FUSE#2

Element#2
BAHASA KOREOGRAFI
The Process of
‘Bahasa Koreografi’
by Ayu Permata Sari
The concept of my dangdut work was articulated through the term
‘in-between space’. After hearing my explanation, Amin shared with
me the concept of ‘liminality’, and ever since then I have been
researching more on the term and its applications to my process.
The work that I eventually presented was entitled ‘TubuhDang
TubuhDut’ (DangBody DutBody), which had been presented at the
Jejak tabi Festival in Yogyakarta in early July 2018. I tried to describe
the structure and the staging of my work. In the beginning I used a
video as a form of introduction, but many questions were raised,
such as how important the video really was. Helly and Alfian
emphasised the importance of the demographics of the audience
that would be watching ‘TubuhDang TubuhDut’, the extent to which
they could access dangdut as a form of shared cultural knowledge,
and I was asked again my intention in creating the piece.
On the 21-22 September I made my Dance Nucleus presentation; it
was not just 4 of us who presented our works, but other artists as
well. The presentation of ‘TubuhDang TubuhDut’ had the second slot
on the schedule of 21 September 2018. It was a different experience
from my initial showing in Yogyakarta. In Yogyakarta, around 90% of
the audience was familiar with dangdut, such that the atmosphere
was relaxed and people knew the context that was being addressed.
In Singapore, the audience was less familiar with the dangdut form,
so it was difficult to absorb the energy from the audience, even
though there was at least someone who was swaying
unselfconsciously to the music. The experience of the audience
during the Dance Nucleus presentation was that they interpreted me
as claiming my own personal space in my enjoyment of music and
they were concerned about interrupting this world-abnegating
self-absorption. Even though some of them did feel like joining in my
interpretation of a state of ‘obliviousness’ to my surroundings. Daniel
Kok felt that an important task of the work was to give the audience
some context that I was exploring embodiment and mimicry, rather
than merely presenting a ‘show’ for the audience.
I had a week to prepare for the presentation on 21 to 22 September.
From the 15-20 September the participants were left on their own to
conduct independent research. In the beginning I used the studio for
my rehearsals, but on the final day of our meeting, I decided to
change my rehearsal space from the studio to public spaces such as
the MRT, shopping malls, outdoor shopping areas such as the one at
Bugis, on pedestrian walkways or intersections such as traffic light
areas. Even though it was difficult to seek permission to dance in
public from local security officers. At times I would dance without
obtaining permission or in other words “play by ear”. But I would
always survey the area beforehand, assessing whether it was safe for
me to dance, as I was worried that I would be arrested by the police
if they assumed that I was a lunatic. I eventually trained my
confidence in dancing in public areas. The movements of dangdut
audiences, often seen as embarrassing, often make me feel less
confident, so I had to build up this confidence in public spaces.
In addition to receiving great input for my work ‘TubuhDang TubuhDut’, I also also
gained a lot of experience watching diverse presentations during this Dance
Nucleus Residency. There were many forms of works which I had not seen before,
and I enjoyed new experiences as both an audience member and as someone
who is getting acquainted with the culture of art and dance-making in Singapore.
Refer to page 36 for diagram
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