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Australian Choreographer Invites Collaborators

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Australian Choreographer Invites Collaborators
Want to explore the process of creating cross-cultural dance? Australian choreographer Annalouise Paul is looking for collaborators for her residency at Rimbun Dahan in August 2019!
Ingin mengkaji proses mencipta tarian bersilang budaya? Ahli koreografer Annalouise Paul dari Australia memohon para kolaborator menyertai residensinya di Rimbun Dahan, pada bulan Ogos 2019. Turun ke versi BM –>

Annalouise Paul Residency at Rimbun Dahan

Dates: 15-30 August 2019

Australian dancer-choreographer Annalouise Paul is looking for local dancer artists to collaborate on a cross-cultural dance exchange at Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia.

Callout for Collaborators

WHO: Dancers and choreographers who have a traditional or indigenous dance background (in any culture) are invited to apply. If you are interested in contemporary performance, making new work and challenging traditional concepts or have some experience with contemporary dance that is useful, but not essential.

WHAT: Annalouise Paul will teach excerpts from her existing works and guide artists to explore and develop new choreographic material working from their traditional dances and share her creative practice. Together we will hone a process that uses traditional dances, rhythms and concepts in structured improvisations, and if time permits develop a short choreography that can be shared in a studio showing at the end of the residency.

WHY: Sharing dialogue is key to this exchange. Feeding back on how processes can be pushed further and develop processes for making new works. And as a group, discuss contemporary and traditional dance vocabularies, cultural identity, race, languages, migration and diasporic lineages as artist-makers.

THINGS TO KNOW:

  • Conversations in the studio will be in English, but we will try to accommodate those with minimal English, wherever possible.
  • Video, photographic and written documentation by Annalouise is essential, but this will not be shared publicly, and used only for Annalouise’s artistic archives and grant reports.
  • Consent forms will be provided.
  • Artists are custodians of their traditional practices at all times and decide what cultural material is offered in the exploratory process and for group discussion.
  • Musicians are welcome in this choreographic lab.

YOUR COMMITMENT:

  • Collaborators will be invited to spend 4-5 days per week for 2 weeks, between [date] and [date] working as a group with Annalouise in the studio at Rimbun Dahan.
  • Schedules for working days will be arranged in consultation with the collaborators so that a small group can work together consistently over the period to have maximum benefit for everyone involved.
  • Times will be between 10-5pm TBC, and this will be confirmed once the collaborators are confirmed.
  • Once accepted, continuity is compulsory for the entire group. If you cannot commit for the full period please state this at the start with your best dates and times available.

FEE: There is no fee offered, however, a daily stipend will be offered to cover transport and lunch meals.

CONTACT: If you’re interested please arrange a time to speak with Annalouise Paul. Contact her directly on Whatsapp +61 408664199 or email annalouisempaul@gmail.com with your available dates and times and for more information about the project.

MORE ABOUT ANNALOUISE PAUL

Annalouise Paul has been working in the field of intercultural dance in Australia and internationally for over thirty years. More recently she has developed choreographic tools to push dance hybridity. There is no established ‘method’ for creating cross-cultural movement or for practitioners to model from, so there has been slow but constant emergence of process and vocabulary, evolving out of a pool of processes for various works. ‘Hidden Rhythms’ is one process that employs traditional rhythms for shifting the dynamic of dance movement. ‘Dance DNA’ is the most recent method Annalouise has been investigating largely through workshops internationally and in Australia. She has held cross cultural workshops in Singapore, France, India, Melbourne and Sydney supported by World Dance Alliance, Create NSW and Critical Path.

Annalouise’s residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2019 is an Asialink Arts Creative Exchange.

 

Residensi oleh Annalouise Paul di Rimbun Dahan

Tarikh: 15-30 hb Ogos 2019

Annalouise Paul, seorang penari dan koreografer dari Australia, menjemput artis tari tempatan dari Malaysia untuk menyertai proses kolaborasi dalam sebuah projek pertukaran budaya tari bertempat di Rimbun Dahan.

Jemputan Kepada Kolaborator

SIAPA: Penari atau koreografer yang mempunyai latarbelakang tari tradisi ataupun tarian Orang Asal (daripada budaya mana-mana pun) dijemput membuat permohonan untuk menyertai projek ini. Kami juga menggalakkan permohonan anda jikalau anda pernah terlibat di dalam persembahan jenis kontemporari, terlibat di dalam proses mencipta karya baru yang mencabar konsep-konsep tradisi, ataupun mempunyai sebarang pengalaman di dalam tarian kontemporari.

APA: Annalouise Paul akan mengajar beberapa petikan daripada karya tarinya, dan akan memberi panduan kepada peserta-peserta untuk meneroka dan mengembangkan bahan koreografi yang baru, dengan menggunakan tarian tradisi mereka. Annalouise juga akan kongsi amalan kreatifnya sendiri. Peserta-peserta bersama-sama dengan Annalouise akan menetapkan sebuah proses yang menggunakan pergerakan, rentak dan konsep-konsep daripada tarian tradisi di dalam improvisasi-improvisasi yang berstruktur. Terpulang kepada masa, peserta-peserta juga akan mencipta sebuah koreografi pendek yang akan dipersembahkan kepada orang ramai semasa sebuah pertunjukan di dalam studio pada hujung residensi.

MENGAPA: Berkongsi melalui dialog merupakan kunci proses pertukaran ini. Proses ini juga melibatkan tindakan maklumbalas bagaimana ia boleh diperluaskan dan digunakan untuk mencipta karya yang baru. Sebagai sebuah kumpulan penggiat-penggiat seni, kami akan membincangkan vokabulari tari, identiti budaya, bangsa, bahasa, migrasi dan penyebaran warisan.

HARAP MAKLUM:

  • Perbincangan di dalam studio akan dijalankan di dalam Bahasa Inggeris, tetapi kami akan cuba menampung sesiapa yang kurang fasih di dalam Bahasa Inggeris.
  • Annalouise sering menggunakan sistem dokumentasi proses itu melalui video dan foto serta penulisan, tetapi bahan-bahan tersebut tidak akan dipamerkan secara terbuka, dan hanya digunakan di dalam arkib seni Annalouise serta laporan dana.
  • Borang persetujuan akan disediakan.
  • Peserta-peserta merupakan penjaga budaya tradisi mereka sendiri semasa proses ini. Mereka bertanggungjawab untuk menetapkan sumber tradisi yang boleh atau tidak boleh digunakan semasa proses penerokaan artistik dan perbincangan secara berkumpulan ini.
  • Pemain muzik juga digalakkan menyertai projek ini.

KOMITMENT ANDA:

  • Peserta-peserta dijemput untuk berada di studio di Rimbun Dahan selama 4-5 hari setiap minggu selama dua minggu, di antara tarikh [ ] dan [ ], bekerja berkumpulan bersama-sama dengan Annalouise.
  • Jadual waktu bagi setiap hari di dalam studio akan diatur setelah perundingan dengan peserta-peserta. Kami inginkan sebuah kumpulan kecil yang boleh bekerja bersama-sama dengan cara yang konsisten semasa jangka masa tersebut, untuk memberi faedah yang maksimum kepada semua yang terlibat.
  • Masa di dalam studio adalah lebih kurang di antara pukul 10 pagi dan 5 petang, tetapi waktu sebenarnya akan ditetapkan nanti, setelah peserta-peserta dipilih.
  • Setelah peserta-peserta yang terpilih mengesahkan penyertaan mereka, kehadiran adalah wajib. Jikalau anda tidak dapat memberi komitment yang sepenuhnya, sila mengemukakan jadual waktu anda semasa proses permohonan.

BAYARAN: Tiada bayaran yang ditawarkan, kecuali penghargaan sebanyak RM35 sehari yang akan diberi untuk membantu menanggung kos pengangkutan dan makanan.

HUBUNGI KAMI: Untuk membuat permohonan untuk menyertai projek ini, sila Whatsapp +61 408664199 atau emel annalouisempaul@gmail.com dengan jadual waktu anda yang boleh lapangkan untuk projek ini. Annalouise akan menetapkan masa untuk berbincang dengan lebih lanjut bersama anda secara individu.

MAKLUMAT MENGENAI ANNALOUISE PAUL

Annalouise Paul mempunyai sejenis siasatan koreografi yang timbul daripada kekurangan metodologi yang wujud untuk mencipta pergerakan silang budaya (cross-cultural). Amalan Annalouise berdasarkan proses yang perlahan tetapi berterusan untuk mencipta vokabulari pergerakan. Prosesnya termasuk ‘Hidden Rhythms’ yang menggunakan irama tradisi untuk mengalihkan dinamik pergerakan tarian, dan ‘Dance DNA’ yang menggunakan pergerakan tradisional dengan pendekatan somatik. Beliau telah membangunkan proses-proses ini di Singapura, Perancis, India, Melbourne dan Sydney, disokong oleh institusi-institusi seperti World Dance Alliance, Create NSW dan Critical Path.

Residensi Annalouise di Rimbun Dahan pada tahun 2019 merupakan sebuah Asialink Arts Creative Exchange.

Southeast Asian Choreolab 2019

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Southeast Asian Choreolab 2019

From 6 to 14 July 2019, a group of 10 emerging contemporary dance choreographers from 7 Southeast Asian countries attended the Southeast Asian Choreolab 2019 at Rimbun Dahan, facilitated by Australia choreographer Liesel Zink.

The participants were:

  • Ayu Permata Sari, Indonesia
  • Hasyimah Harith, Singapore
  • Irfan Setiawan, Indonesia
  • Michael Barry Que, Philippines
  • Mimee Somvanhpheng Keolouanglath, Laos
  • Pat Toh, Singapore
  • Pham Thi Hong Sam, Vietnam
  • Pich Sopheavy, Cambodia
  • Raul “Buboy” L. Raquitico Jr., Philippines
  • Silver Yee, Malaysia

For nine days, the participants lived, worked and expored contemporary dance practice and creation together at Rimbun Dahan. consist of 7 work days with 2 days of study-tour. Work days took place in the dance studio at Rimbun Dahan. Each of the participants presented a 1-hour morning session sharing their own choreographic approaches or movement backgrounds. In the afternoon, Liesel Zink led the participants through sessions exploring choreographic methods and analysis.

The first day of the Choreolab concluded with a welcome dinner at Rimbun Dahan, including prominent members of the local contemporary dance community. The participants also visited Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre to watch a Dancebox performance, and took a short excursion to Forest Research Institute Malaysia and Batu Caves. Their full-day excursion included a long walk around the Dataran Merdeka/Chinatown area of Kuala Lumpur, while Liesel led the group through exercises involving visibility/invisibility in a public space.

On the final day of the Choreolab, the participants presented several short site-specific works they had made to a small public audience.

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.
  4. Work closely with an established choreographer (Liesel Zink), to participate in her particular artistic approach, and to benefit from her insights, advice and experience.

We are glad that the participants had a positive and reenergizing experience with each other at Rimbun Dahan. Here is the word cloud from their feedback forms:

 About Liesel Zink, facilitator

Liesel Zink is an Australian choreographer interested in the body as a tool for socio-political and environmental expression. With a focus on site-specific work, Liesel seeks to engage new and diverse audiences in meaningful contemporary dance experiences. Liesel was awarded the 2017 Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance for her work ‘The Stance’, which has been performed at Sziget Festival Hungary 2017, Ansan Street Arts Festival South Korea 2017 and several cities around Australia. Prior to that her site-specific work ‘fifteen’ (Next Wave Festival VIC 2012 & Brisbane Festival QLD 2012) won two ‘best of’ awards both for Melbourne’s Small to Medium dance work and Brisbane Time Out’s dance award.

She is currently developing ‘Balloons & Granite’ (a large scale dance installation exploring the body in shifting landscapes) and recently premiered ‘INTER’ (a science, dance and spoken word collaboration).

Liesel has been commissioned to choreograph works for Australian dance companies including Expressions Dance Company, Tasdance and LINK Dance Company. Her choreographic style has evolved from her postgraduate research on body language and her ongoing interest in social psychology.

She was a lead artist in the creation of Force Majeure’s new site-specific work FLOCK (Commonwealth Games 2018) and has performed for Polytoxic Dance Company and independent artists including Liz Lea, PVI Collective and Dave Sleswick. As well as producing her own work she produces for dance artist Michael Smith, and co-produces The IndepenDANCE Project (Phluxus2 Dance Collective) and Angry Mime evening of experimental art.

More information: www.lieselzink.com

 

This is a joint project of Rimbun Dahan, MyDance Alliance, and World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific.
Producer: Bilqis Hijjas.
Intern: Natashya Nazlia (student, Dance Department, University of Malaya).

SEA Choreolab 2019 Call for Applications [PDF 1MB]

Southeast Asian Choreolab 2018

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Southeast Asian Choreolab 2018

From 23 June to 1 July 2018, 13 selected choreographers from Southeast Asia lived together at Rimbun Dahan, exploring choreographic practice with guidance from our international facilitator, German choreographer Isabelle Schad, with assistance from Claudia Tomasi.

The program consisted of 7 work days with 2 days of study tour. During the Choreolab, each participant presented their own participant session, sharing their own choreographic methods, repertoire or movement techniques with the rest of the group.

Half of every work day was spent with Isabelle Schad, as she shared her artistic approaches and ways of looking at dance with the participants.

The program concluded with an open showing of movement tasks from the Choreolab. The open showing was attended by the general public and members of the local arts community, outside in the gardens at Rimbun Dahan.

Participants

  • Lau Beh Chin, Malaysia
  • Nurulakmal Abdul Wahid, Malaysia
  • Jereh Leung, Singapore
  • Josh Marcy, Indonesia
  • Fitri Anggraini, Indonesia
  • Sherli Novalinda, Indonesia
  • Mee Soydala, Laos
  • Noutnapha Soundala, Laos
  • Vidura Amranand, Thailand
  • Nguyen Thanh Chung, Vietnam
  • Gebbvelle Ray ‘Dingdong’ Selga, Philippines
  • Nicole Primero, Philippines
  • Eva Wegener, Sri Lanka/Germany

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.
  4. Work closely with an established choreographer (Isabelle Schad), to participate in her particular artistic approach, and to benefit from her insights, advice and experience.

About Isabelle Schad, facilitator

Isabelle Schad studied classical dance from 1981-90 in Stuttgart, and from 1990 to 1996 she danced in various classical companies. She began creating her own choreography and extending her dance education through diverse workshops and scholarships, was a member of Ultima Vez / Wim Vandekeybus in Brussels, and worked with / danced for Olga Mesa, Angela Guerreiro, Felix Ruckert, and Eszter Salamon.

Since 1999, she has developed numerous projects and dance performances of her own, in close collaboration with choreographers, performers, musicians and visual artists, which have been presented internationally in theatres, alternative places, galleries or festivals such as Tanzplattform, Tanz im August Berlin, Internationale Tanzwochen Wien or Dashanzi International Arts Festival Beijing.

The pieces California Roll and Still Lives – a community project that has been realised in more than 12 European cities – have been presented at Tanzplattform Germany 2006 and 2008. The community project TÜDDELDÜDDEL-LÜD has been presented at Tanzkongress 2009 in Hamburg.

Isabelle Schad regularly shows her work at Hebbel-Am-Ufer in Berlin. Since 2008, she has developed an ongoing project in collaboration with visual artist Laurent Goldring, followed by the solo Der Bau (2012) and the group work Collective Jumps (2014), which were both invited to Tanzplattform.

She is teaching in Berlin at the Inter-University Centre of Dance Berlin, and internationally in the frame of workshops or short period projects mostly supported by local Goethe-Institutes. She is actively engaged in the free dance scenes of many Balkan cities / countries, including Zagreb, Sofia, Skopje, Bucharest, and Belgrade.

In her work, Isabelle Schad explores relationships between the body, its languages and representations. She focuses on working methods that privilege exchange, the sharing of ideas, practices and knowledge as a tool for circulation, for continuity in learning and cooperation with other artists.

Isabelle is co-organizer of the working space Wiesenburg-Halle in Berlin, and a Zen-Shiatsu practitioner who practices Aikido on a daily basis.

More information: http://www.isabelle-schad.net/

About Claudia Tomasi, assistant facilitator

Claudia Tomasi first studied dance and choreography at PEPCC in Forum Dança, Lisbon. In 2013 she concluded her Bachelor of Dance, Context, Choreography at HZT / Berlin. She has been studying visionary craniosacral work at the Milne Institute in Berlin since 2017.

Great influence and inspiration on her work as a dancer and/or choreographer have been Deborah Hay, Shannon Cooney, Francesca Pedulla, Frey Faust (Axis Syllabus), Elisa Ricci, Philipp Gehmacher and Isabelle Schad. Since 2007 she has been working on her own pieces as well as in various collaborations as an interpreter and artistic assistant for other choreographers and artists, including Shannon Cooney, Isabelle Schad, Ingrid Hora, Claire Waffel and Julian Weber.

She is currently working with her brother, the audiovisual artist Benjamin Tomasi, in cooperation at the interface between contemporary dance, sound art and fine art.

 

The Southeast Asian Choreolab 2018 is a joint project by

In partnership with

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.

Work It!

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Work It!

Image: Doris Uhlich in 'Rising Swan', photo: Andrea Salzmann.

Work It! was a project bringing together female performing artists from Asia and Europe whose work revolves around the gendered depiction of the body on stage. For 10 days in November 2012, these artists met in Kuala Lumpur to share their artistic practice, create new networks and explore their diverse understandings of feminism.

Participating artists:

  • Cynthia Ling Lee (Taiwan/USA)
  • Rita Natalio (Portugal)
  • Donna Miranda (Philippines)
  • Joavien Ng (Singapore)
  • Cuqui Jerez (Spain)
  • Doris Uhlich (Austria)
  • Naomi Srikandi (Indonesia)
  • Mia Habib (Norway)
  • Geumhyung Jeong (Korea)
  • Un Yamada (Japan)
  • Margarita Tsomou (Greece/Germany)
  • Mislina Mustaffa (Malaysia)

Download: Work_It!_Press_Release
Download: Work_It!_Participant_Bios

Teater Garasi, in a play directed by Naomi Srikandi.Public Performances

2 nights of sharing their work and perspectives

Program A: 8.30pm, Friday 9 Nov
Program B: 8.30pm, Saturday 10 Nov

Venue: The Black Box, MAP @ Publika, Solaris Dutamas

How do you perform a woman onstage? How do you negotiate how a society regulates work, power, sex and truth? What is creativity’s reaction to convention? And how will women thrive in the performing arts in the current global climate?

The Work It! public showing tackled these questions with theatre, dance, music and good old fashioned women’s wit.

Entry by donation at the door
RM 20 regular, RM 15 for students, seniors & MyDance Alliance members.
Q&A session with the artists following the performance.

Cuqui Jerez, 'Croquis Reloaded'. Work It! Open Studio

The focus of the Work It! project is on the week of closed-door studio sessions for the participants at Rimbun Dahan, in which they will be sharing and developing their arts practice with each other. For one afternoon only, join the artists in an open studio session to get a taste of the Work It! project. All practicing artists, in visual or performing arts, and both male and female, are invited to attend.

2-5pm, Wednesday 14 November 2012
The Dance Studio at Rimbun Dahan

Free entry, but attendance is limited, so please register by emailing bhijjas@gmail.com with your name, phone number, and brief bio.

Donna Miranda. Photo: Brendan Goco.

Work It! Panel Discussion

At the conclusion of the 10-day project, the participants of Work It! will present a public panel discussion to discuss the process of the closed-door discussions at Rimbun Dahan and to share their findings.

2-5pm, Saturday 17 November 2012
Annexe Central Market
Free Entry

Work It! was co-produced by Bilqis Hijjas of Rimbun Dahan, Anna Wagner (Germany) and Fumi Yokobori (Japan).

Main Sponsors

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Supported by

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Public performance venue sponsor

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Opening of APIDC 2011

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Opening of APIDC 2011

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Rimbun Dahan hosted the participants of the Asia-Pacific International Dance Conference 2011 for a welcome dinner in the Underground Gallery on 21 September 2011.

Dancers from the KESUMA Ensemble from University of Malaya provided a post-dinner show in the Dance Studio at Rimbun Dahan for the assembled guests, displaying the grace and diversity of classical and folk Malay dances to live musical accompaniment. The evening closed with an impromptu joget party, with audience members joining in!

The Asia-Pacific International Dance Conference brought more than 200 local and international dance academics together to discuss the theme of hybridity in dance, and how it is transmitted, performed, researched and written. The conference was organised by the Cultural Centre, University of Malaya, and Jabatan Kebudayaan & Kesenian Negara, and was held at the Royale Bintang Hotel from 22 to 25 September.

All photos by Syaffiq Hambali.

Dance Film ‘I Want to Remember’

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Dance Film ‘I Want to Remember’

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Singaporean director Sherman Ong shot some of the material for his short dance film, I Want to Remember, at Rimbun Dahan in April 2011.

sherman2A man in an interrogation room remembers his time with his lover when the two countries were one. When the countries separated in 1965, his lover ended their relationship to follow her family. He remembers his carefree past with laughter and tenderness, disappointments and sadness, but never with regret.

I Want to Remember is a dance film premiering at the Singapore Arts Festival 2011, supported by Rimbun Dahan.
Dancers: Mohd Hanafi Bin Rosdi, Ng Xin Ying.
Actors: Dato Rahim Razali, Foo Fei Ling.
DOP: Lesly Leon Lee
Editor/Sound: Azharr Rudin
Music: John Chua http://www.johncgh.com/
and Lena by Azmyl Yunor https://myspace.com/azmylyunor

With thanks to Yuni Hadi, Lim How Ngean, Marion D’Cruz, Bilqis Hijjas & ASWARA.

Dance Shorts III: I Want to Remember

28 May 6.45pm | 80mins (Post show dialogue after the screening)
4 June 6.45pm | 70 mins
Venue: Cinema Europa, Golden Village VivoCity, Singapore

Gesek-Gosok by ASWARA Work Placement Students

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Gesek-Gosok by ASWARA Work Placement Students

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Two students from the second year of the degree program at ASWARA, Malaysia’s national arts university, spent a month as work placement students at Rimbun Dahan as part of the requirements for their course.

Sufinah Abu Bakar and Shafirul Azmi were linked with the dance programme at Rimbun Dahan from 14 Dec to 8 January. During their time at Rimbun Dahan, they worked on several new dance works, including one for a book launch by the Centre of Orang Asli Affairs and another to ring in the New Year.

Gesek-Gosok was performed on New Year’s Eve in and around the reflective pool at Rimbun Dahan. To Indochine-themed music, the group of seven dancers from ASWARA and Balletbase paraded with parasols, lowered themselves into water troughs, and paddled serenely through the waterlilies, to the great delight of the onlookers. Photographs below by Akshay Sateesh.

Sufinah binti Abu Bakar, now 24, was born in Kuala Lumpur and is currently living in Sungai Buloh. A second year student in the Bachelor of Dance program at ASWARA, Sufinah has been trained in classical Malay dance as well as Chinese dance, Bharatanatyam, folk dance, ballet, contemporary and modern. She has worked with local choreographers such as Joseph Gonzales, Umesh Shetty, Zhou Gui Xin, A. Aris A. Kadir, Shafirul Azmi, Choo Tee Kuang, Loke Soke Kim, and Gan Chih Pei. She has danced in various local ASWARA performances including Jamu, Stepping Out, Langkah, traditional Mak Yong theatre, Randai, Bangsawan, the dance drama Huminodun and Asyik. Sufinah has performed in the musicals Puteri Gunung Ledang, Rubiah and Ibu Zain, and has also performed overseas in ASWARA collaborations in Singapore, with RTM in Brunei, Festival Tari Nusantara in Palembang, Indonesia, and the 6th and 8th Asian Art Festivals in Beijing. Sufinah’s television work includes video clips for Hafiz AF7 and Pisau Cukur, commercials for Mummy Slrpp and BOH Tea, and RTM and TV3 programs.

Originally from Sabah, Shafirul Azmi bin Suhaimi began his career in art when he was 18 years old, as a cultural artist for Lembaga Kebudayaan Negeri Sabah (1998) and Badan Kesenian Negeri Kedah (1999). After receiving his diploma in choreography from ASWARA, Shafirul choreographed for Badan Kesenian Negeri Kedah in 2005 and Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya before continuing his studies at ASWARA for his Bachelors. Shafirul in currently a lecturer at ASWARA as well as a dance artist in the local industry. He has been involved in many contemporary performances including Gerak Angin (Sutra Dance Theatre), Jamming The Box (Nyoba Kan and The Actors Studio), Curfew (Five Arts Center), Spring In Kuala Lumpur (Japan Foundation), AWAS (ASWARA) and The Light Show (Annexe Central Market). His musical work includes Ronggeng Rokiah, ANTARA, P. Ramlee, Kasih Menanti and Tun Abdul Razak at Istana Budaya, and TUNKU at KLPac. His own choreographic works are IBN, Let’s Swim, Kabur, Tabung Uji, Niaki, Pipit, Hari+Hari, Escape, Typhoon, Transporter, Shakti, Tapak 4 and Cik Mah. Shafirul is always looking for unusual ideas for traditional-based art works, and favours productions with a collaborative element.