Dance

Dancing in Place 2017

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Dancing in Place 2017

A weekend of short contemporary dance works performed in the gardens at Rimbun Dahan, open for free to the general public.

18-19 March 2017
Produced by Joelle Jacinto and Leng Poh Gee for MyDance Alliance.

Photos featured on this page by Nazir Azhari, Tony Tan, Mohd Nor Azmil Abdul Rahman and Huneid Tyeb. Many thanks to the photographers.

Program

I March

Location: Brick fence / Reflective pond
Choreographed and performed by JS Wong
Music composed by Thong Yoong How

I march forward or backward, in or out and here or there.

He Simply Disappears

Location: Front porch of Penang House
Choreographed by Nurulakmal Abdul Wahid
Performed by Nurhanis binti Yahya and Jazali bin Mohamad of UPSI

“It’s hard being left behind… It’s hard to be the one that stays…”  – Audrey Niffenegger 

Dis-location Series

Location: Rumah Uda Manap
Choreographed and performed by Chantal Primero and Nicole Primero of Airdance Philippines

“Achieving the end of the exercise was never the point of the exercise to begin with, was it.” -Adam Savage

Pinwheel

Location: Playhouse and the path where it leads
Choreographed by Kathyn Tan Chai Chen
Performed by Kathyn Tan, Eden Lim, Lee Ren Xin, Leo Yap, Lim Hwang King.

The unseen energy that causes movement. They spin and stop and start again, as if without permission. The wind is like a child that wants to play.

Special thanks to Now Theatre, Mr & Mrs Choo

Faux

Location: Sakinah sculpture / Bulatan Plong
Choreographed by Chai Vivan and Fione Chia
Performed by Chai Vivan, Fione Chia and Kyson Teo of Kwang Tung Dance Company

We are currently living in a world where the Artificial is becoming Natural, and Nature is becoming more and more Artificial. There are times where our eyes are unable to identify true and false. There are things that stand in between the real and the fake. Does that matter anymore?

Rebab

Location: In the forest beside the dance studio
Choreographed by Rathimalar Govindarajoo
Performed by Rathimalar Govindarajoo and Wei Jun, with Amirul Said, Yap Chiw Yi, Gwen Ng, Wong Yi Juan and Karthini Chandran of UMa Dance Company

Rebab – inspired by the Main Putri and the Makyong. The concept dwells around the word “Gerhana” as the churning of the ocean where immortality is obtained, and Gods dance where the Moon is eaten by the snake, and a dragon is split to two as Rahu and Kethu…

Female. Solo Dance Series

Location: Underground Gallery
Director / Choreographer: Loke Soh Kim
Photography Director: Kim Teoh
Soundscape Designer: Goh Lee Kwang
Dancers: Rachel Chew, Hoi Cheng Sim , Lee Ren Xin, Loke Soh Kim, Wong Man Chui

To capture the beauty and the feminine qualities of dancers, choreographer Loke Soh Kim decided to make a video series for five different dancers. Restrictions of video shooting have been set between the choreographer and the photography director to minimize the interruption to the pure dance improvisation that based on environmental stimulus; long-take in the film making, no pre-context communication with the dancers, and no disturbance from the camera. Female. Solo Dance Series is a dance video that depicted the interaction of sites, dancers, photographer and soundscape designer. The series consisted of five female solo dance with different ages and backgrounds, who wish to share their stories.                       

Supported by:  PCP Publications, Little Planet Lab, Sekeping Kong Heng, Damansara Performing Arts Centre, Oriental Art & Cultural Association, and EPSON Malaysia.

Fulfillment Needs

Location: Main plaza driveway
Choreographed by Fairul Zahid
Performed by Syafiq Kamarul, Zaidyansjah, Nur Syafiqah Najwa and Fatin Nadhirah

Naesting

Location: Red sculpture under the trees
Collaboration by Tan Bee Hung, Mamad Samsuddin and Al Bernard Garcia, alumni of the Southeast Asian Choreolab.

Search. Fit. Build. Settle. Trap.

My Alay

Location: Reflective pond
Choreographed and performed by Rithaudin Abdul Kadir

Based on the traditional Pangalay dance of the Suluk (Tausug) from Sabah, this piece is reconstructed with a contemporary vocabulary to accommodate the site. By experimenting and exploring the use of the Gong and the Turung, it is a journey of self-discovery. The use of the gong symbolises the wealth and of late, the burden of the Suluk people.

The LEF

Location: 60 Turns Lawn
Choreographed by Kyo Hong
Performed by Kate Soon and Jazz Ter

As time flew away, as the leaf scattered away so do our pathways.

When They Ate The Apple

Location: 60 Turns Lawn
Choreographed by Yunus Ismail
Performed by Maria Devonne Escobia

For the good that they were promised, they chose to disobey.

Clockwork

Location: 60 Turns Lawn
Choreographed by Fauzi Amirudin
Performed by Denise Tan, I-Lyn Tan, Joelle Jacinto, Joyce Chan, Lee Jia Xi, Regina Toyad, Ving Yee of Balletbase

We negotiate between tradition and the modern; we try to find a balance between the two, until they are harmonious – “like clockwork”. Yet there is also an effort to stop time, and we try to make that universal pause before coming into a hopeful, uncertain, inevitable future.

Daniel Bear Davis

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Daniel Bear Davis

 

 

DANIEL BEAR DAVIS has taught composition, contact improvisation, and Axis Syllabus internationally in Estonia, Finland, Greece, Spain, Germany, Denmark and Mexico. His work prioritizes content over genre, weaving text, dance, video, music and new media without hesitation. He considers all work to be site and context-specific and is interested in mobilizing audience agency through interaction and unconventional use of space. His work has been presented at the Imagining Bodies Symposium in Tallin, Estonia, the San Francisco International Arts Festial, SoWat Now Contemporary Performance Festival, and Looking Left Festival in California, and at the SEEDS Festival and E|MERGE Residency at Earthdance Center, MA. He has performed in theaters, on submarines, desert rocks, construction scaffolding, and art galleries. He’s made pieces about dementia, gender, war, heritage, identity. He cares about image, awe, and beauty. In creating a wide and rich acceptance of what it is to be human in a more-than-human world.

Daniel has been blessed with opportunities to perform with Nita Little, Nancy Stark Smith, Live Art Installations, Felix Ruckert, Kira Kirsch, Erika Tsimbrovsky, Scott Wells, Krista DeNio and many other inspiring body/minds.

(Time)(Place)(Body): a site-specific dance workshop

Join us for a week long excavation of image and movement in time, place and body. We will engage various approaches to body-based performance in relation to site and context. We will compose, de-compose, and re-compose an ever shifting relation to self, other, and environment.

This interdisciplinary performance workshop will combine movement training based in Axis-Syllabus, contact improvisation, butoh and other somatic awareness approaches with compositional tools from Viewpoints, Moment Work, and Performance Collage to create original choreographed and improvised performances in relation to site. The beautiful artist residency center, Rimbun Dahan, offers countless natural and cultivated environments to frame, support, complicate, and shape our work.

The workshop will end with an informal public showing of solo and group material we would have created over the course of the week.

All levels are welcomed – contact dancers, contemporary dancers, performance artists or dancers interested in site-specific, interdisciplinary or installation work.

******************

DATES: 19 January to 24 January 2016
TIMES: 10 am to 6 pm daily (witth a day off on the 22nd)
VENUE: Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia

FEES
Malaysian* participants (with accommodation): RM550
Malaysian* participants (without accommodation): RM450
Non-Malaysian participants (includes accommodation): RM850

SPECIAL OFFER FOR MYDANCE MEMBERS
The first five MyDance members who register get an RM100 discount!

* “Malaysian” refers to Malaysian citizens based in Malaysia.

To register, send an email to david.lim@mydancealliance.org.

 

(Time)(Place)(Body): a site-specific dance workshop is organized by David Lim and supported by MyDance Alliance and Rimbun Dahan.

Check the Facebook event page for updated info…

Dancing in Place 2016

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Dancing in Place 2016

A fun and informal excursion for the whole family, Dancing in Place features 12 short dance works performed outdoors in the lush tropical garden at Rimbun Dahan.

3-6:30pm
Saturday & Sunday
16-17 January 2016 [same program on both days]
FREE ENTRY

Featuring works by:

  • Alla Azura Abal Abas
  • Lim Hooi Meng
  • Rithaudin Abdul Kadir
  • Lee Ren Xin
  • Rathimalar Govindarajoo
  • Ming Low, for Balletbase
  • Syed Haziq Afiq
  • Nadhirah Razid

And special international guests:

  • Daniel ‘Bear’ Davis (USA)
  • Li Yong Wei & Seow Yi Qing (Singapore)
  • Jed Amihan and Airdance (Philippines)
  • Ong Pholchir and Spine Party Movement (Thailand)

The event will continue, rain or shine! Please bring your own picnic, as well as shoes that can get wet/muddy, umbrellas, and mosquito repellent. Refreshments will be provided.

Sorry, Rimbun Dahan is not a wheelchair-accessible venue.

For map and directions to Rimbun Dahan, see https://rimbundahan.org/?page_id=32

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/708357295930507/

Southeast Asian Choreolab 2016

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Southeast Asian Choreolab 2016

An international choreographic laboratory for emerging Southeast Asian contemporary dance choreographers, facilitated by Japanese choreographer Akiko Kitamura, at Rimbun Dahan, from 28 May to 5 June 2016.

Participants

  • Noun Sovitou (Cambodia)
  • Citra Pratiwi (Indonesia)
  • Sabri Gusmail (Indonesia)
  • Muhammad bin Samsudin (Malaysia)
  • Al Jabar bin Laura (Malaysia)
  • Chantal Primero (Philippines)
  • Bernice Lee (Singapore)
  • Norhaizad bin Adam (Singapore)
  • “Haste” Sompong Leartvimolkasame (Thailand)
  • “Much” Pakhamon Hemachandra (Thailand)
  • “Ben” Mai Minh Anh Khoa (Vietnam)
  • Lucy-Margaux Marinkovich (New Zealand, special participant-observer)

Project Overview

The 14 participants were chosen through an open call process, with applications submitted to a panel including committee members of MyDance Alliance and World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific.

The participants lived, worked and explored together in the arts community of Rimbun Dahan for 9 days, with guidance from our international facilitator, Japanese choreographer Akiko Kitamura.

The program consisted of 7 work days in the studio, with choreographic tasks assigned by Akiko Kitamura involving working in duets. The morning sessions consisted of workshops led by the participants themselves, to introduce their own cultural backgrounds and creative practices to their peers.

The Choreolab concluded with an informal showing of the duet works that the participants had made, to a small audience in the studio at Rimbun Dahan. [Photos from the showing below by Huneid Tyeb.]

Project Aims

Like the previous Southeast Asian Choreolabs in 2014 and 2015, the project aims to support and enable emerging Southeast Asian contemporary dance choreographers to

  1. Adopt new choreographic tools and physical, thematic and conceptual approaches to enrich their artistic practice;
  2. Develop regional networks among their peers and with regional dance institutions, for knowledge sharing, future artistic collaboration and touring;
  3. Experience works of art, cultures, places and histories beyond their home, to increase international understanding and to help contextualize their artistic practice.

Akiko Kitamura profile imageAbout Akiko Kitamura, facilitator

Akiko Kitamura was born in 1970 in Tokyo. She learned ballet dance and street dance in her youth, studied dance theory at Waseda University and began to build a professional career as a choreographer in show business while still in her teens. She choreographed many pieces for commercial films, fashion shows and plays. In 1994, she founded her own company Leni-Basso. In 1995-1996, she stayed in Germany for a year as a resident artist.

In 2001 she was invited to the Bates Dance Festival and created Finks, one of her best known works, performed more than 60 times worldwide. Ghostly Round (2005), choreographed for In Transit organised by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), is another of her signature works which has toured internationally. Akiko Kitamura has made many works for international companies, commissions and collaborations such as for American Dance Festival, Group Motion Dance Company in Philadelphia, ACE Dance and Music of Birmingham, and avant-garde rock group Art Zoyd in France.

Akiko started to learn pencak silat in 2004 according to a strong interest in the body techniques of South East Asia, and in 2010 she came to Indonesia to research dance, music and martial arts more deeply. In 2011, she started to collaborate with Indonesian artists including choreographer/dancer Martinus Miroto, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin (Teater Garasi), dancer Rianto, musicians Kill the DJ (Jogja Hip Hop Foundation), Slamet Gundono, and Endah Laras, and a team of Japanese artists to create the To Belong Series, such as To Belong-cyclonicdream- (2013) and To Belong/Suwung (2014). The work explores how two cultures meet, and connects the old world to the contemporary using video, music and dance. It also aims to discover the new generation of the Asian Body: the repository of the traditional and the contemporary worlds.

In 2015, Akiko was an Asian Cultural Council Fellow and a Saison Foundation Fellow. Since 2001 Akiko Kitamura has taught at Shinshu University, Nagano, as associate professor of the Faculty of Arts.

http://www.akikokitamura.com/
http://www.akikokitamura.com/tobelong/english/

The Southeast Asian Choreolab 2016 was a joint project by

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Supported by

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SEA Choreolab 2015

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SEA Choreolab 2015
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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_Chalon_DSC_4991_Crop_0-bg-300x317Arco 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.

Dancing in Place 2015

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Dancing in Place 2015

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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.

Mia Cabalfin and Rhosam Prudenciado Jr. from the Philippines welcome you to the Penang heritage house, with ‘Housewarming’.

 

A group of friends who might just be pretending to be dancers, choreographed by Leng Poh Gee.

What are we apart from names and numbers? Judimar Hernandez, Gan Chih Pei & James Kan explore ‘Existence.’

Indian classical dance stars Rathimalar Govindarajoo and January Low in their intimate duet ‘rehab’.

Selipar Dance Troupe turns every place into a stage, under the leadership of Loke Soh Kim.

Alisya Razman Adam and Chong Hoei Tzin combine youth and skill in the romantic solos from ‘Short Stories’, choreographed by Patrick Suzeau [USA]

Featuring:

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++ Lim Sae Min takes everyone in a circle, hand-to-hand! [Saturday only]

Dancing in Place is a joint project of Rimbun Dahan and MyDance Alliance.

For more information, contact Bilqis Hijjas, Producer, +6017 310 3769 or bilqis@rimbundahan.org

Please note that Dancing in Place is not a wheelchair-accessible event.

Southeast Asian Choreolab 2014

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Southeast Asian Choreolab 2014

The first Southeast Asian Choreolab at Rimbun Dahan took place from 1 to 9 May 2014, as a 9-day residential camp for 15 emerging contemporary choreographers from the Southeast Asian nations. It was facilitated by Janis Claxton, an Australian choreographer based in Scotland, and supported by British Council.

Participants:

  • Nget Rady (Cambodia)
  • Yon Davy (Cambodia)
  • Otniel Tasman (Indonesia)
  • Rizki Suharlin Putri (Indonesia)
  • Chai Vivan (Malaysia)
  • Fauzi Amirudin (Malaysia)
  • Hii Ing Fung (Malaysia)
  • Lee Ren Xin (Malaysia)
  • Ea Torrado (Philippines)
  • Sarah Marie Samaniego (Philippines)
  • Shahrin Johry (Singapore)
  • Chan Sze Wei (Singapore)
  • Aditep Buanoi (Thailand)
  • Đỗ Hải Anh/Yumi (Vietnam)
  • Colleen Coy (East Timor)
*

Aims

To encourage emerging Southeast Asian choreographers to

  1. Develop regional networks among their peers and with regional dance institutions, for knowledge sharing, artistic collaboration and touring;
  2. Experience works of art, cultures, places and histories beyond their home, to increase international understanding and help contextualize their artistic practice;
  3. Adopt new choreographic tools, physical disciplines, thematic and conceptual approaches to enrich their artistic practice.

Format

The 15 participating choreographers (4 from Malaysia, 11 from elsewhere in Southeast Asia) and the international facilitator were provided with accommodation, food, local transport and airport transfers at Rimbun Dahan. All study sessions took place in the dance studio or in surrounding spaces at Rimbun Dahan. The program will consist of 7 work days with 2 days of study-tour to arts institutions in the Klang Valley, including the National Academy of Arts and Heritage (ASWARA), Temple of Fine Arts, Damansara Performing Arts Centre, Five Arts Centre and Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre. Classes and other sessions were conducted by Jack Kek, Joelle Jacinto, Lim Sae Min, David Lim, Rathimalar Govindarajoo, Alla Azura Abal Abas, and Lim How Ngean.

About Janis Claxton, Facilitator

Choreographer, producer, dancer and teacher Janis Claxton was born in Australia and is now based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she is artistic director and co-producer of the award winning contemporary dance company Janis Claxton Dance. With more than 25 years of international experience she has worked both independently and with companies and organisations in several countries. She has performed with The One Extra Company (Australia 1984-86), Michael Parmenters’ Commotion Company (NZ, 1990) and her work is strongly influenced by Erick Hawkins who invited her to join his company in New York (1992). Janis has choreographed solo and company works, community projects and children’s theatre including for Janis Claxton Dance, BeijingDance/LDTX, National Dance Company of Wales, Beijing Dance Academy, Lung Has, Grid Iron and Travelling Light.

With a passion and commitment for movement research Janis’ reputation as a teacher traverses the globe. She has taught extensively in professional, community and educational dance settings including Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Beijing Dance Academy, Dance Academy Arnhem, London Contemporary Dance School and Scottish School of Contemporary Dance. As an arts educator she has taught dance extensively in schools developing programs integrating dance with mathematics and literacy in primary schools. She has run 3 month full time professional dance training programs with a staff or 8 teachers and musicians.

Since 2009 Janis has had an on-going artistic relationship with China and has worked with major organizations and independent Chinese artists. She has choreographed for BeijingDance LDTX, Beijing Song and Dance Company and Beijing Dance Academy and her works have been presented at the DaDao Live Art Festival, Guangdong Modern Dance Festival, Beijing Dance Academy and Shanghai Expo. In 2012 Janis Claxton Dance collaborated with BeijingDance/ LDTX to open Beijing Dance Festival which was presented as part of the UK NOW Festival. Janis has a passion for continuing explorations, collaborations and networking with Chinese and Asian dance communities.

During the Southeast Asian Choreolab 2014, Janis largely worked on introducing the group to TACTICS, a framework for developing partner-based material, originated by New Zealand choreographer Michael Parmenter.

Naiara Mendioroz & Javier Murugarren

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Naiara Mendioroz & Javier Murugarren

In March 2014, Basque artists Naiara Mendioroz and Javier Murugarren spent a short residency at Rimbun Dahan. During their stay, they developed a duet work, also using the traditional wooden Basque musical instrument, the txalaparta, and the recently developed metal drum instruments, the hang.

They gave an open studio presentation of the work they created. They also experimented with using materials from the garden at Rimbun Dahan in the creation of costumes.

About Naiara Mendioroz

Graduated from the Official Ballet School of Pamplona (Spain) in 2000. In 2003, she graduated at the SNDO “School for New Dance Development” in Amsterdam. Following her graduation from SNDO she was awarded the DanceWeb scholarship for Contemporary Dance taking place at the Impulstanz in Vienna, Austria. She has danced for and toured internationally with various choreographers including Eleanor Bauer, Boris Charmatz, Nicole Beutler (piece based on Lucinda Child’s work), Frey Faust, Keren Levi, Peter Greenaway, Pere Faura, Paz Rojo, Mette Ingvartsen, Juan Dominguez, Beth Gill, Kate Mcintosh, Jefta Van Dinther and DD Dorvillier among others. She also works as a movement assistant for Nicole Beutler in the piece “The Garden”. Parallel to this, she has collaborated in a Dance project in N.Y teaching dance to women victims of domestic violence and at the moment she prepares her next project in Spain.

About Javier Murugarren

Formerly a sea sciences student in the Canary Islands, Javier arrived to the performance world in 1996. A pivotal encounter with El ojo de la Faraona dance company resulted in a decision to pursue performance and movement research. This brought Javier to Amsterdam, where he received a bachelor degree (2008) in dance and choreography from School for New Dance Development (SNDO). Javier’s work draws on a range of performance practices, including improvisation, choreography, cabaret, music, puppetry, video, and costume design. The distinctively eclectic and cross-cultural style of his costume designs has earned them a description as “post-folkloric punk”. Javier understands the performing body as “a mutant tool for an ongoing process of learning and adaptation.” His work has been presented in numerous countries, including Japan, Korea, Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Spain and the Netherlands. He is a founder member of Instant Collective (2006), an Amsterdam-based performance collective. He also organizes Inkietas, an annual urban performance festival, in his hometown of Estella, in the Basque country of Spain. Other collaborative works have been made with Compaignie faim de siècle / Ibrahim Quraishi (Paris/NY), Trust company (South Korea), Duda Paiva (NL) and Azart-Ship of Fools (NL), Meekers (NL) and Maas (NL)

Soufiane Karim

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French-Moroccan dancer and choreographer Soufiane Karim spent a short residency at Rimbun Dahan in October and November 2013, en route to the Melaka Art + Performance Festival. During his residency, he was developing his next full-length work entitled Kaly-Graffyk. He also collaborated with  New Caledonian hip hop dancer Ludovic Simane Wénéthem and Indonesian dancer Gita Kinanthi (site-specific performance at Rimbun Dahan pictured below).

During his residency, Soufiane was interviewed on Capital FM and on BFM 89.9: https://www.bfm.my/soufiane-karim.html. He also conducted a dance workshop at ASWARA, the national academy for arts and heritage.

All photos below by Leocampo Yuen Hon Wai.

About Soufiane Karim

A young Frenchman of Moroccan origin, aged twenty-eight, Soufiane Karim had been dancing since his early childhood when, at sixteen, he discovered hiphop. The experience was life-changing and, as soon as he had finished studying communication, he launched straight into creating a life of dancing. He learned various dance techniques and styles in Paris and developed a keen interest in hip-hop culture. As he honed his skills, he set up the Boogalizzle group and together they discovered the techniques and magic of show business, winning several battles and contests, including choreography.

He met some good dancers teachers in Paris during his early hip-hop training-the-trainers sessions, and developed a taste for skill transfer and teaching. Pursuing his love of travel, he continued his search, leaving Paris for New Caledonia to attend a three-part training programme organised by French contemporary dancer and pedagogue Mic Guillaumes at the Noumea Centre de Développement Choréographique. Keen to share his travel and new friends, he put together his own solo production, “Sweet Hõm”. In the third unit of the training session, he participated as a trainers’ trainer, while continuing with his plans to develop dancing in New Caledonia and the Pacific. He travelled with several New Caledonian dancers to Vanuatu, Fiji and New Zealand to organise courses and shows. On his return, he decided to set up the Posuë Dance Company. He is now artistic director, dancer, choreographer and teacher of Posuë Dance Company.

Caitlin Mackenzie & Gabriel Comerford

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Caitlin Mackenzie & Gabriel Comerford

Queensland-based dancer-choreographers Caitlin Mackenzie and Gabriel Comerford spent an Asialink residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2013, developing the duet work Uncommon Ground.

Gabriel and Caitlin studied together at Queensland University of Technology, where they were featured as a duo by various choreographers including Csaba Buday, Vanessa Mafe and Alice Hine. Since university they have established a professional partnership and work together on several platforms. They are founding members of emerging dance collective MakeShift, and were selected to perform in Backstage at the Ballet Russes at the National Gallery of Australia, performing an excerpt of an adaptation of The Ballet Russes’ Petrushka. They have choreographed for QL2’s Chaos project and have performed in Toowoomba, in the Ausdance Queensland Bell Tower II Series, the Brisbane Festival, and at the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts.

 

Uncommon Ground is a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary work that depicts a story of two identities coming together in one place, transitioning through friction, destruction, compromise and progression, concluding with something that extends beyond the sum of its parts. This concept speaks to an internal and external landscape; a personal struggle to discover and understand oneself and the realities of living in a diverse and ever-changing society.

Uncomfortable within your own skin.
Uncertain of the land beneath your feet.
A place to call home.
Indigenous to where.

 

Uncommon Ground was performed on Wednesday 4 December 2013 at the Fonteyn Studio Theatre in Petaling Jaya. A site-specific version was presented at the Melaka Art + Performance Festival. The performance included live music by Malaysian musician Gideon Alubakhan Chen.

This is an Asialink Arts Residency Project supported by Arts Queensland and the Australia-Malaysia Institute.