The OzAsia Festival includes a smorgasbord of dance performances, from a collaboration between Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Indian choreographer Shantala Shivalingappa, to Topeng Cirebon’s ancient Javanese masked dance. The festival is based in Adelaide and showcases some of Asia’s best visual and performing arts.
Many of the dance works on this year’s OzAsia program merge contemporary dance with traditional forms. Cry Jailolo (Indonesia) sees a contemporary interpretation of tribal dance from North Maluku. Dancenorth (Queensland) and Batik (Indonesia) collaborate to blend Japanese Butoh with contemporary dance in Spectra. Play, the collabotation between Cherkaoui and Shivalingappa, combines the traditional form of Indian Kuchipudi with contemporary dance.
Other works are explorations of life in contemporary Asia. In The Streets, Indonesia’s Teater Garasi brings the streets of Jakarta to the stage, immersing the audience in that busy atmosphere (bottom picture). And then there are works that explore traditional artforms, such Sacred Sita (Indonesia), a dance-drama incorporating gamelan, dance and puppetry, and Topeng Cirebon (pictured below, top photo) which explores Javanese masked dance.
Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker (Japan, pictured top) takes the lure of travel a step further, promising to transport the onlooker to another world of disposable culture and outrageous consumerism via a frenetic spectacle of hyper-real pop music and dance.
For more information about OzAsia Festival’s dance program head here.
