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Jecko Siompo

(Jakarta/Jayapura)

In Front of Papua

Mousonturm Saal

Dance

“Hip-Hop was born in Papua”
Jecko Siompo

When choreographer Jecko Siompo first saw breakdancers in the streets of Jakarta in 1984, he could not believe his eyes: the B-boys danced just like his great-grandfather in West-Papua. His subsequent trip to New York – the true cradle of hip-hop – re-enforced Siompo’s first impression. Now he was sure of it:  “Hip hop is really from Papua” and his internationally acclaimed “In Front of Papua” is proof of this theory. The fast-paced piece samples found elements into relief-like images utilizing his own specially developed dance style “Animal Pop”: from hip-hop to Papuan tribal dances, from animal movements and modern dance to classical Javanese dance, Siompo’s eight dancers re-arrange familiar and unfamiliar forms until individual movements can no longer be traced back to one single style or origin. With absurd humour, Siompo thus proves his own very personal dance-anthropological theory, which calls established Western dominated hierarchies of knowledge into question and implodes the boundaries between urban space and the jungle.

Choreography, Music: Jecko Siompo * Dancer: Rivka Rompis, Revi, Reboo Annur, Rasta, Phytoz Harris, Nambe, Chun lao, Gege Diaz.

Performance LAB