Business times-ARTS- Friday October 30th 2009
Da:ns festival
By Melissa Quek
Through Void-Jendela Peradaban, Boi Sakti and T.H.E Dance Company had the lofty ambition of revealing the hypocrisy of modernism, where the comforting façade of labels blinds people to the truth of their situations.
With such a highly charged theme, the piece ran the risk of falling into the category of pieces that promise much but say nothing. However with the strong use of visual images and the incorporation of animation, set design and props, the piece managed to cover the diverse topics.
Initially the sections felt disjointed, a collage of symbols representing Sakti’s perceptions of what is wrong with the world today. However- as one of the Olsen twins have said of their fashion sense- with layering, if you put on enough pieces, eventually everything goes together. Theses pieces were held together by Darren Ng’s strong sound design and Chen Kunyi’s well-paced animation. One particularly effective sequence was of a man running up a continuous flight of stairs that led nowhere.
Another defining image was of dancers being walked like dogs, barking while strapped to megaphones. The megaphones evoked a chaos of riots where people fight to be heard, but whose protests come off as gibberish. Alternately their inability to stray far from those controlling the loud hailers could be constructed as demonstrating the power wielded by those who control communication. So while highly symbolic, the piece still left room for various strata of interpretation.
The movement vocabulary and dynamic, based on the martial art traditions of the Minangkabau community, used firm weight and resistance. This made a refreshing change from T.H.E Artistic Director Kuik Swee Boon’s fluid style. However, due to this, the dancers had the difficulty capturing the power and depth of movement, with a few exceptions. Guest artist Davit from the Gumarang Sakti Dance Company, had a strong presence and stood out as a dynamo with energy held in check ready to be released at will.
The choreographic style employed in Void was a departure for Sakti as well. Although not new for him, over the years the force of circumstances, having steered him towards the exploration of the traditional, this piece was a return to the type of work he was producing twenty years ago. It was clear that he felt free to the forcefully express his anger in this tight-paced piece.