MSO & Didik Nini Thowok

Here at Sanggar Lestari we love and appreciate the Performing Arts!

Music, Drama, Singing - you name it. Tell us a place and time and we can guarantee a group of at least 20 of us will be there (Look for us in the Lestari tops, totes and beanies).

We have always enjoyed performances by The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The incredible talent is second to none. We've also appreciated and idolised Didik Nini Thowok for their unique style of dance and a huge impact on Indonesian Dance and movement for the past few decades. So, you can imagine our excitement when we received an invitation from KJRI Melbourne to attend a collaboration by Didik Nini Thowok and The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra!

Didik Nini Thowok's style of dance is incredibly unique! Having studied dance in several countries, including Indonesia, India, Japan and Spain - he often incorporates a range of dance styles from various cultures in his choreography. Further, his combination of folk, classical, modern and comedic dance forms plays with gender 'norms' and reflect his cheerful, fresh and charismatic spirit. We were so excited to finally see his choreographed creations come to life in person!

This Cultural Performance by the MSO featuring Didik Nini Thowok was in conjunction with celebrating a warm friendship between the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and His Excellency Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. MSO's cultural program in Yogyakarta involves music interns, arts management workshops and cross-cultural performances! The close, bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia is extremely important to Sanggar Lestari and we value such cross-cultural experiences to build upon lasting people to people links. Sanggar Lestari has been fortunate enough to participate in a cross-cultural tour to Yogyakarta in 2016 and we are always on the lookout for more opportunities to support and collaborate with like-minded groups.

To open the show, we were treated by an incredibly dramatic music performance, composed by Australian based, Mark Holdsworth. Did you know that Mark also has Javanese origins and is based in Western Australia? His incredible works have been performed by some of Australia's most feted ensembles, including The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra and Arcadia Winds. Mark's piece 'Romeo and Juliet, String Quartet NO.4' dramatically took us on the journey of love and death, similar to Shakespeare's famous tale.

Following this, more artistic compositions choreographed by the incredible Didik Nini Thowok were presented. These included 'Adu Dhunung' (Divine Combat), which portrayed the current global situation and conflict felt by my Millenials, in choosing whether to pursue modern influences or traditional and cultural art forms.

We were blown away by the collaboration piece between the MSO and Didik Nini Thowok. It was incredible to watch as the Javanese dancers moved so powerfully and passionately to the symphonies of classical instruments. They did so as they portrayed the incredible story of 'The Return', representing the great forest fire that destroys all life and the birds then chirping after the calm.

'After Silence' closed the performances for the event. This piece drew upon the inspiration of the traditional meetings of the Noongar People - the local Indigenous Custodians of the Perth region. In such meetings, the clan would come together and discuss issues until the talking naturally falls to silence. In doing so, the air would be clear and all members would be on the 'same page' and ready to overcome the challenges of the following day.

After the performances there was a bit of a frenzy (to say the least) to meet the performers, Royal Visitors from Yogya and of course, Didik Nini Thowok.

We were very lucky to meet Princess Mangkubumi and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as well as the dance performers from Yogyakarta and Australian Composer, Mark Holdsworth. It was very overwhelming being in a room bursting with so much talent!

Whilst we missed out on properly meeting Didik Nini Thowok after the show, we were incredibly blessed that our dancer, Rima, organised a lovely meeting in the following days! We hope Didik Nini Thowok loves our Sanggar Lestari Beanie as much as we do!

We all felt extremely honoured to be part of such a relevant, cultural event in Melbourne. We returned home quite tired but will full hearts. Special mention to the Indonesian Consulate Of Melbourne for extending the invitation to Sanggar Lestari Melbourne.

Venue: Iwaki Auditorium
Composer: Mark Holdsworth
Choreographer/Dancer: Didik Nini Thowok
Indonesian Dancers: Agung Tri Yulianto, Maka Istiyanto, Fendi Bramayanto, Harin Setyadari and Olivia Tamara Dayastuti Wirid.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Violin: Sarah Curro
Violin: Kirstin Kenny
Viola: Gabrielle Halloran
Cello: Nicholas Bochner

Sanggar Lestari Melbourne in attendance:
Too many to even count. We loved it!