Synopsis

'Padi Complaining'
Dancer / Choreographer: Agung Gunawan - Indonesia
Video Art / Writer: Michael Hornblow – Australia/New Zealand
Costume Design: Kiea Kuan Nam

Like a staple diet for the soul to feed on, Rice symbolises a spiritual way of life in Indonesia connected to nature, through the gratitude of growing and gathering people together. There is a delicate ecology to the cycle of transformations that Rice passes through in the Padi field – from vivid green shoots to golden husks, to dry stumps and charred swirls of ash, and then all over again with the flooding of the field. 'Padi Complaining' is a reflection on the connection between the cycles of human and mother nature as symbolised in the ritual significance of Rice. It is also a kind of lament - for when processes of industrialisation impinge on spiritual life and when we become more concerned with political mechanisms than the cultivation of the soul. If we listen to the Padi and its connection to
the body we get a sense of the energy being carried from one process to another. And if we listen to the body as a vital husk for the soul, it can help us to trammel the land with a lightness of spirit, carried by a depth of meaning. At MAPFest, 'Padi Complaining' will consist of a 15-minute dance performance with projections, presented at St Paul's Church as part of the 'Cerita Pendik' curated works program.

Biography

Agung Gunawan (Choreographer and Dance Performer)
Born in 1971 in Klaten, Central Java. After graduation from the High School of Arts in Yogyakarta, he continued studies of Yogyakartanese classical dance in Surya Kencana and at the Kraton (Palace) where he continues to perform. He studied other styles (Sumatranese, Betawian and Kalimantan) with Bagong Kusudiharjo and contemporary with M. Miroto. He is presently Assistant Choreographer of the Miroto Dance Company and has toured with them in Holland, Belgium, Germany Africa and of course Indonesia. With the Padepokan Seni Bagong Kusudiharjo, he has performed in Vermont, Boston and Washington DC in the USA. He also has been a resident dance teacher, choreographer and performance in Bucharest, Romania. He is active in Indonesia with a cotemporary music group led by the composer Vincent McDermott. He completed work as assistant choreographer on ‘Opera Jawa’ movie directed by Garin Nugroho. As collaborator, he has work together with Notle Theater Company and Tony Yap Company (Palimpsest 2007, Budha My Body 2008- 2009) did performance in Indonesia, South Korea and Australia. With Ikko Suzuki (Water Dimension 2008) in Tokyo, Japan, Suzane Tang (USA) on “Dancing Flute” 2010 in Bali, Indonesia, Sean O’Brian (Film maker-Australia) on Melancholy filming in 2008. He did performance ‘Les Javanais’ in Udine, Italy. Agung is director of “Manisrenggo Culture Festival” (Festival Bhumi Loh Jinawi 2010) and he is also conceptor of the program “In the Arts Island’ Festival 2010”.

Reviews

NOT BUTOH BUT GUNAWAN MAGICAL
‘…Indonesian guest artist Agung Gunawan was remarkable in Execution, exploiting the different qualities of two masks to create a sense of turmoil, conflict and ultimate extinction of one by the other. His learn limbs, articulate hands and gliding transitions seemed magical, and his dramatic conviction gave the masks a life of their own, seeming both contemporary and arcane.
November 29, 2005 THE AGE (Melbourne- Australia) - Reviewer Hilary Crampton