Following the international success of his acclaimed works Cry Jailolo, Balabala and SALT, Indonesian dancer and choreographer Eko Supriyanto sets his sights further east to explore the unique choreographic traditions of the Indonesian region of Belu in Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT).

Ibu-Ibu Belu is the culmination of two years of research into the Likurai, a dance tradition which forms a vital thread in the social fabric across the island. Through his exploration of movement, rhythm and textile traditions Supriyanto manifests the ways in which dance carries the kinship of people who are now divided by politically imposed borders separating NTT and Timor L’Este. These embodied memories and histories are expressed in Likurai, paradoxical proof that bodies challenge political boundaries while at the same time remaining restricted by them

Asia TOPA Dancehouse 2020

Dancehouse’s Japan Focus includes Japanese National Treasure, Akira Kasai, heralded as the ‘Nijinsky of butoh,’ with his critically acclaimed work, Pollen Revolution; in addition to phenomenal enfant terrible Takao Kawaguchi and exceptional emerging choreographer Ruri Mito. The Japan Focus delves deeper into how Japanese traditional forms find expression within contemporary dance and, by implication, within contemporary society. This program opens up multiple invitations: to perceive time beyond the linearity of Western thought; to conceive of tradition as a continuum of contemporaneity; and to understand specific dance forms and lineages as trans-national and trans-historical.