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Southeast Asian Choreolab 2015

admin Dance, SEA Choreolab 6 June 20159 December 2025Choreographer, Contemporary dance

From 30 May to 7 June 2015, Rimbun Dahan hosted the Southeast Asian Choreolab 2015, a meeting of 15 emerging contemporary dance choreographers from Southeast Asia.

This was the second edition of the Southeast Asian Choreolab, which brings together emerging contemporary dance choreographers from Southeast asia. The participants in 2015 are from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. They worked under facilitator Arco Renz, a German choreographer based in Brussels.

Each of the participants had the opportunity to run their own group session during the Choreolab, sharing their particular movement style or choreographic method. Arco led the group in integrating this material into choreographic and analytical exercises. ‘Zeitguest’ speakers about topics not related to dance also addressed the group, providing impetus information about ‘real world’ topics: regional security, economics and marine biogeography.

The group went on a field trip to Kuala Selangor, a tour of Klang Valley arts institutions Temple of Fine Arts, ASWARA, DPAC and klpac, and watched performances by Dua Space, Pierre Rigal Compagnie and Wild Rice.

On the final day of the Choreolab, the participants of the Southeast Asian Choreolab 2015 shared snippets of their studio exercises during the event with a small audience.

The Southeast Asian Choreolab 2015 is supported by Goethe-Institut Malaysia, and hosted by Rimbun Dahan. It is a joint project between MyDance Alliance and World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific.

See more images from the 2015 SEA Choreolab here.

About the Participants

The participants of the 2015 SEA Choreolab were:

“Ong” Nitipat Pholchai (Thailand)
Sonoko Prow (Thailand)
Faillul Adam (Malaysia)
Tan Bee Hung (Malaysia)
Japhet Mari M. Cabling (Philippines)
Lygie Carillo (Philippines)
Al Bernard Garcia (Philippines)
Siko Setyananto (Indonesia)
Darlane Litaay (Indonesia)
Fadilla Oziana (Indonesia)
Chy Ratana (Cambodia)
“Kaka” Ounla Phaoudom (Laos)
“Buddha” Thanh Nguyen Duy (Vietnam)
Eng Kai Er (Singapore)
Foo Yun Ying (Singapore)

About the Facilitator

Arco Renz productions with Kobalt Works reveal an intense physicality and explore the emotional force of abstraction.

In his creations, he consistently broadens the principles of Abstract Dramaturgy to light, sound and multimedia interfaces; and his choreographies go beyond pure, formal dance, displaying “a graceful expressionism that can be situated somewhere between the German expressionist films of the 1920s and traditional Eastern dance and theatre forms.”

During 2014 and 2015, Kobalt Works|Arco Renz is engaged in collaborative performance projects of very different nature in Indonesia (KRIS IS), Vietnam (Hanoi Stardust), the Philippines (COKE), and Singapore (ALPHA).

Among over 20 evening length choreographies, other major Kobalt Works’ productions include .states. (2001), Mirth (2002), heroïne (2004), Bullitt (2006), i!2 (2008), PA (2009), 1001 (2010), CRACK (2011), solid.states (2012), or Discografie (2013).

In addition, Arco Renz has regularly created commissioned works for the Brussels Opera House, the Festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix en Provence, the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, the Norvegian National Company of Contemporary Dance, among others. In the field of opera he has extensively worked with Robert Wilson, Luc Bondy and on several occasions with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker.

A central focus within Arco’s specific choreographic idiom is the comparative study of various Asian and European performance traditions. He has developed Monsoon, a series of transcultural and multidisciplinary research and
exchange programs with editions in Asia, Europe and coming up in 2015 in Australia. Arco Renz studied dance, theatre, and literature in Berlin and Paris and was one of the first generation of graduates of P.A.R.T.S., the dance school founded by Anne Teresa De Keermaekers in Brussels.

Omar Musa

admin Hotel Penaga, Resident Artist 2 June 201529 January 2018Australia, Malaysia, Poet, Writer

Omar bin Musa (b. 1984) is an award-winning author, poet and rapper from Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. He won the Australian Poetry Slam in 2008 and the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam in 2009. He has released two solo hip hop records (The Massive EP and World Goes to Pieces), two self-published books (The Clocks and Parang) and a self-titled album with international hip hop group MoneyKat. His debut novel Here Come The Dogs was published in 2014. Here Come the Dogs received praise from novelists Irvine Welsh and Christos Tsiolkas, was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award and Musa was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015.

Omar is the son of Australian arts journalist Helen Musa and Malaysian poet Musa bin Masran. He studied at the Australian National University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Omar has combined hip hop music and poetry throughout his career. He was runner up in the 2008 Australian Poetry Slam, before winning in 2009 at the Sydney Opera House. He went on to win the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam in 2010. In 2010 he also did support for Gil Scott-Heron in Munich, Germany. In 2011 he was a guest panellist on ABC’s Q&A. In 2013 he received a standing ovation at TEDxSydney at the Sydney Opera House.

He has been a guest at numerous international writers festivals, including Jaipur Literary Festival in India and the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival in Indonesia, as well as touring extensively in Asia, Europe and Australia. He has collaborated with numerous musicians and hip hop artists, including Akala, Soweto Kinch, Impossible Odds, The Last Kinection, Hau Latukefu from Koolism, Candice Monique, The Tongue, Lotek, Koolta and Geoff Stanfield.

He did a split residency in Hotel Penaga and Rimbun Dahan from June to August 2015.

Snake Tales

admin Nature Notes 6 March 20152 May 2017dogs, snakes

Rimbun Dahan can be paradise for snakes… or the last thing a snake ever sees. This month, one lucky python was hauled out of the hen house and taken away to a new home, but things didn’t turn out so well for a cobra which strayed near the main house.

Our dog Santan with the large Monocled Cobra he attacked and eviscerated near the main house.

A large python which has eaten a chicken is levered out of its hiding spot in the hen house.

The traumatised python regurgitates a much more traumatised chicken.

Ular bungkus! The python subdued and ready to be relocated to its new home.

Chendor Resort Building Update

admin Chendor 6 March 20156 March 2015

The construction of the new resort hotel at Sungai Chendor is underway, with staff quarters and one guest chalet already finished, and another guest chalet and landscaping walls currently being built.

Like the existing Hotel Penaga in George Town, Penang, the new resort at Sungai Chendor, set on the beach north of Cherating, Pahang, will support the cultural program at Rimbun Dahan. The contemporary resort buildings are of course being designed by our resident architect, Hijjas Kasturi, in sympathy with the existing flora and fauna on site.

The second guest chalet under construction.

The roof of the chalet accommodating the local flora.

Staff quarter finished in the background, with recycled wood in the foreground.

Kampung-style verandahs in the staff quarters,.

Bricolage: Rimbun Dahan Residency Exhibition 2015

admin Exhibition, Resident Artist 5 March 20155 March 2015

Rimbun Dahan presents Bricolage, a selection of works by our current resident artists from various countries in South East Asia and Asia Pacific. The exhibition combines works of varying mediums as well as varying viewpoints, showcasing the differentiated results of the artists’ time spent working and living in Rimbun Dahan.

The artists featured are: Malaysian sculptor Anniketyni Madian, Australian artist Jennifer Tyers, Indonesian poet Khairani Barokka, Vietnamese painter and sculptor Tran Dan, and Thai painter Yuwatee Jehko.

Opening Hours:

Weekends 10am – 6pm, Monday to Friday by appointment
15 – 22 March 2015

Address:

Km 27 (entrance before Lorong Belimbing), Jalan Kuang 48050 Kuang, Selangor

Entry: Free

Guided Tour

At 9am on Sunday 22nd March 2015, there will also be a guided tour of the Rimbun Dahan gardens and traditional houses by Angela Hijjas.

For further inquiries about the exhibition or the artists you can contact Syar, Arts Manager, at syar@rimbundahan.org.

For more information on the artists visit:

www.anniketynimadian.com

www.jennifertyers.com

www.khairanibarokka.com

www.danvietartstudio.blogspot.com

www.works.io/yuwatee-jehko

Yuwatee Jehko

admin Resident Artist, Southeast Asian Arts Residency 9 February 201513 February 2015Painter, Thai

Cloud, 2014. Acrylic on linen, 120 x 85cm

Yuwatee Jehko (b. 1984) is a Thai painter and educator based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

She derives inspiration from process, believing that the paint palette is an integral part of each painting, because without this tool and experimental space, the work would not exist. Yuwatee finds in the paint palette purity, a struggle between the colours, the residue, choices, mistakes, and ultimately, the journey of the resulting painting hidden in a blob of paint. Her works often depict every day objects, which she hopes will evoke memories, both good and bad, within the viewer and remind them both of who they are today and who they will be tomorrow.

Yuwatee studied at the College of Fine Arts in Bangkok before getting both her Bachelors and Masters of Fine Art in Chiang Mai University. During that time, she was a part of an artist apprentice-training programme at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia in 2011. Yuwatee has also taught basic drawing in multimedia technology and animation in Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Mai.

In 2009, she mounted her first solo exhibit, “Mindscape” at Galerie N in Bangkok. Her most recent exhibit titled “Paints Palette” was held in 2014 at The Meeting Room Art Café in Chiang Mai.

Find more of her work on her website.

Jennifer Tyers

admin Open Residencies, Resident Artist 28 January 201528 January 2015Australian, Garden, Painter, Trees, Visual artist

Jennifer Tyers has been a resident artist at Rimbun Dahan for three months. She works with watercolour and paints landscapes. Sometimes she works in printmaking and book making. She has been based in Asia for several years, working on landscapes at the Singapore Botanic Gardens and was also an artist in resident at AIRY in Kofu, Japan, in 2014. She has an exhibition at Cast Gallery in Hobart, Tasmania in May.

At Rimbun Dahan Jennifer is painting the grounds with particular interest in the various plants and trees on Rimbun Dahan.

Joanna Gambotto

admin Hotel Penaga, Resident Artist 23 January 201523 April 2015Australia, Painter, Visual artist

Joanna Gambotto, of Sydney, Australia, was in residence at Hotel Penaga in George Town, Penang, from November 2014 to January 2015, and was inspired by all the colours and textures of Georgetown. She gave an informal showing of Oriented, her new body of work, on 30 January 2015 at Hotel Penaga.

The Artists’ Residency at Hotel Penaga is administered by Rimbun Dahan.

Introducing Syar, New Arts Manager at Rimbun Dahan

admin Arts 23 January 201513 February 2015

Hello! My name’s Syar (pronounced Shar), I’m a writer, editor, and thing maker.

I was editor of ISSUE, a Malaysian online literary magazine, and my writing has appeared in ISSUE itself, Baccarat Magazine, a zine called Chew, eWaves — a newsletter by feminist organization AWAM and in my techno-death-memoir project, The Resilience of Echoes.

I’m interested in poetry, memoir, creative nonfiction, girls’ & women’s narratives, marginalized voices, reworked myths and fairytales, collage and pastiche, zines, crafts, theatre and performing arts, language, alternative history, feminism, human rights, memory, death, the Internet, and electronic literature. Among other things. Find more of my work on my website.

Being the new Rimbun Dahan arts manager fills me with trepidation and buoyant excitement. It’s a huge privilege to be a part of such a storied institution that has seen and supported so many artists and artworks, and I hope to honour and continue this legacy. I think a Rimbun Dahan residency should be a safe, nourishing space to create but also a challenging space that cultivates dialogue. I’m excited to connect with the resident artists and to facilitate connections and collaborations between them and the local art/dance/writing/theatre/what-have-you communities. May I be one of the strings between the tin cans that bridge the two.You can contact me at syar@rimbundahan.org.

Dancing in Place 2015

admin Arts, Dance, Dancing in Place 18 January 201526 July 2022Malaysian, Philippines, Singaporean, site-specific, Thai, USA

Dancing up a tree. On a sculpture. Underwater. Underground.

12 contemporary dance works in the tranquil tropical garden at Rimbun Dahan. Family friendly, FREE ENTRY for all!

3-6.30pm
Saturday 31 January
Sunday 1 February [same program on both days]

Rimbun Dahan
Km 27 Jalan Kuang
Selangor 48050. MAP

Photos below by our official photographers, Huneid Tyeb and James Quah. Click here for more photos of Dancing in Place 2015.

Mermaid meets monkey from classical myth, in the duet ‘Same Space’ by Shahrin Johry from Maya Dance Theatre [Singapore] and Phittaya Phaefuang [Thailand].

Colours lead you on a journey of rebirth, in ‘Dust to Dust’ with Rithaudin Abdul Kadir, Foo Chiwei and Pinar Sinka.

Three guys and three beds will always be a work-in-progress, in ‘Asing-Asing’ by Lee Ren Xin

Best friends forever and partners in crime, in ‘Then She Simply Disappears’, performed by Nurulakmal Abdul Wahid’s students from University Pendidikan Sultan Idris.

Joelle Jacinto dances through Jack Kek’s vision of a German city, in this excerpt ‘Strasse, Stadt’ from ‘A Wanderer in Berlin’.

The dancers of Batari Shakti let down their hair in a ritual purification with the sacred number ‘Seven’, with choreographer Alla Azura Abal Abas as their guide.