Indonesia? The Birth Place of Hip-Hop?
21-Sep-2011 AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
JECKO SIOMPO / JECKO’S DANCE
WE CAME FROM THE EAST (Indonesia)
"Hip-hop was born in Papua. You don’t have to believe me. But my great-grandmother told me."
Jecko Siompo
First you hear the noises, a cacophonous array of yelps emerging from the blackness. And then the bodies appear, contorted and animalistic, folded backwards and leaping toward the ceiling with bestial vigour. It’s a long way from breakdancing, yet it seems so familiar.
Could it be true? Could hip-hop really have come from Indonesia? This is the question mischievously posed by Jecko Siompo in his exclusive Australian debut, We Came from the East.
A rising force in the choreography scene, both in Indonesia and abroad, Siompo here plays the fevered heretic, conjuring for us a furious display of the apparently indelible links between traditional Papuan dance and contemporary hip-hop. As the ten dancers - from Indonesia and Germany - shift between forms, sliding from pop-locking to breakdancing to the jittering mechanics of Papuan tribal movement, their bodies craft an argument both unexpected and persuasive.
Performed in Siompo’s trademark "animal pop" style – a fusing of contemporary and tribal dance informed by the shuddering movements of wild animals – and overlaid with a pounding percussive soundtrack,
We Came from the East is dance of remarkable vitality. Loud and audacious, yet accomplished and precise, this is the work of a young master making a decisive impact on the world stage.
Jecko Siompo
was born in Jayapura, Papua (Irian Jaya) in 1975, where he was exposed to both hinterland or mountainous (pedalman) and coastal (pesisir) dance forms. He attended the Jakarta Institute of the Arts, before being awarded a scholarship by the Goethe Institute to study dance theatre in Germany. Siompo has participated in arts festivals in Indonesia and across Asia, as well as Europe and the USA.
"A force to be reckoned with."
The Straits Times (Singapore)
"Eventually the stage becomes a whirling blur of movement, limbs twisting and bodies twirling with speed and grace."
Jakarta Globe (Indonesia)
Venue:
The CUB Malthouse, Beckett Theatre
Dates: Tue 18 – Sat 22 Oct, 8pm
Duration: 1hr no interval
Tickets: Priced from $25 - $55
Bookings: M-TIX (03) 9685 5111 / malthousetheatre.com.au
Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 / melbournefestival.com.au
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