New Friends at the Jakarta Institute of Arts

After months of preparation for the tour, and less than 24 hours on the ground, ODC Dance finally performed our first lecture demonstration! Brenda spoke of ballet, modern and post modern dance styles as well as a brief history of American modern dance. We demonstrated problem solving skills for generating choreography and were impressed by the talent of five students who volunteered to improvise with the Company.


During the second half of the day, theater and dance students took master classes lead by Daniel and Annie, learned material, and performed the finished product for the group. Daniel noted that even students who were hesitant at first couldn't wait to join in by the end. Afterward, we all took photos together and said our goodbyes. Video to follow.

Jakarta Master Class Videos

Leaving Indonesia Today

Flying to Burma today. Life is good. We have had an amazingly rich experience here in Indonesia. It will be so hard to leave. The people here are all so welcoming and generous. Our performance last night at the Empire Palace was a great success. There were rains (of course) that delayed some of our audience members from arriving but they still came. It was so touching to hear from someone who rode their motorbike in the rain an hour and a half just to see us. Many of the same students we interacted with at the State University of Surabaya and the master class taught by Liz, were in the audience. There was a lot of picture taking with our new friends after the show! We al have many new Facebook friends too. Facebook is very big here. There was a wonderful photo of Liz teaching her master class in the Jakarta Post yesterday! We got a copy and will bring all articles home with us. There was press at our dress rehearsal and performance and I believe we may be getting a CD with the photos taken by the photographer. He was very very good and offered to do that for us. Reiza organized a little party for us back at the hotel after the show. We all ordered dinner, exhausted from the day, and had some fun time unwinding.

So we have quite a long travel day today. I will be writing down the memories I've made while here in Indonesia and hope to keep in touch with the new friends that I've made. Surabaya was a very short visit but I hope to come back again one day in the future.

Love and hugs to all!

-Annie, sorry no pictures again because I'm on the hotel lounge computer :(

Hello from Surabaya!

Sparkling Surabaya

We arrived in Surabaya yesterday afternoon and spent the evening at the Consul General's house. There were other dancers, artists and Consul employees in attendance. The atmosphere was very warm and inviting. We all enjoyed the food which was a generous spread of vegetables, rice and meats. The Madame Consul introduced us all individually to the attendees which was very sweet of her.

Sorry there aren't any pictures in this post but I'm using the computer in the hotel lounge.

Today was fantastic. We visited the State University of Surabaya which has an arts program with theater, dance, graphic design, visual art and language studies. There were 60-70 participants. They were wonderful and enthusiastic. Some of the students performed traditional Jejer dance and Remo dance for all of us. The movements were so articulate and detailed. It was fascinating to watch! We began with a lecture demonstration and then performed Brenda's "Something About a Nightingale" for them. After that, we broke up into small groups and taught sections of choreography to the dancers. They loved it and all looked wonderful when we performed the material for each other. Later on in the day, Liz taught a master class to local dancers from Surabaya from the Marlupi School. Again it was a wonderful group and experience for all of us. And it ended with a small performance by the dancers as well as a short performance by local traditional Javanese dancers. There were about 50 dancers who came to our class.

We heart Reiza! He took us to the Mirota and we had a field day shopping around for souvenirs. It was full of crafts and traditional Batik fabrics. Yayoi scored! It seemed like most of the dresses were perfect for her size. But we all left with wonderful and fun items. Thanks Reiza!

Tomorrow is our show. We are looking forward to the event. We've been meeting many friendly local Surabayans and inviting them to attend. There should be 600 people in the audience. Hope all is well at home.

Annie

Our Final Performance in Jakarta

Annie here, your blogger for this evening. It was a great show tonight. The house was packed and we could really feel the excitement coming from the audience members. This afternoon we were joined by Joe Melillo from BAM. We are happy to have him here. Poor guy, he was worn out from flying today... we've certainly been there. Today is day FOUR and I'm finally starting to feel a little normal. I remember who I am for the most part, throughout the day.

We held the start time of the show once again, as we did last night, because of the rain. Highlights...gasps from the audience, chuckles and another standing ovation. Many of the dancers who were at our workshops we taught at the Jakarta Art school - IKJ, attended tonight.  They were all wide eyed and so enthusiastic after the show. One dancer almost moved me to tears as she tried to explain in words how watching us dance touched her. We had such a lovely experience here. The Salihara Theater is a wonderful venue. It's beautiful and very functional. Only trouble was having the dance floor on cement. Ouchy!We're so lucky though because everyone we've met is so helpful. Jakarta isn't really a place where we can walk around because frankly, there aren't many side walks. Tons of traffic and scooters make walking a scary adventure. Today I saw someone with an empty birdcage strapped to his back while driving his scooter. Anything goes around here. I've also seen small babies (eek!) and large tripods, oh!, and a plank of wood being carried on a scooter. It's quite amazing how it all just happens.

-Annie: up way too late in the name of blogging

Puppet Museum visit in Kota Tua

Despite a busy schedule, we made the effort to get out and see more of Jakarta. Thanks to the US Embassy, specifically Toto who made a phone call ahead of time to let the museum head know we were coming, we had a field trip. They took us to Kota Tua, Old Town. This is where the original center of town was located when the Dutch colonized Indonesia.  Arend and Toto, who work for the Embassy, took us to a restaurant called Batavia Cafe. When the Dutch were here, Jakarta was known as Batavia. Lunch was amazing. Next was the visit to the puppet museum. Once we arrived, we were taken on a personal tour through the museum which Toto had arranged. We learned about the detailed handmade labor that goes into each puppet. Small, sharp knives are used to punch each hole and create beautiful designs. We were mesmerized and many of the dancers left with souveniers.

Reception with U.S. Ambassador Cameron R. Hume

Our second night in Jakarta we were invited to a reception at the Ambassador’s Residence. What a lovely place! We finally got to meet the folks from the Embassy that so far have been just names on emails. The guest list included various performing artists, teachers, artistic directors from the area. Ambassador Hume was very welcoming and spoke about the importance of shared experiences and cultural diplomacy. Members of the press were lined up to talk with Brenda. A very enjoyable time was had by all.

krose

Our first day in South East Asia

Today we are finally catching up with photos and such. We wanted to show our tour jackets that Brenda, Nancy and Lori had made for us. They are terrific for wearing backstage and when the air conditioning gets cold.

There is a photo of the dancers at the Taipei Airport. Our plane left San Francisco at midnight and most of us were able to sleep 7 to 10 hours. When we landed in Taipei it was morning so jet lag hasn’t been bad.

Here is a picture of our bus in Jakarta. This is a VERY familiar site to us now.

Finally, here is a picture of all the dancers with Brenda, Michele and Reiza. Michele and Reiza have spent so much time planning our visit and taking care of us.

krose

Jakarta performance #1

WOW! What a day and night! During the day we had our dress rehearsal. It was attended by about 50 children ages 10 – 17. They were from a couple of schools and some orphanages. Many of the children here who are not in orphanages can be found on the streets playing little guitars for drivers stopped at the stop lights. The rehearsal started about half an hour late around 2pm. It took much longer to load light cues in the board then expected. It was a computer board, but very different then the ones in the U.S. I had to read the levels of each cue to Jaduc, the Master Electrician. He speaks English well, but as anyone knows who speaks a foreign language, when it comes to numbers it takes a bit more thinking. He was terrific, though! Oh, did I mention there was press at the Dress Rehearsal? Lots and lots of Press! They were taking photos non-stop and interviewing Brenda before and after. We did not wear costumes as it is very difficult to launder clothes here and there is no way they would have been ready for the show. After the rehearsal the dancers put on some costumes and we did some set up shots.

Last night was our premiere in Indonesia. It rained off and on all afternoon. That means traffic slows down – waaaaaaay down. It took some embassy workers 2 hours to get to the show. We were supposed to begin at 8pm. The opening speeches started at 8:20pm. And the show at 8:30. The Indonesians call the general tardiness of the culture “Rubber Time”. In Jakarta there is always heavy traffic. It gets heavier on Friday afternoons or when there are political protests. Earlier this week there were protests against the Vice-President. Some type of money scandal is brewing. The Indonesians pride themselves on being able to express their political views. There are over 100 political parties and Leaders are elected by direct vote, not by an electoral college.

Anyway, back to the show! Some of the dancers have been having the usual aches and pains of their profession. When we are in San Francisco we have the Dancers Clinic staff to provide physical therapy backstage. Mohammed Reiza, The Cultural Affairs Assistant from the US Embassy has been our guide. He was able to locate a woman to do physical therapy before the show. The interesting thing is that she is blind! This allows her to work on both men and women as this is a mostly Muslim country. She was AMAZING!!!! She was more of a healer then a physical therapist. The dancers were very surprised and we have asked her to come back tonight. Also, for 3 hours work she charges the equivalent of $25 US. Everyone pooled together more money to give her a generous tip.

The tickets to the shows are free, but the have a reservation list. The theater holds 210 people. We were told that the reservations were full, but last night when we started the show the there were many empty seats due to traffic. The place filled up with the last audience members seeming to arrive around 9pm. The Indian Ambassador to Indonesia and the Turkish Ambassador to Indonesia both attended with their families.  We performed “Origins of Flight” “Unintended Consequences” and “24 Exposures”. We tried to have an intermission after Unintended but no one left their seats, so after 10 minutes we continued on. Did I mention there was press there and they were taking photos non-stop? After the show Brenda did a quick Question and Answer period. The dancers dressed and came out after about 20 minutes. There was a lot of posing for photos with people.

Some of our students from the Art Institute of Jakarta came to the show. Many more are expected tonight. We have been working with them all week. One day we performed a Lecture Demonstration and had 2 classes. The ODC dancers were given a class in a couple styles of Indonesian traditional dance. This past Thursday I had given a class in Stage Management. This is a new course of study they are offering. Currently, in Indonesia there are no classes for performing arts managers. The Art Institute has just begun a course of study hoping to offer degrees in Arts Management, especially Production Management. My class was attended by about 40 students. Our discussions ranged from how Stage Managers take care of performers to how the US provides funding for the arts. After 2 hours no one wanted it to end! Five of my students showed up early for the show yesterday to hang out and talk with me. They were very hesitant at first thinking their English wasn’t good enough, but we persisted and began to understand each other well. A passion for something you love always comes through! Basically they explained to me that they can only get to a certain level then there are no mentors to take them farther. Hopefully, we can do something to change that in the future. By the time the show started they were calling me “Mama Rose” and I was calling them “My Sons”.

The people here are so WONDERFUL! You are always greeted with a smile and hello. Everyone is eager to help you carry a bag or hold the door. We have been especially moved by the care Mohammad Reiza has given us. We call him Reiza and last night on the bus ride home we decided he needed a California-surfer name. We’re thinking Chad or Brent but haven’t found the right name yet. Anyway, Reiza has gone above and beyond the call of duty. He makes sure we are on time, he translates, he recommends places to go, he makes sure we drink enough water and have towels to wipe the sweat. He is so organized and never complains. Last night when our clothing steamer didn’t work one hour before the show he miraculously found an iron. The best news is that he is from Surabaya and will be traveling there with us!

Tonight is our last night in Jakarta. No words can express how we have been touched and inspired by the people we have met. It is going to be very difficult to say goodbye to our new friends.

Your Citizen-Diplomat,

Kathy Rose