I drank half of grande white chocolate mocha coffee tonight. One and a half pump of syrup, no whip at 6 PM. I knew I couldn’t finish the whole thing, no point in upgrading with my credit card perks. I knew I would be jittery. The last time I had black Mandailing coffee, I stayed up until 3 AM giggling with Astrid while watching a dog show on the telly. From the show I knew that dogs’ purpose in this life is recorded in their DNA and it doesn’t saturate by time. For example, a hunter dog will always be a hunter dog, they’ll be stressed out if you don’t take them run and hunt for something. Poor dog, what if they want to do something different than their predecessor?
Back to coffee, I am not really a coffee drinker. I am all tea, TWG grand wedding, gorgeous geisha T2 Tea, sari wangi, teh poci. I am very careful with coffee because it does extreme things to me such as wakes me up for 6 hours or more. Besides, drinking coffee is like equipping yourself for boring things ahead. You know you won’t be able to stand the day so you imbibe coffee. You know some show or movie will make you sleepy, you chug on your coffee. It is like you are positive that the future is negative. And I think that what I did today.
The plan was to see this free-of-charge dance showcase, Fire!Fire!Fire!, a contemporary interpretation of Ramayana tale. Remember, Sinta had to walk through the fire to prove her loyalty and virginity to Rama. But this one was contemporary, so it was clear that they would deconstruct some meaning. This one was contemporary, it was clear I would be clueless.
When the time was eighteen hundred, I waited in line for my coffee. Sipped it a bit at the outlet than hailed a cab half an hour later to Gedung Kesenian Jakarta. There in the lobby, I sipped it more until I was sure I had enough defense for the show.
Then the premonition manifested. Their first piece definitely needed a caffeine shot through an eye. But then the second and third piece from Thailand and Indonesia respectively were awesome. They blurred the line between male and female by putting them in uniform. All white long dress for the Thai piece and lurik fabric for the Indonesian group. Instead of showing royal, kingdom notes on the costumes and make up, they made it proletarian-like. Instead of burning a female Sinta, they were all “burnt” in “fire”, females and males. Looked like an orgy for commoners. Perfect example for Baudillard's "Transparency of Evil" with fluid sexuality, uniformed vision, beyond good and bad and all. The dancers showed beautiful body control plus loads of lean muscle. Let me emphasize on beautiful bodies. I liked the Solo Dance studio pack, especially the guy whose body resembled Jesus on the cross (only leaner) with tat on his back.
The dance was like a trance, helped me to devour the moment, live in the present, and went I DON’T CARE for my troubles. It was sensual, strong, promised me blossoms and bliss. I’m glad I came to the show. I had never thought I’d enjoy contemporary dance, excited, and blog about it. Now (time is 2 AM), was it the spectacle or was it the coffee?
Excerpt from Q&A:
Audience: “How do the audience grasp the meaning you try to convey?”
Choreographer1: “You don’t need to understand everything, you just need to enjoy it.” Choreographer2: “Yes, and this is a free show, you don’t lose any dime if you don’t understand it.”
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