Indonesian Memories

by Pier Marton | May 18, 2010 | Dance, Music

BALI
the Kris dance that I knew of before going to Bali.
Rawer.
The Monkey Chant
The kind of dancer (and gamelan – although smaller, since they were a traveling group), that I danced with in a small village – the dance is called Legong.

JAVA
The kind of male dancing in Jogjakarta that I had learned.
The slowness of Javanese dancing that ultimately won me over.
Shadow play (Wayang Kulit).

And the kind of trance that (besides Artaud’s “Theater and its Double” awe of Balinese dance theater) had moved me towards Indonesia.
Kuda Lumping (straw horse riders break coconuts on their heads, eat glass & catch fish with their mouth)

SUNDA (Western Java)
The ultimate winner, the Sundanese Suling (flute) – Kecapi Suling.

And this beautiful rendition.
And a Suling solo:

News & Olds

BREAK THE SURFACE
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To ride the unbalance* between:
1. excellence and a kind, singular and porous identity that contains some of the scruples, humor, humility, musicality & the beauty of a harsh and confusing, yet benign and rich reality – away from distractions.
2. the stupidity and blindness of complacency, violence, injustice, pretense, egos, short-term… wishful… and group “thinking,” and empty talk – in all of their surprising embodiments. And the false sense of fullness all of this provides.
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An appeal for a world NOT so caught up in anthropo/ego/euro/ethno/oculo/esthetico -CENTRISM.
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1. Beware of those who claim to be strong – they are often dangerous.
2. Unmask the hoax of “centrality” – ask an “EX-centric” for assistance?
3. Perceive the arrogance of normalcy: everybody, in one way or another, is handicapped… which brings us back to 1.
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*Not unrelated to “There is beauty and there are the humiliated. Whatever difficulties the enterprise may present, I should like never to be unfaithful either to the second or the first.” — Albert Camus