Audiences were presented with performances like no other during Jakarta International Performing Arts (JakIPA) 2019, held on Saturday and Sunday at the National Monument (Monas) East Plaza of Merdeka Square in Central Jakarta.

The biennial festival featured local and foreign artists and troupes, including those from Jakarta’s sister cities of Berlin, Budapest and Moscow.

The Berlin-Jakarta collaborative show presented acrobatic acts to the accompaniment of traditional Indonesian music, which was a challenge for its young performers.

“Some of the students struggled to adapt to the music, which was unusual for acrobatic acts. They had to rehearse more for it. But who could imagine [that] traditional Indonesian music and our acrobatic acts actually [fit] harmoniously,” said Uwe Podwojski, a teacher at the Berlin School for Acrobatic Arts (Staatliche Artistenschule Berlin; SAB).

Podwojski said that the SAB crew was extremely delighted with the chance to go abroad and perform for a new audience.

“It’s very important for the students, because they are all here to widen their insights about other countries,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe later when they have finished school, they can find opportunities here in Jakarta.”

In addition to SAB’s student acrobats, the Junost (Youth) Dance Ensemble from Moscow and Hungarian jazz singer Erika Kertész also performed at JakIPA 2019.

Kertész said she was delighted when she found out she was performing at the festival.

“It’s a shame that I will only spend a little time here. When I rehearsed, I felt there is almost no difference performing here in Jakarta and in Budapest,” said Kertész, who performed her own songs as well as the Betawi folk song, "Kicir-Kicir", as a surprise.

“I learned the lyrics over [several] days. It was not easy at first, but after finding out that Indonesian is pronounced as it is written, I managed it,” she said.

Dancer Tatiana Efimova of the Junost Dance Ensemble said that the hot and humid weather in Jakarta was a challenge to performing.

“Our country’s temperature is obviously lower than Indonesia. The hot temperature is a huge change for us, but we managed to keep up with it. Or rather, we had to. The show must go on,” she said.

The ensemble received the invitation to perform on the JakIPA stage just two weeks ago.

“Two weeks is a short time. We had to practice as hard and as fast as we could. The flight we [took] was 15 hours long and we were just trying to get to Jakarta as soon as possible to rehearse on the field,” Efimova told The Jakarta Post.

The group performed four Russian folk dances, which she said was substantial for Junost in representing Moscow at the festival.

“Dance and ballet are distinctively Russian. It’s very important to us that we’re representing our culture to the world,” she added.

Jakarta deputy governor of culture and tourism Dadang Solihin said that JakIPA was held every two years, and that this year was the third installment of the performing arts event.

“The purpose of this event is to present many cultures, including ours, Betawi. It is essential to rediscover our forgotten heritage while developing new cultures,” said Dadang.

Commenting separately on the festival, Podwojski said that the festival was important for people from different countries to understand each other.

“From here, we learn from each other and indulge new cultures. This way, we will know how the societies in many
places work. When you are on stage performing, you find common ground where you understand things between each other,” he said.

Kertész said she found it exciting to see different cultures meet: “It will be absolutely nice if different cultures like Hungarian and Indonesian could collaborate on a regular basis, if it’s possible.”

Meanwhile, Efimova said the festival was “remarkable” and a significant experience for young people.

“Unfortunately, in Russia [not] many young people know about Indonesia’s unique traditions and culture, and not many of your citizens know about ours either. Festivals like this can improve our knowledge about other countries,” she said.

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

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