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Dance Theatre Basel
Joachim SchlömerPerforms: Lisbon Project
A fish in the jacket
At Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
Jakarta Art Building
November 21, 1998Who is Joachim Schlömer?
Joachim Schlömer, who was born in Monheim (nearby Cologne) in 1962, at present is the most successful of the third generation choreographer, reflected in his career and artistic development, as written by Jochen Schmidt, a noted German dance critic.
Moreover he has proved himself to be one of the most original and imaginative of contemporary choreographers. He completed his studies of dance and choreography from the credible Folkwang School in Essen from 1989 to 1988. His dance experience included, his tour in 1987 to East Europe, performing Pina Bausch’s Wuppertal dance Theatre ‘ Le sacre du Printemps’ and 3 years joining American Mark Morris Dance Group at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussel up to 1991.
From 1991 to 1996, he was Director of the ‘Deutsches National Theater Weimer’, where he choreographed ‘The Faraway night’ ; ‘ Highland or the Echo of Stones’ and ‘Hamlet I, II, III’.
Beginning 1996/1997, he is assigned as the Director of the new Tanztheater Basel in Switzerland. New choreographies have been created i.e:
‘Autumn’, ‘Orfeo ed Euridice, ‘The ways of love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke’ and ‘the Lisbon Project.
In Basel he has to deal with an audience more familiar to classical ballet who must be introduced to a totally new form of dance. He also created 3 thirty minute long pieces for the White Oak Project led by the eminent Mikail Baryschnikov and another two for Opera de Lyon, France. Schlömer ‘s Creations never totally abandons the concepts of pure movements, for his outstanding artistic achievement he got the Otto-Kasten Award in June 1996, of the German Theatre Directors and in March 1997, he received the German Critics Award.
A Sincere Smile
In a friendly warm press conference in Jakarta Art Building, one day prior to his dance ensemble performance, flanked by the hosts-organizers from the Swiss Embassy and Goethe-Institute, in front of Indonesian Journalists from several publications, the sympathetic Joachim Schlömer opened his presentation with a ,,,,, sincere smile. What a nice gesture! He received a vote of confidence at once and the discussion flowed smoothly. His calm but professional explanation of his newest creation should be proved in the evening of performance.
Lisbon Project: A fish in the jacket
The 75 minutes masterpiece is reflecting a story about Lisbon as the ‘underwater city’ but there is no water on stage, instead there is a fish.
The romantic city remains intact after the completion of the Second World War, only natural calamities had affected the city, like the enormous earthquake in the 18th century. The Lisbon story has been compiled together with musicians Hans Tutschku and Michael von Hintzenstern in the music city’ streets and cafes for the dance and music composition.
The dynamic, fluid and beautiful dancing performance accompanied by romantic rhythme of Portuguese musical background has won the heart of all spectators in the Jakarta Art Building. The dancers, women and men alike were dancing skillfully, whole-heartedly as a group or sometimes as an individual, where they could freely expressing their role.
The meeting of some ladies and gentlemen in a place nearby the sea exposed with great nostalgia and sometimes melancholy, but showing also a happy moment, knowing that they will part but soon they shall meet again.
As Schlömer said by quoting Novalis, this choreography of Lisbon Project lies somewhere between the questions ‘ where do we come from’ and ‘where are we going’, which have a deep philosophical meaning: what is life? The audience should search the reply in this meaningful choreography.
The most important thing, this evening performance of Dance Theatre of Basel has given a great satisfaction to Jakarta’s audience, with no less than five long ovations before the curtain definitively closed, at the end of the performance. The sincerity of Joachim Schlömer and of course the whole dance ensemble has been proved in a high professional manner. Congratulation Schlömer and all the crew and dancers of Dance Theatre Basel!
See you in the next performance.
Suryo S. Negoro
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