Rumah Karya Sjuman and Kreativität Dance Indonesia bring seven choreographic works, live music and a semi-immersive experience to Bintaro, exploring an intriguing question: What if movement does not simply follow music?
JAKARTA — Where does movement begin? Perhaps the answer does not always start with what we hear.
Rumah Karya Sjuman and Kreativität Dance Indonesia (KDI) are set to present Nada di Balik Tubuh (Notes Behind the Body) on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, at Gedung Putih in Bintaro.
Under the artistic direction of musician and composer Aksan Sjuman, the production brings together seven choreographic works on a single stage. Each approaches its subject from a different perspective, yet all revolve around the same fundamental question: Where does movement begin?
The question resonates with KDI’s artistic journey spanning more than three decades.
Founded in 1995 by renowned Indonesian dance maestro Farida Oetoyo, KDI has developed through encounters with diverse dance traditions and artistic practices from around the world.
Rather than remaining mere traces of outside influences, these encounters have taken root and evolved into an artistic language shaped by the Indonesian context. Nada di Balik Tubuh represents the latest expression of that continuing journey.
“For a long time, audiences have tended to see music as an accompaniment to dance. Through Nada di Balik Tubuh, we want to invite them to consider the opposite possibility: What happens when bodily movement, musical composition and even the audience become part of an intimate interaction?” Aksan said.
“This performance does not offer a single answer. Instead, it opens a space for us to experience the question together.”
Presented in a semi-immersive format, Nada di Balik Tubuh seeks to reduce the conventional distance between dancers, musicians and spectators.
The intimacy of the setting allows audiences not merely to watch the performance but to experience it more directly, with reflections and interactions initiated by Aksan throughout the production.
Seven works, one question
Seven choreographic works make up Nada di Balik Tubuh. Six are new creations by a younger generation of choreographers: Yudistira Sjuman, who contributes two works, Nudiandra Sarasvati, Wenny Halim, Althea Sri Bestari and Syanindita Prameswari.
While emerging from the same central question, each work speaks through a distinct choreographic language, creating different textures and perspectives that complement one another throughout the performance.
The program also revisits a fragment of the pas de deux from Farida Oetoyo’s iconic repertoire, Serdtse.
Its inclusion creates a bridge between KDI’s artistic heritage, established by Farida three decades ago, and the explorations of today’s choreographers who are continuing—and reshaping—that legacy.
This dialogue between generations is central to the production. Rather than treating heritage as something static, Nada di Balik Tubuh positions the past as a point of departure for new artistic questions.
Music plays an equally important role.
The production’s musical landscape features compositions by Aksan Sjuman and renowned jazz musician Indra Lesmana, performed live during the show.
KDI and Rumah Karya Sjuman are also collaborating with multidisciplinary collective Ura-Ura.
Here, music is deliberately positioned as more than an accompaniment. Sound becomes an active participant in the choreography, at times responding to movement rather than simply determining its rhythm.
The result is intended to blur the familiar boundaries between composer and choreographer, musician and dancer, performer and spectator.
From rehearsal room to stage
Ahead of the performance, Rumah Karya Sjuman and KDI opened their creative process to the public through an open joint rehearsal on Aug. 16 at Ponpinspace Studio in South Jakarta.
The session gave members of the media, arts community and general public a glimpse of how the ideas behind Nada di Balik Tubuh developed in the rehearsal room before reaching the stage.
Such openness reflects the broader spirit of the production: the creative process is not merely preparation for a finished work, but part of the artistic conversation itself.
For KDI, the performance also marks another stage in an artistic journey that began with Farida Oetoyo in 1995.
For more than three decades, the contemporary dance company has served as a space for creation, learning and collaboration. Drawing on Farida’s legacy, KDI has continued to engage with different traditions of dance and music while providing room for new generations of Indonesian dancers and choreographers to develop their voices.
Rumah Karya Sjuman, meanwhile, has positioned itself as a platform for artistic development and experimentation, particularly in music and performance, with an emphasis on collaboration and new approaches to artistic practice.
In Nada di Balik Tubuh, these trajectories meet.
The production is therefore not simply about putting dance to music. It attempts to reconsider the relationship between the two—and perhaps to unsettle the audience’s assumptions about which one comes first.
Where does a movement begin?
For one afternoon and evening in Bintaro, the answer may lie somewhere between a dancer’s body, a musician’s sound and the audience watching them both.
Performance details
Event: Nada di Balik Tubuh
Presented by: Rumah Karya Sjuman and Kreativität Dance Indonesia (KDI)
Date: Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026
Showtimes: 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Gedung Putih, Bintaro
Artistic director: Aksan Sjuman
Choreographers: Yudistira Sjuman (two works), Nudiandra Sarasvati, Wenny Halim, Althea Sri Bestari and Syanindita Prameswari, alongside a fragment of Farida Oetoyo’s Serdtse
Composers/musical collaborators: Aksan Sjuman, Indra Lesmana and Ura-Ura
Tickets: Starting from Rp 200,000
Ticket information: goers.id/nadadibaliktubuh
