Between Riot & Choir

HERMAPRODITO (beyond the idea of queerness)

As part of SOCIETY: OR INFINITE REHEARSALS, we present Between Riot and Choir – a series of interconnected solo performances in which dance and movement-based practitioners consider and respond to the conceptual proposals of this exhibition and research project. The performance series, which takes its title from a text by Fred Moten on the social nature of dance and movement, materialises the connections and histories that each dancing body, even when it dances alone, is inevitably linked to.

We think here about specific cultural traditions of movement; choreographies learned through and via the particular abilities of a body; somatic practices, contact improvisation – and overall, the relationality built into dancing alongside another (or anothers) in groups that might move with the asymmetrical, turbulent rhythm of a riot or protest as well the harmony of a choir.

For the last performance in this series, we welcome our current artist in residence Otniel Tasman. The performer, choreographer and Lengger uses the body as a political instrument. This performance explores the radicalism of the living body as a form of struggle, challenging conventional ways of feeling and creating new, imaginative, and poetic experiences. It combines ethical-political commitment with transfeminist and queer awareness, re-examining diversity, dismantling privileges, and acknowledging vulnerabilities. Otniel Tasman employs political and decolonial bodies, perspectives, feelings, and animalization to deconstruct the spirit of lengger. The work also addresses the social classification of living beings and the dominance of subaltern bodies as institutional violence techniques, shaping our perception of the body and the world.

About his practice, Otniel exlains:

Over the course of 12 years, I have been exploring gender conflict as a practitioner of the traditional Banyumas Lengger dance, commonly understood as a "cross-gender" ritual dance performed by male dancers in female dress. Lengger encapsulates our indigenous symbols of fertility, spirituality, and cosmology, including the spiritually embodied concept called “nyawiji”, meaning “when two become one”, and this is the foundation of my creative process.

Through my creation journey within which I have developed contemporary performances, made dance films, produced a Lengger festival, and written a book about Lengger, I have received new values resulting from the exploration process, not only regarding the forms of the artworks, but also through my thought process, academic knowledge, and collisions with other forms of media.

Lengger is unique because it is danced by men wearing female costumes and make-up, and the dancers are commonly known as Lengger Lanang (male Lengger). To become a Lengger, one has to equip oneself with traditional Lengger art skills and also practice spirituality in the Lengger cosmology. To this day, I continue to explore Lengger-based ideas and contemporary choreography for my work.

Otniel Tasman  is a choreographer and a Lengger (a cross-gender traditional art practitioner belonging to the Banyumas tradition) from the Banyumas region of Central Java, Indonesia. He is committed to voicing gender justice and exploring the wisdom of the Lengger tradition, which has fluid gender values that align with the philosophy and spirituality of life in the Banyumas tradition. In addition to choreographing dance works both with traditional and contemporary approaches, Otniel initiated the Jagad Lengger Festival as a socio-cultural choreographic practice to excavate, nurture and advance the wisdom of the Banyumas Lengger tradition, as well as produce and promote local knowledge that lives and is lived by the Banyumas Lengger community. His book Lengger is my Religion (2021) is one of Otniel's efforts to share the experience of living life as a Lengger and to dialogue with the public about the body, gender, tradition and spirituality.