Storm

The Synopsis

2007-12-10T02:15:00.000-08:00

DANCE INSTALLATION

Ombak Naik, Tuah Menurun

Choreographer: Aida Redza
Music Composer: Tan Sooi Beng
Supported by: Ho Sheau Fung as Video Designer &
Leonard S. Gurunathan as Sound Designer

This dance choreography takes on an almost metaphysical quality with 6 dancers and one furtive story teller unfolding concepts of generational curses and the burden of guilt and the significance these ‘sins of the past’ play in mapping the future.

The dancers begin as stateless beings until the wind calls and the monsoons are stirred. Through this frenzy the dancers are trans-navigated to their past and are forced to confront ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ – the darker side of existence.

Haunting reminders of hidden legacies are evoked through the interplay of raw traditional and electronic instrumentation and vocal chanting. Secrets are revealed haltingly through jolted videography playing on dancers bodies and on wooden crates within which secrets are stowed away.

As confessions are made, the provocative and destructive nature of these hidden curses emerge and the carriers are finally faced with choices to seek redemption or forever carry the burden.

DRAMA
Sonata Tropika

Director: Janet Pillai

This 3 person drama makes a ‘stereotypical’ comment on how addicted television viewers respond to the ‘stereotypical’ plots and images propagated in serial soap operas. The 3 actors become obsessed with the bold and brazen risks taken by the fashion-flaunting soap opera characters. They lip-sinc the songs, discuss the complicated affairs, and anxiously await the outcomes the of cliff-hanging episodes.

The high emotions stirred by screen romance are carried into their daily lives and colour their otherwise mundane reality. A triangular affair begins where the 3 characters fantasize about each other and try to live out passionate moments shown on screen, but with disastrous results.

The drama features Mandarin songbird Ho Sheau Fung who plays a karaoke-crazy wife, fiery dancer Aida Redza who plays a pent-up foreign maid and mature comedy actor Ang Ban Siang who plays the penultimate pot-bellied husband ; all in search of ROMANCE. The play tells it all in 3 farcical episodes which lasts all of 15 minutes.

MUSIC
Letter From The Bird Community

Composer and Musical Director: Tan Sooi Beng

“…to let nature and its myriad beauties bloom in the brilliant sun” – Usman Awang

Beginning with the jovial interplay of bird calls using live vocals, flute, violin and erhu, this original music composition unravels the poetic brilliance of Usman Awang’s ‘Surat dari Masyarakat Burung’. Paralleling the poet’s original appeal to humankind to hear the many voices of the natural world, the piece juxtaposes a variety of bird calls as a plea to the mayor of the city to keep the city green. Nevertheless, development continues, represented by the resonating percussion comprising interlocking rhythms by various traditional drums and found objects. The bird calls become dissonant as the city’s mud turns to concrete. The woodpecker is crushed under a felled tree, the turtle dove is conned by the name ‘Padang Merbuk’ and the birds are imprisoned in boxes that humans call cages!

Lord Mayor

though we had no hand in electing you

since franchise is not for the feathered

still we honoured you for your promise

OF A GREEN CITY.

Alas, they have desecrated THE GREEN of nature

to worship THE GREEN of dollars

since the city's mud turned to concrete

we birds have been the silent sufferers

the late Belatuk was crushed under a felled tree

Merbuk was conned by the name Padang Merbuk

While he and his kind were cooped in cages

This letter requests that in your wisdom

you will protect each branch, each root,

each leaf, each petal, each bower,

for these have been our homes through the centuries,

and it would also be for the good of man,

his health and happiness, his peace of mind,

to let nature and its myriad beauties bloom

in the brilliant sun.

CLICK HERE For Bookings

About Ombak-Ombak

2007-12-10T02:14:00.000-08:00

Ombak Ombak ARTStudio is a non-formal collective of multi-ethnic artists and producers who mount contemporary performances, exhibitions and festivals which project Malaysian identity and creativity.

Ombak is committed to nurturing and promoting the arts to the public through arts performances, festivals, exhibitions and training workshops.

Mix Media & Collaboration

We encourage collaboration among artists from different artistic disciplines such as drama, visual arts, choreography and composition. All creative works by Ombak are original and are devised through collaboration. We also support inter-generational collaboration between young people and adults.

Cross Cultural Exchange

We believe in promoting cultural diversity and border crossings by adopting stories, artistic forms, languages, musical instruments and techniques from our multi-cultural society.

Recreating Tradition

We experiment with local forms such as Chinese Opera, dondang sayang, boria, ronggeng, and shadow puppets which have traditionally played important roles in conveying information and providing social commentary to the public.

Our productions integrate multiple artsgenres such as storytelling, puppetry, music and dance theatre.

Playing For The Community

Ombak is the only contemporary troupe in Malaysia that specializes in revitalizing the tradition of street performances.

We believe that the arts should be made accessible to all.

We perform, predominantly in outdoor spaces, free of charge, to community audiences. We devise creative works from visuals, narratives and social issues sourced from the community.

Training and Outreach

Ombak-Ombak ARTStudio runs workshops in dance, music, drama, technical theatre and theatre management. It also organizes master classes by visiting artists as part of its outreach and training program for interested adults and young people.

Ombak manages a website ( i-artspenang.com ) which publicizes arts and culture events. The website manages a database of galleries and performing arts spaces, as well as a directory of all performing groups in Penang.

Our Activities:

Performances
Street Festivals
Training
Outreach
Arts Information Web

Past Performances:

Festivals

Malaysian Freedom Film Festival, Penang (2006 & 2007)
Penang Arts Festival (2005-2006)
Heritage Heboh Street Festival, Penang (2006)

Performances

Ronggeng Merdeka (2007)
Hen Or Rooster (2005)
Red and Gold Shoe (2001)
Uncle Aunty Stories (2001)

Photos Slideshow:

The Creative Team

2007-12-10T01:46:00.000-08:00

Aida Redza

Choreographer

Aida is an international choreographer on the move. She is actively promoting alternative approaches that invites Interdisciplinary mediums of performance to intervene with choreography to create New Dance Installations. She is better known for her solo work.

Her latest performances include Asia Europe Meeting Festival (2002)

Images of Asia Festival (2003) in Copenhagen,

Asia Europe Young Choreographer's Festival (2004) in Berlin,

Les Urbanisme Festival in Lausanne, Switzerland (2005),

Test Portal Festival in Amsterdam (2005),

Colours of Dance Festival in Amsterdam (2005),

Dance Unlimited Festival (2006) in Rotterdam and Amsterdam,

Vision2020 Denmark Festival (2007).

Tan Sooi Beng

Composer/ Musician

Tan is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at Universiti Sains Malaysia. An accomplished musician on traditional instruments, her music is unique for the way in which traditional rhythms and sounds are reconstructed and transformed into contemporary compositions with topical themes.

Tan has attempted to bring a new Malaysian identity to gamelan music through compositions such as Perubahan (CD Rhythm in Bronze, Five Arts Centre, 2002) and Saling BerpelukanRhythm in Bronze at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, 2004).

Janet Pillai

Theater Director/ Actor Trainer

A pioneer in the field of children’s theatre, Janet lectures in the Performing Arts Department at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Janet has been doing children's theatre since 1979 and has developed a unique integrated arts training program where children learn various creative forms both traditional and contemporary. Her renowned mix media productions include Ne Zha ( 1999 ), Rama and Sita ( 1997 ) and Suara Rimba (1994). Janet is the recipient of the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards for ‘Cross Cultural Champion of the Arts 2004’ & the ‘DiGi Amazing Malaysian Award 2006’.

Ho Sheau Fung

Actress/ Young Theater Director/ Multimedia

Versatile actress and theatre director, favors in ' Penang Flavor' and issue oriented performances. One of the youth directors directed for an International Exchange project- Contacting the World 2004. She is also renowned for her mixed media composition in the Mandarin theater scene.