Watan Tusi, a choreographer from the Truku ethnic group in Taiwan, and Eko Supriyanto, an Indonesian choreographer, present a cultural exchange through two dance works, deconstructing different body languages and textures and examining contemporary diasporas and bonding. 

Eko Supriyanto’s AriAri draws on Javanese philosophy. Originally translated as “placenta,” AriAri describes the profound bond between a newborn baby and its energetic twin. Together with two Indigenous Taiwanese dancers, Eko Supriyanto uses this metaphor to explore our varying understandings of taking care and protecting each other. An important element in Javanese philosophy surrounding birth and new life, AriAri affirms that as human beings we have an invisible spiritual connection with our fellow human beings, with our ancestors, families, and with tradition.

Reflecting on the experience of labour migration between different regions, Watan Tusi brings us on a sojourn through Indonesian ‘Dangdut’ pop music. In “Ita,” he choreographs a mixed cast of Taiwanese and Indonesian dancers, aiming to explore these labourers’ experience through the expression of their bodies under different music atmospheres to create the bonding feeling of “us.” 

The double bill of AriAri and Ita embarks from the spiritual bonds between oneself and companions, seeks emotional vibration with other people, engages in observation, creation, and interpretation from different cultural qualities, and responds to the most precious contact among human beings.