Dance Triennale Tokyo 2012

Hailing from the Papua province of Indonesia, Siompo works from a unique Asian corporeal technique “Animal Pop”, merging behaviors from Indonesian tradition and global hip hop. Who could have anticipated such a convincing hybrid of hip hop and kangaroo movements? Siompo charms with a rich continuity of powerful, brilliantly cacophonous, and frequently hilarious choreography. In recent years his Japanese collaborators include Natsuko Tezuka and Contact Gonzo. (Atsuko Hisano, Program Director, The Saison Foundation)

Born in 1975 in Jayapura, Indonesia. As a child Jecko Simopo learned traditional Indonesian dance, and after high school, he went to Institut Kesenian Jakarta to continue his studies in dance. In 1999 he visited Portland, Maine in the United States where he studied hip-hop. In 2002 he went to Folkwang Dance Studio in Germany on scholarship from the Goethe Institute in Jakarta. In the recent years, while traveling extensively around the world representing the Indonesian contemporary dance, he creates works produced and co-produced by theaters and institutes such as Kampnagel in Hamburg, Berlin HAU, the Goethe-Institute in Jakarta, and the Esplanade in Singapore.

Choreography : Jecko Siompo