'Klise' a dance, music, installation

'Klise' a dance, music, installation

Ganug Nugroho Adi, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java | Fri, 10/28/2011 10:04 AM

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Experimental: Installation becomes an important part of the Klise performance.An exploration of choreography and costume was the basic concept of the Klise dance presented by young choreographer Enno Sulistyowati at Galeri Kecil at the Central Java Cultural Center in Surakarta (Solo) recently.

A kimono captivated the audience as it was draped around a dancer, with the garb of three players forming an important part of the show besides the display room chosen as the stage.

Unlike typical dance theater, the stage lighting of Klise was bright, with three women standing at three points. In the middle was Enno, whose body was wrapped in a rope coil. Slightly at the rear, at the right of the stage was Dewi Galuh Sintosari in her long samparan (classical dance costume), and on the left was Astri Kusuma Wardani in her plastic kimono on a small sloping platform.

The head-turning dancer in the middle showed lively movement. In her gym-like costume, she began wriggling, moving her fingers, feet and body. As her hand motions slowed, there was a moment of silence. The sound of a zither, the clack of wooden clogs and the rhythmic resonance of a gong followed thereafter.

Despite her supple movement, she displayed attempts to get rid of the rope coil engulfing her from neck to feet. The two dancers behind started moving; the one on the right lifting her legs, waving the cloth on her arm and shifting her position, and the other on the left hardly shifting from her place. With such gestures, the wooden clogs kept clacking and the gong resounding, reflecting a feeling of unease.

Another silence prevailed, with no sound or motion. A plastic bag with water hanging at the back of the stage was dropped. And the three were in motion again. For 30 minutes, Enno, Galuh and Astri demonstrated their body signals and expressions almost without leaving their original positions.

Enno said after the show, “Klise is the story of concubines. I’m trying to portray the situation of women waiting for the time when they have to see the king, prime minister, governor or any other man to become their mistresses.”

Through Klise, Enno translates the “waiting time” into gesticulations and expressions of anxiety, resistance and finally resignation. This resignation is again interpreted as the women’s awareness of maintaining appearances so as to be worthy of serving as concubines.

The use of the kimono, added Enno, was inspired by the obedient attitude of Japanese women, who tended to give the best they had to their men. “But the concubines in my story aren’t Japanese women. I’ve only used the clothing,” said Enno, who earned the Empowering Woman Artist title from the
Yayasan Kelola (foundation) for the performance.

For her space experiment, Enno gave her artistic touch by placing a plastic kimono in the foreground. She also made a slanting platform for one of her dancers to make her rear position more prominent. The dancers and their costumes became part of the space of choreography.

Musical illustrations also served to set as the show’s setting and installation. At certain moments the sounds of the zither, clogs and gong boosted the power of body gestures and rhythms. Arranged by Gunawan Gondrong, the music functioned as an illustration at one time and an installation at another.

Perfect mix: Enno Sulistyorini (left) and Dewi Galuh Sintosari in their dance performance, Klise, staged at Galeri Kecil, Central Java Cultural Center, Surakarta. Choreographer Enno combines dance, music and installation.“The musicians and their property were thus in the same room. This, too, was a space experiment,” said Enno, who was born in Surakarta on May 4, 1981. Klise itself is an experimental blend of installation art, music and dance.

So far, according to her, music has just given illustration. In Klise, music and dance combine into a repertoire that can be enjoyed as a performance rather than accompaniment.

The story offered by the three Surakarta dancers that evening in fact didn’t flow in a linear fashion. They were preoccupied with their respective gesticulations that seemed unrelated to each other. The “waiting women” were perhaps only revealed to the audience in the synopsis, and later perhaps from the leading dancer’s attempt to escape the coil of rope. Even the falling plastic bag of water was hard to fathom as a symbol due to her domination.

“It’s an experimental work, so I’ll be making further improvements. Klise is actually also an enhancement of my previous creations, which were Samparan, Moving Space and Ruang Dalam Tubuh [inner body space],” Enno said.

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