ButohOUT! One day workshop with Agung Gunawan
ButohOUT! 2018
’Body~Our Closest Nature’
One day workshop with Agung Gunawan - Skilled Improvisations
Description of the workshop
The festival guest artist from East Java, Indonesia, Agung Gunawan offers an one day 5 hour workshop at the Oratory studio of Abbotsford Convent. In this workshop, he will share his personal understanding and expertise on how to perceive the sense of spirituality at the unique and specific local site and landscape. Participants are introduced to have basic / introductory understanding of the four requirements to perfect the art of Javanese court dance, which are;
Sawiji - (concentration of mind)
Greget - (enthusiasm and consciousness)
Sengguh - (self-confidence)
Ora Mingkuh - (no surrender)
The workshop explored understanding your own body through the methodology that Agung has established over many years.
Agung Gunawan
Born in 1971 in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia, Agung Gunawan studied classical court dance of Yogyakarta in Surya Kencana under RM Ywandjono Suryobrongto and RAy Sri Kadarjati. He also continues to explore other traditional dance styles such as Sumatra, Betawi, Borneo, and contemporary dances with the broad range of multi-disciplinary artists. He has worked at Padepokan Seni Bagong Kusudiharjo from 1989 to 1999, and has performed in Vermont, Boston and Washington DC in the United States in 1996. In 2001, he was commissioned by the Indonesian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania to teach dance as a choreographer and dancers.
In Indonesia, he collaborated with contemporary American music group, Musical Theatrica Nova, led by American composer and ethnomusicologist prof. Vincent McDermott.
He was also an assistant choreographer at Miroto Dance Company from 2000 to 2006, and he has toured with them in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Africa and in some parts of Indonesia. Agung also worked as an assistant choreographer of Martinus Miroto in 'Opera Java', a film directed by Garin Nugroho.
Having started work as a solo and independent dancer since 2006, he works in many projects nationally and internationally; the collaboration with Nottle Theater Company, Tony Yap Company at Palimpsest (2007), Buddha My Body (2008-2009) - with performances in Indonesia, South Korea and Australia. Agung has also worked with Ikko Suzuki in 'Water Dimension '(2008) in Tokyo, Japan, the dance file project with Sean O'Brian a filmmaker from Australia in 'Melancholy' (2008), and with American musician Suzanne Tang in 'Dancing Flute' (2010) in Bali, Indonesia. Agung also brought 'Grobak Padi' project to Melbourne International Arts Festival in 2012 with Dr. Mike Hornblow. He also completed an artist residency program in Melbourne supported by Multicultural Art Victoria and the Australian-Indonesian Institute.
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 lean 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
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Partnership:
City of Yarra Council #CityofYarraCouncil
Creative Victoria #CreativeVictoria
Abbotsford Convent Foundation #AbbotsfordConventFoundation
Support:
Multicultural Arts Victoria
Oasis: Creativity on the Fringe of the Desert
ImPermanence Productions
Tony Yap Company
Photo Credit: Steve Chong See less
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia