Dancers from NUS Ilsa Tari embarked on a tour to Indonesia in July to learn new techniques and gain insight in to the craft from highly acclaimed professionals at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts (IKJ). This involved a series of intensive masterclasses conducted by the teachers of IKJ whose lessons ranged from body techniques, the art of Silat, exploration and expression to choreography.
While the exchange was definitely physically challenging, it also encouraged the dancers to go beyond their limits mentally and emotionally. Having to choreograph their own contemporary piece and display an improvised performance, dancers pushed themselves to break their own boundaries, to imagine, create and feel the performance.
NUS Ilsa Tari’s President, Suraya Binte Suhairi (Year 2, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) and Vice-President, Nurfaizzah Namirah Binte Foad (Year 2, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) describe the experience.
“After five weeks of intensive preparation we flew to Indonesia, feeling uncertain of what to expect but keen to discover new skills.”
The opening ceremony at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts (IKJ) was the start of an exciting and overwhelming journey where the teachers who would guide us over the course of the exchange introduced themselves. Having the opportunity to learn from true masters of Malay dance felt like a whole new world.
Pak Sentot Sudirhato, a nimble and agile man whose expertise lies in body techniques, kick-started the masterclass with disparate stretches that worked the muscles in every part of our body. While the stretching and breathing techniques he demonstrated provided us with the core strength needed for the movements and poses that we were less familiar with.
Silat superficially appears to go against the current of Malay dance which is known to be demure and gentle. Moreover, the silat in our Malay dance choreography are usually stylised to fit with other elements of the dance. Hence, in Pak Benny Krisnawardi’s class, we worked hard to unlearn and relearn Silat, focusing on fundamental techniques such as its posture, the position of sight and the shoutings involved. Through learning Silat Minangkabau, we were intrigued at how Silat is similar yet different when learnt on its own and not incorporated in a dance.
In any performance, emotion is as essential as choreography to accentuate the message. Ibu Wiwiek Sipala taught us to understand our movements and how to express ourselves by adding soul and feeling into them. We learnt to play with tempo, speed, direction and positionality so that audiences will not be able to anticipate our next moves; techniques we realised, that are important for audience engagement.
Ibu Dewi Hafiyanti taught us to channel the energy within ourselves to execute dance moves so that every step is impactful and powerful, no matter how slow or fast. Through her masterclass she reinforced synchronisation and consistency in counting and we worked together to feel each other’s energy, building trust, chemistry and teamwork, that can be reflected in our dance.
Lastly, we looked at the skeleton of any dance performance: the choreography. Under Pak Arison Ibnur’s guidance, we choreographed a contemporary dance piece with every member contributing a series of movements. By simply following the flow of a single hand movement, we created movements and added variations in hand form, posture, tempo and direction, all of which eventually formed the dance that we performed at the showcase on the final day. Throughout the process, we learnt to play with countings and positions, and were astonished at the difference between the initial dance and its final form.
The showcase its self was a real test of independence, discipline and endurance. We were given exactly 5 hours to prepare and were challenged to present three performances: a Silat performance, an Explorasi performance and the contemporary choreography we produced. This process was independent. It was up to us to organise ourselves and assist one another by providing feedback and suggestions.
The performances were accompanied by live music, which was something new for our second year undergraduates. It was a new experience to be aware of slight changes in the music and the different cues, which trained us to be more sensitive with the accompanying music.
With some undergraduates and other school officials amongst the audience, NUS Ilsa Tari successfully managed to pull off the showcase.
Partaking on this exchange provided immense opportunity for NUS Ilsa Tari members to learn so much more about dance albeit the short duration. It was a huge honour for all of us to be given the chance to learn from amazing, accomplished and distinguished figures of Malay dance and the trip also helped us forge new bonds with these teachers and between the dancers themselves.
This exchange was definitely an invaluable experience through which we have all emerged as more passionate individuals who are more keen to ensure that we apply what we have learnt in every milestone of our dance journey from here onwards, making our time with NUS Ilsa Tari more meaningful and precious.
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