Indonesian contributions open and close the 2015 OzAsia Festival.
One of Australia’s closest neighbours is gifting us with 20 works involving more than 100 artists over the opening weekend alone, in a festival with 41 events, five world premieres and 15 Australian premieres.
This will be the biggest showcase of arts presented from Indonesia in Australia, giving Australian’s the all-too-rare opportunity to experience “the contemporary side of Indonesia,” said OzAsia Artistic Director Joseph Mitchell.
Highlights include: The Streets, by Teater Garasi, directed by Yudi Ahmad Tadjudin. The Space Theatre will be transformed into a busy Indonesian street where audience members are immersed in the performance occurring around them.
Eko Supriyanto’s Cry Jailolo from North Maluku is a contemporary dance work, which gives expression to the famed underwater world of Jailolo Bay, East Indonesia.
On a more serious note, Papermoon Puppet Theatre’s Mwathirilka delves into Indonesia’s dark days involving the 1965 – 66 anti communist purges, blending puppetry and multimedia.
Indofest, on the closing weekend, has long been associated with OzAsia Festival. The Australian-Indonesian Association of South Australia will gather together a series of traditional dance, games and live music experiences along with traditional food on North Terrace across the Migration Museum, SA Museum, SA Library and Art Gallery of South Australia.
Chinese, Japanese and Korean works, some involving Australian collaboration, offer even broader stylistic cultural experiences very much aimed at contemporary issues, such as Chinese theatre director Meng Jinghui’s première of Amber. This love story charged with multimedia, rock and dance explores not just love, loss and innocence but the disturbing commercialisation of sex in China.
Extremes of consumer society and disposable culture are grist to the mill of Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker, a staple of Europe’s contemporary theatre festival scene. The part pop concert, theatre work hybrid makes its Australian premiere for OzAsia Festival.
Spectra, dance collaboration between Japanese and Australian artists was commissioned by OzAsia Festival, involving dancers from Japan and Australia’s Dancenorth. Blending Australian contemporary dance with Japanese butoh collective Batik’s style, Australian choreographer Kyle Page, formerly of Australian Dance Theatre, looks to explore the universal nature of causality; how one thing leads to another.
Finally the Moon Lantern Festival, much beloved by South Australian families, returns on Sunday 27 September, featuring the largest lantern ever created for a Moon Lantern Festival, a 36 person long Hong Kong Dragon.
This Oz Asia Festival truly has something for everyone. The program can be found online at adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/ozasia-festival.
David O’Brien
When: 4 Sept to 4 Oct
Where: Various venues
Bookings: 131 246 or bass.net.au
