Eun Me Ahn Company/Youngmoe Choe)
W
ith the global health crisis still raging on, many events around the world are being faced with just two choices: total cancellation, or move them online.
The biennial Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF), which marks its 15th edition this year, chose the latter.
From Nov. 7 to 14, the IDF 2020 will take place entirely on its website and YouTube channel, which have been presenting pre-festival events since Nov. 2, including performances and discussions.
Befitting the fully online format, this year’s festival has been dubbed “IDF2020.zip”, in reference to the ZIP file format for compressed data.
In its curatorial statement, the IDF said that the ".zip" extension tacked onto the festival name represented the compactness of this year’s festival, but which was nonetheless filled with the experiences of Indonesian and international dancers to enjoy, reflect on and discuss.
Meanwhile, the festival theme of “DAYA: Cari Cara” (Power: Finding a Way) referred to the indomitable spirit and ingenuity of human beings in a time of crisis.
IDF founder Nungki Kusumastuti said at a virtual press conference that switching to digital was the festival’s way of adapting to the current conditions.
“Surviving and having power is what drives humanity forward in this time of the pandemic. We have been planning the festival since last year, but COVID-19 brought changes into the mix,” she said.
Despite the shift to digital, this year’s IDF would retain its usual format, including the opening and closing ceremonies, performances and discussions.
The main program of the IDF2020.zip is divided into three categories: performances, Kampana and zip.Conversations.
Opening the festival on Nov. 7 is 1’59, a performance video featuring 50 Indonesian amateur and professional dancers in a collaboration with South Korean choreographer Eun Me Ahn. The title refers to the length of the video, 1 minute and 59 seconds, which is also the average attention span of viewers for online videos.
The Kampana program showcases six young Indonesian choreographers who were immersed in intensive courses and discussions for the last seven months. Each choreographer will explain their creative process in the Kampana Trajectory discussion series.
Three of these choreographers – Irfan Setiawan, Puri Senja, and Eyi Lesar – will then perform their works in progress in the Kampana Performances.
Finally, zip.Conversations presents two discussions: “Resilience as Part of Our Blueprint”, on the arts and the primordial relationship between humanity and nature, and “Presence – Where Are We Now”, on physical and digital presence and technology’s role.
The IDF2020.zip will close with Li Tu Tu by Ayu Permata Sari, an artistic interpretation of the tunggu tubang concept of the matriarchal Semedo culture, in which firstborn daughters are vital to preserving the family heirlooms. (ste)
