10YOGYAKARTA, 2018
Jejak-旅 Tabi: Notes From
Two Cities by Muhammad Abe

42

18

KUALA LUMPUR, 2018
On Jejak-旅 Tabiby Mark Teh

BRIDGING EDITION (ROXAS CITY
TO NAHA, 2020) + PANDEMIC
Reflections on Nine Stray Okinawans
by Alfian Sa’at

64

EACH CITY’SPROGRAMMECONTENT

28
52
71

6

AFTERWORD

ROXAS CITY, 2020
Dancing with the Wandering Queens: Reflections on
Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange by Norberto Roldan
The Evolution Of The Filipina In Western Visayan
Literature And History by Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava, Ph.D.

NAHA (ONLINE), 2021
Mao Ishikawa’s Photography
and the Philippines by Fumiaki Kamegai
On Participating in the Jejak-旅 Tabi
Exchange Project by Shoichi Touyama

CURATORS AND
CORE TEAM73

PARTNERS ANDSPONSORSAFTERWORD
It all started with travelling.
The idea of “Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange: Wandering AsianContemporary Performance” came out from a series of
conversations in Bangkok around mid 2017, initiated by
Akane Nakamura. Back then, she was living in Bangkok
as part of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) fellowship.
She invited us, Helly Minarti and Lim Howngean, to seea performance by Toshiki Okada she then presented, Super Premium Double Vanilla Rich (2016), and in between
breezy ways of exploring Bangkok, a singular conversation was being woven.

The time couldn’t be more confusing for us as curator, producer and/or dramaturg. Since 2014, we havewitnessed the openings (or planning) of some Asia
mega centres such as the one in Gwangju (2015),
Taichung (2016) and two (then) in the pipelines in
Kaohsiung and Taipei. We started to wonder, andquestion, all colliding with us combing the streets of
Bangkok.
From each of our respective practices, we then imagined what would happen if we turn our gaze from these
Asian mega cities—all attempting to have a stake on
Asianess—towards much smaller cities in Asia, zooming in on finding out how artists create their arts within a certain locality. What connects these cities (arethey any in the first place?); what thread of historical experiences are shared, what politico-culturaleconomical situation they are negotiating, etc etc.
That is how Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange was born, out ofsuch conversations.
We kept the spirit of journeying from its onset as embedded in its name (jejak means step in Malay andfootprint in Indonesian, tabi is journey in Japanese withshared character in Chinese), learning as we went by
following the trails in front of us. At first we aimed for it
to be annually organized, only to realize after the firstedition in 2018 (that connected Yogyakarta or Jogja
with Kuala Lumpur or KL) that much research needed
to be done.
The traveling we did has become a journey. Indeed,
it was driven by the intention to create an exchange
platform that provides a space for artists and other arts
practitioners from Asia to engage up and close withcertain localities in the region. It had to be smallish
and intimate so both the invited—and the host artists
and practitioners—could have a deep, meaningful andhonest conversation whilst wandering around the city;
within and without events.

7

In the span of three years (2018–2021), we
managed to hold it in the first three cities
as it was planned to (connecting Jogja andKL in 2018, spending 2019 for researching the second, i.e. connecting Naha andBacolod City/Escalante in the Philippines).
The research in Bacolod City/Escalante on
Negro island turned out to be much morechallenging due to its subject matter (theatre as activism for human rights), so wedetoured to a much safer terrain, Roxas City
on Panay island. In each city, we co-curated
the programmes with our local colleagues,
i.e. Cemeti Arts House in Jogja, ASWARA
and DPAC (Damansara Performing Arts
Centre) In KL, Green Papaya collective in
Manila and Masashi Nomura for Naha.

R OX AS C I T Y, P H I L I P P I N ES / JA N UA RY 2 2 - 2 5 2 0 2 0

Then the pandemic hit. We had to postpone the Naha edition, originally planned
to take place in August–September 2020,
replanning for September 2021—with thehope to organize it live. To bridge, we put out
an online programme in December 2020,
introducing Naha arts scene, while reflecting on resilience in times of continuing ourarts practices as a global community.

8

Presented by DRIFTERS INTERNATIONAL / Supported by Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture) / The Japan Foundation Asia Center - Grant Program for Promotion of Cultural Collaboration / Asia-Europe Foundation | Mobility FirstIn cooperation with Gerry Roxas Foundation / Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion / City of Roxas / The Water Tank/Ang Panublion Museum

The year of 2021 has finally arrived, andalas, much has not changed. Once again,
we had to adapt, migrating online. This time,
instead of only connecting Naha and Roxas
City, we expanded to also include the previous Jogja and KL. For each connection,
we designed a specific program pertinent
to each context. We also did our best to
bring a sense of ‘liveness’ onto otherwise avery stale Zoom screen, by shooting in situ
such as at the black box theatre in Naha fora dance workshop, at a museum in Roxas
City for discussion, at the office of Green
Papaya in Manila where artist Vim Nadera
performed a short performance, and at thesite of Komunitas Sakatoya (a theatre collective) in Jogja.
This PDF book simply compiles the final
reflection and impression from some ofthose involved. There are seven essays—
all freshly commissioned—nuanced bymuch shorter quotes from the rest selected. We hope that all these will illuminate
future conversations, trusting that the tracesof Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange, will find its way
to various similarly critical endeavours.

9

2018

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D .I . P a

S u ry o dPara ngtr itis Roa d

YOGYAKARTA,Special Region of Yogyakarta,
Java Island, Indonesia

S u r a tm

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v Kedai Kebun Forumw Langgeng Art Foundationx Ace Housey Ruang Mes 56
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Road

JEJAK-旅 TABI:NOTES FROM TWO CITIES
Mu h ammad Abe
I experienced four editions of the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange: the first in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia, then in Roxas City, the Philippines, the bridging
online of Naha edition in December 2020 and most recently in another
online event between Yogyakarta and Okinawa. My first experience
was when Linda Mayasari and I worked on the archive exhibition of
Bagong Kussudiardjo and Wisnoe Wardhana, both choreographers from
Yogyakarta who contributed to the discourse of the modern performing
arts in Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s. The second experience in the
Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange was when I got invited to Roxas City to present
a small study on the influence of PETA (Philippine Educational Theater
Association) on the development of theater in Indonesia in the 1980s and1990s. Then I was invited to an online panel discussion to talk about
resilience in the bridging Naha edition. My most recent experience waspreparing for a meeting between Yogyakarta and Japanese theater
networks.

There are many impressions accumulated inthese four editions of Jejak-旅 Tabi, because
each edition offers some interesting performances and insightful discussions. However, forthis article, I choose a number of performancesand discussions that I consider interesting andstill “haunt’ me. I divide them into two subthemes—the first is the tension between thepresent and the past; and the second is thetension between aesthetic and non-aesthetic.
These two sub-themes are simply tools to help
me tie my scattered memories and experiences.
The first performance I watched at Jejak-旅Tabi was Pichet Klunchun’s I Am Demon, performed on a small stage on the second floor of
the Kedai Kebun Forum, a restaurant-cum-art
space located at the heart of contemporary art
scene in Yogyakarta. The show features Pichet
reenacting the movement methods taught to him
by his teacher, a maestro in Khon dance—a classical court Thai dance, which Pichet learned as ateenager to portray the character of the Demon.
The performance features a video of Pichet’sinterview with his teacher, as well as footage ofPichet and his teacher practicing the movement.
This autobiographical piece provides an overview
of delivering the past into the present and how
the present interprets the past in a different way.

Another performance is Padmini
Chettur’s Beautiful Thing 2.
Padmini performs her work in an
empty room in the basement of anart gallery. She dances at a very
slow pace between the pillars of
the space. She creates momentum
with the flexibility and strength outof her body not moving quickly.
Like Pichet, Padmini also borrows
the motion method that she got
from her teacher, Chandralekha, amodern choreographer from India.
I noticed that in the Yogyakarta
edition there was an emphasis on
the trajectory of the present andthe past through some specificexamples of performance in Asia
by tracing this trajectory throughperformances, archive exhibitions
and public discussions. The twoworks above show a change fromone generation to the next in termsof the choreographer/performer’sview of the body and performance.
Padmini sharpens the techniquesof her teacher Chandralekha andfocuses on playing with timing andduration of motion as importantelements in her choreography.
While Pichet puts his character asa demon in Khon’s performance in
a completely different context. He
converses his character with himself as a choreographer and reflects on his bodily knowledge asa traditional dancer in a contemporary stage circuit. But it is still
unclear to me: what agency influences the change in interpretation from one generation to thenext? Does it come from the insideor does it come from the influenceof the outside world (art market for
example)?

13This tension between the present and the past isalso put into dialogue with cases in Indonesia, suchas the archive exhibition that I worked on with Linda
Mayasari which showcased the archives of Bagong
Kussudiardjo and Wisnoe Wardhana while they werestudying modern dance in America and how theycreated new works. then considered strange (oneof Kussudiardjo’s works was considered as sport by
the media) when they returned home and worked inIndonesia.
After the first edition of Jejak-旅 Tabi in Yogyakarta, I
have had an impression that Jejak-旅 Tabi will focus
on the trajectory of performing arts in Asia, especiallyon the tension between present and past, and how the

dynamics of performing art in the Asia are connected but also sometimes disconnected, mediated byproducers or festivals in Europe.

14

MUHAMMAD ABE(Yogyakarta)
works as an actor
and researcher.

Two years later, I found myself onboard in a plane
to Roxas City. It took almost 24 hours before I arrived at the final airport. I found the city quite similar to cities like Maumere or Larantuka of Indonesia’s
eastern archipelago. I brought along some instantnoodles that I gave some to the staff in the lodging
who thanked me profusely. I came to Roxas City topresent the impact of Peoples Education Theatre
Association (PETA) to performing arts in Indonesia,

and also followed all Jejak-旅 Tabi
agenda in Roxas City. To be honest, my presentation was not agood one, but I was surprised that
all the high school students attending were following it very well.
I found it quite surprising that theytuned into a seminar/discussion
so seriously. In Indonesia, rarely
art events or art festivals takeplace in a high school complex, letalone inviting students to be partof such a festival. Roxas City students were enthusiastic for all the
discussions and performances,though maybe they never heardof Yogyakarta before. I rememberthat there were some quality questions from them.
In another session, one of the audience gave a tearful testimony
about how art is a tool to fight forsomething—at this point, art nolonger relies on aesthetic exploration or artistic achievements, but
as a medium to convey injusticeand protest against tyranny. Roxas
City was a memorable experience,
giving me a completely different
picture of Jejak-旅 Tabi that I experienced in Yogyakarta. All works
displayed at Roxas City, both in
the form of videos and performances, are based on the workof the artists with the grassrootscommunity, especially those of thelower middle class. These artists
know that they take a big risk intheir choice; the risk in question
is not an artistic risk but a security
risk in the form of possible physicalthreats from other parties.

One of the strong performances in Roxas Cityis a documentary theatre about the war on
drugs in Manila. Titled Monster’s War, it was
directed by Edwin Quinasayas from SIKAD. The
performance featured people who are directly
affected by the controversial extrajudicial killing
policy. From the performance we understandthat the war on drugs policy, which included alicense to kill everybody suspected as a drug
dealer had resulted in the loss of many lives
in Manila’s slum area. One of the actors in theperformance is actually the sister of the first
victim of this controversial law, which was only
unveiled toward the end of performance.
The performance from SIKAD doesn’t use complex staging, only video projection as background and the actors reenact some scenes
from the video footage screened behind them.
As they reenact the scene they also explain indepth information about what actually happenedin the footage—the actor narratives are collected from interviews of the families of the victims.
Though the performance is simple and direct, asa theatre it has its own aesthetic appeal to deliver
the in-depth information to the audience. What isinteresting to me is the fact that common people
and students in Roxas City do not know that thewar on drugs has taken so many lives of innocent
people. At this point I find that even though wehave a lot of information from the media about
what is happening in our region, we don’t knowmuch of what has actually happened. Maybe thatis also the case with Asian art community.
I think through Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange we started to get to know more about Asian art community by way of mapping the trajectory of performing
arts in the region. Jejak-旅 Tabi had wandered
to three cities (Yogyakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Roxas
City, plus Naha in Okinawa albeit the last was
an online exchange), and from each city there
had been questions raised on history and thefuture of performing arts in Asia. So I hope Jejak旅 Tabi will keep wandering around Asia, linking
Asian art communities through this project.

“F ic k y Tri S a n jay a (Act or, Yogyakart a)I think Jejak-旅 Tabi is one of the unique and interesting international
events since it also linked what’s local and grew to be part of it. The involvement of small spaces from various groups or foundations around Jogja aspart of the organizing partners was a particular and distinct part comparedto festivals in other areas. Involving people who are active in the art group/
studio/community’s creative process, both as workshops participants andaudiences, made this event intimate and heart-warming.

”

16

Linda Agnesia Mayasari(Director of Cemeti - Institute for Art and Society, Yogyakarta)“

As a small, traveling festival, Jejak-旅 Tabi, has given me a complex experience. Its modus operandi lay between curatorial and production works whichwere interchanged and negotiated. Important works performed on big international stage were brought into the peripheral one, to meet with a public who—
most possibly—could not access them otherwise; and those works were put intoa dialogue with the local works. Apart from being an exchange of artistic realms,
one of Jejak-旅 Tabi’s strengths was its willingness to touch upon the production
relations where the local partners treated not simply as a host but also being
involved in research, in structuring the curatorial framework and had a say indeciding the production policy. So, imagine how intense the speculation of thesecuratoris/initiators; as well as those artists performed at Jejak-旅 Tabi who got
used to work with world class stage, now had to be hands on, treading on every
street (in Jogja), immersing the living spaces in Mantrijeron area of Jogja towork with a particular local situation which despite being carefully organized,
remained speculative. That way, indeed, could make one exhaustive and yet it
was so exhilarating at the same time, since this later became a multiple sitedprojects where aesthetic experience and knowledge about the body could be
scooped not only from the staged events, but also from within the production
relation, and random conversations taking place in smallish food stalls or cafes
around Cemeti.

”

KUALA LUMPUR
MALAYSIAKUALA LUMPUR,
Selangor State,West Peninsula, Malaysia

2018
500 m
u Damansara Performing Arts Centrev Akademi Seni dan Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan(ASWARA)© Kelvin Chan

© Kelvin Chan

ON JEJAK-旅 TABI
Ma rk Teh
As I attempt to write this, at the end of a particularly fraught August in Malaysia, it’s the eve of Merdeka—the 64th anniversaryof Malaya’s independence from the British in 1957. We have 30
days left to pack and leave the building that Five Arts Centre has
been based in since 1998. The days and weeks ahead are filledwith anxiety and uncertainty. Under the confusing Movement
Control Order restrictions, we are allowed to move, but prevented
from carrying out deinstallation works. We’re trying to take out the
wooden floor of our studio, located at the edges of Kuala Lumpur,
to bring it with us to the new space in the old centre of the city.
The ground beneath our feet also wants to jejak-tabi. We’ll see.
The mind is scattered, and while the body is not quite shatteredyet—it’s getting there.

Eras / Errors
The first edition of the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange which unfolded from July to
September 2018 across Yogyakarta and Kuala Lumpur simultaneously belongs to an entirely different era now, but remains suspended in the palpably recent past. The Covid-19 pandemic has rendered our prior notions anddesires to jejak—to wander, exchange, cross borders—improbable and problematic. Many things have changed fundamentally and existentially which weare still learning, unlearning, and coming to terms with.
The past three years have also witnessed waves of accelerating authoritarianism and political polarization across most of Southeast Asia. This hascorrespondingly reinvigorated people’s movements and resistance frontlined
by a new generation. In 2019, Emperor Akihito’s abdication in Japan drew
the 30-year Heisei epoch to a close, marking a generational shift to the ageof Reiwa (beautiful harmony)—which has already played host to a controversial, delayed Olympics, staged eventually in empty stadia in 2021. Meanwhile
in Malaysia—where one racialist political coalition remained in power for 61
years, from 1957 until 2018—we’ve had three changes of government inthree years. To put things in perspective, I was born in 1981—the first year of
Mahathir Mohamad’s premiership—and I only knew one Prime Minister until
I was 23. My son Liam was born in early 2019—also within the first year of
Mahathir’s (second) premiership. This two and half year old has already had
three Prime Ministers. The glass remains half full—just barely.
Meals & Metabolisms
Vivid images and memories remain from the Jejak-旅 Tabi exchanges I
participated in—the brave and generous performances offered by Padmini
Chettur, Pichet Klunchun, Natasha Tontey and Gusbang, Ayu Permata Sari,
Yennu Ariendra, Natsuko Tezuka and Venuri Perera, as well as the stimulating discussions and roundtables comparing the contexts, challenges,
and potentialities navigated by cultural workers in Asia. However, what resonates the most at present are some fragmented moments or snatches of
conversations that took place over meals, drinks, and waiting around between
events. Those looser moments on the sidelines, the jalan tikus* amidst themain thoroughfare of the scheduled programs.
At a post-show meal one night, I asked Helly Minarti about her recent relocation from Jakarta to Yogyakarta. I recall Helly sharing the feeling of exhaustionand perhaps even disillusionment with Jakarta, the city where she was born.
She spoke about the differing characteristics, charms and contradictions embedded in each city’s cultural communities, and how it might be to work and bepresent in each. She also teased out with great nuance the contrasting paceand rhythms of Jakarta and Jogja, speaking of a desire to locate a metabolism
more in tune with her body and sensibility.
* jalan tikus, literally means rat street, is a Malay or Indonesian phrase for hidden alleys.

21

At another meal—this one during the day, the big welcome lunch for all theparticipants and organisers in Jogja—I observed Akane Nakamura withher rambunctious toddler Mone. Two different metabolisms, in concert andcounterpoint, mother and daughter. Akane, a study in multi-focality, with analertness of peripheral vision only those with small children can unlock—still
producing, programming, parenting. Meanwhile Mone in perpetual motion,
weaving around tables and adults—playing, pretending, pointing. I seem toremember Akane saying, upon discovering that my wife was expecting, “I aminterested to see how your work changes when you have children”.

© Mark Teh

Yudai & I

22

At the first Jejak-旅 Tabi, the curators Akane, Hellyand Lim How Ngean paired theatre maker Yudai
Kamisato and I in a double-bill presentation at
Cemeti, to speak about intersections of the historical,
personal and national in our work. Perhaps they anticipated a shared sensibility between us, despite
the slightly overblown and humourous contrast in
the supposed ways we research and make works—
Mark does super nerdy reading and field work, while
Yudai’s alcohol-as-method unlocks fantastical tales
from total strangers, heh.

Eventually Yudai and I embarked on separate but
parallel research projects together in the Okinawan/ Ryukyu islands in December 2019. We drifted anddrove across eight islands, visiting local museums,
alcohol distilleries, bullfighting arenas, as well assites of suicide and war memorialization. We discovered the preponderance of women who had
migrated to these islands for work and marriage,
from the Philippines and other regions of Japan. We
ate, drank (too much), and met strangers and new
friends—staying open to chance encounters andimprovisations. Along the way, Yudai and I became
friends.

© Mark Teh© Mark Teh

Here are two photos I took of Yudai. The
first is in Cemeti (Jogja), on the first day
I met Yudai—at the opening of Jejak-旅
Tabi. He has just gotten a haircut—Yudai
maintains a personal ritual of cutting hishair in each city he visits. The second
image is the last time I saw Yudai physically, in February 2020. He is standing
in front of the Okinawa Kinjo restaurant
in Bangkok—I had invited Yudai to cometo Chiang Mai as part of my curatorial
project, The Breathing of Maps, where
he continued tracing the genealogy of the

Okinawan alcohol awamori, and its roots
in trading relations between presentday Thailand and the Ryukyu kingdom
in the 1400s. I love this image because
it reminds me that Yudai is always
searching for traces of Okinawa all over
the world—in his travels across SouthAmerica, and now Southeast Asia. Yudai
was very excited to eat at this Okinawan
restaurant in Bangkok, but during the very
delicious meal we spoke to the chef andfound that he was from Tokyo, heh.

© Mark Teh© Yudai Kamisato

Changes / Collectives
In recent years, independent spaces andcultural institutions ranging from Green
Papaya Art Projects in Manila to The Substation in Singapore have had to reckon
with profound questions and challenges
of sustainability and survival—even before the pandemic devastated the cultural sector. The Jogja leg of Jejak-旅Tabi allowed me to revisit some of theartist-run spaces and collectives I firstencountered on an extended road trip
across Jogja, Penang, Bangkok, Chiang
Mai and Chiang Dao in 2006. In particular, conversations with members ofTeater Garasi and Cemeti – Institute for
Art & Society remain particularly relevant
now as Five Arts Centre confronts a new
beginning.
The trajectories of Garasi and Cemeti
provide parallel lines of comparison withour 37-year old collective—raising ongoing and necessary questions about relevance, regeneration, and institutionalization. What is being sustained, besides
the institution or organization? How towork with change as an ingredient in cultural collectives—critically, dramaturgically and reflexively? How to go beyond selfserving notions of membership or ownership, to produce, embody and circulateknowledge with many others? What are
the metaphors, tactics and values of interdependence, resilience, and openness
between ‘independent’ initiatives? What
are new and forthcoming gaps in the larger ecosystem—artistic, cultural, socio-political, ecological; and how is collective
creation as well as artistic and knowledge
production dialectically involved with this?

Conversations with Linda Mayasari
across Jogja and KL brought much mutual recognition, laughter and release as we
traded the joys and pitfalls of assumingor ‘inheriting’ responsibilities for decadesold organisations and collectives—processes that are not always easy or linear.
Linda shared Cemeti evolution, from its
founding as Cemeti Gallery in 1988, to
the Cemeti Art House, and subsequently
to Cemeti – Institute for Art & Society, beginning in 2017. The latest incarnation
articulates new directions, with a commitment to socially and politically engaged
arts practices and civic action, led by a
new team of directors and curators.
As Five Arts Centre moves to a new space
after 23 years, the disappointments andinertia of the past 18 months under the
pandemic are giving way to a guarded
optimism and the promise of new chapters. As we attempt to pack and makechoices about what to keep and what tothrow or give away, these questions andconversations provide a compass for the
future.

MARK TEH (Kuala Lumpur)
is performance maker,
researcher, curator
and a member ofFive Arts Collective.

25

“Na que A r i ffi n(Da ncer/Choreogra ph e r, Ku a l a L u m p u r )First of all, it’s a great honor to be part of this special program
called Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange. Back to 2018, I was able to exchange
opinions and suggestions on my work with other artists. This is what
will make an artwork grow. From the Okinawa ‘Kumiodori’ workshop, I also learned a lot from it! The instructors were experts who
explained the concept with easy to understand the technique andclear instructions. Thank you for inviting us.

”“

Ie fiz Ala u d i n(The a tre maker, AS WARA, Ku a l a L u m p u r )Art is a form of communication, Jejak-旅 Tabi serves as a onestop destination for contemporary performing artists to exchange
their ideas and practices with one another with so much openness
and warmth. So lucky and proud to be part of the first edition (Jogja& KL 2018), it was such an eye-opening experience and I am grateful
to meet artists from different backgrounds and practices!

”“

Fa s y a li Fa dzly bin S a i fu l Ba h r i(The a tre maker, AS WARA, Ku a l a L u m p u r )I have been involved in Jejak-旅 Tabi since the first edition in
Yogyakarta as a participant and the second edition as a co-organizer in KL along with colleagues at ASWARA. In 2021, once again,
ASWARA co-hosted one of an online workshop series. This program
allowed me to get to know about art, culture and its people in the fringecity. I must say that even though KL is not a less-known city comparedto other editions, it has many artists that practice and perform work
under the commercial radar and has alternative perspectives andpractices. I really hope that I can participate in this program again in
the future to update my understanding of the practice of arts and culture in less-known cities and its people.

”

27

2020

ROXAS CITY,
Capiz Province,
Panay Island, Philippines

ROXAS CITYPHILIPPINES

200 m
u Gerry Roxas Foundation Convention Centerv Ang Panublion Museum
w Collegio de la Purisima Concepcion© Yuji de Torres© Yuji de Torres© Rick Vicmar Ambrosio

DANCING WITH
THE WANDERING QUEENS:REFLECTIONS ON JEJAK-旅 TABIEXCHANGE
N o rb erto Roldan
I first met Helly Minarti via an email she sent to Green Papaya
Art Projects sometime in 2018 informing me about Jejak-旅 Tabi
Exchange: Wandering Asian Contemporary Performance. This
is not to say I did not know who she was before that email. I
have heard of her from common friends in Jakarta. I also heard
about her from Donna Miranda, Green Papaya’s co-founder anda contemporary dancer and choreographer, who has been awareof her curatorial projects like the Asia-Europe Dance Forum andthe Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF). Helly discussed with me
the possibility of involving Green Papaya in this new project.
Although Donna was already less active with Green Papaya at
this time, we still saw it fit for her to attend the Jejak-旅 Tabi
Exchange in Yogyakarta in July of 2018.

I met Akane Nakamura in person during the VIVA
ExCon (Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition
and Conference) in Roxas City in November of
2018. But even before that meeting, I knew who
she was. Nibroll, the Japanese kick-ass dancecollective managed by Akane’s production company Precog has a following in the small contemporary dance community in Manila with which
Donna and Green Papaya had worked with on
the Manila Contemporary Dance Map and the
WiFi Body Contemporary Dance Festival. During
my conversation with Akane at the closing of
the conference in Roxas, she expressed her interest in holding a Jejak-旅 Tabi edition in thePhilippines, following the Kuala Lumpur edition in
September of 2018. She was proposing to bring
Jejak-旅 Tabi either to Bacolod or Cebu in 2019.
Green Papaya’s initial role was to help determine
the most suitable destination.
But I had another venue in mind. Jejak-旅 Tabi
Exchange is a convergence of artists, choreographers, theater workers, scholars, and researchers of contemporary performance in Asia.
It is an international platform with participants
coming from Japan, Singapore, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. So I
thought Jejak-旅 Tabi could lend that reputation
to a small city like Escalante (three hours by bus
north of Bacolod City). The occasion can be an
opportunity to witness and discuss the Escalante
Massacre Commemorative Festival, an annual
reenactment and performance commemorating
the massacre that happened during the remaining
year of the Marcos regime. The military opened
fire at a rally in front of the town hall that wounded
hundreds and killed 20 rallyists. It was not difficult
to convince Akane and so before she left Roxas,
we decided to study the possibility of holding
Jejak-旅 Tabi in Escalante to coincide with theanniversary of the massacre on September 20,
2019.
Helly came to Manila sometime in August of 2019,
and after our meeting with Donna, we have firmed
up Escalante as Jejak-旅 Tabi’s next destination.
Helly then flew to Bacolod and proceeded to
Escalante to meet with contacts and make anocular of available facilities andvenues. The Escalante Massacre
Commemoration was to be a big
part of the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange
program and the participation ofTeatro Obrero, the theater arm of
the peasants’ movement in Negros
that has been staging the reenactment for more than 30 years, wasexpected to play an important role.
Mayumi Hirano, an independent
Japanese curator based in Manila,
and MJ Apatan, a member of acommunity theater organization in
Escalante, were recruited as program manager and coordinator respectively.
We never expected that the planfor Escalante would have to beaborted. On September 18, 2019,cultural workers and activists werepreparing for the commemorationof the Escalante Massacre whenpolicemen and soldiers flagged
down their vehicles along the highway approaching the city. They
were arrested and charged withillegal possession of firearms andexplosives and were brought tothe police station. Of the eight, four
were members of Teatro Obreroincluding its vice chair. According
to the Northern Negros Allianceof Human Rights Advocates(NNAHRA), the firearms andexplosives were planted by thepolice. Those who were arrested
have remained in jail up to now.
The incident in Escalante stunned
us. But it was more shocking for thecultural workers, activists, and thepeasants’ organization in Negros
to see that the Duterte regime isdetermined to crush any form of31

dissent against the government,
like the way it sees the Escalante
Massacre Commemoration. For
the first time in 33 years since theannual commemoration started in
1986, the National Federation of
Sugarcane Workers and Teatro
Obrero who are at the forefront of
this important event failed to stage
the reenactment on its actual site.
The reenactment is not simply agesture of remembering and atribute to those who perished in
the massacre. The reenactment
indeed is a form of protest, a demand for justice for the victims,
but most of all, an enactment of
the realities of an oppressive feudal system in the sugar plantations that has been the scourge ofthousands of sugarcane workers
since two centuries ago.
The precariousness of the politicalsituation in Negros and the entire
country under the fascist regime
forced us to rethink and examine if it
was still feasible to bring the Jejak旅 Tabi Exchange to Escalante.
Not only are arrests of activists
a regular occurrence, killings ofpeasants and human rights advocates have been going on in
the countryside since President
Duterte was elected president in2016. A risk analysis was conducted in cooperation with our partners

32

on the ground. We tried to identify potential
problems that could undermine the ob-jectivesof Jejak-旅 Tabi. The ultimate recom-mendation
made by our colleagues: it was not the right time
to do this kind of an activity in Negros.
The next option was to see if Iloilo City in theneighboring island of Panay could host the Jejak旅 Tabi Exchange. But my gut feel was pointing
me to Roxas City instead. In 2018 we held twointernational events in this small third class city,
the second Southeast Asian Artists Residency
Meeting (SEAARM) and the VIVA ExCon biennial. Both projects were accomplished with narya major problem. Green Papaya still enjoys the
support of the local government and the community, and its headquarters in the city that has been
maintained can be put to good use.
Helly and Akane agreed to move Jejak-旅 Tabi to
Roxas and the dates were finalized for January
22 to 25, 2020. The only difficult decision we
had to make was whether to take the risk for two
members of Teatro Obrero, one of them was tomake a presentation on the Escalante Massacre,to travel from Bacolod to Iloilo on a ferry, andtake the 3 hours bus ride from Iloilo to Roxas.
Knowing that the possibility of a surveillance andarrest looms over the two cultural workers whilein transit, we had to make a painful call to cancel
their participation for their own security, but notwithout substituting their absence with their own
colleagues who spoke on their behalf. Mayumi
and I flew to Roxas earlier to look for local partners, and arrange the venues for the activities
and accommodations. Despite the limited time,
we had everything ready when the participantslanded in Roxas on January 22.

© Rick Vicmar Ambrosio© Yuji de Torres© Yuji de Torres

Roxas City gained so much from the turn of events. Again, the local participants composed mostly of students and teachers stood as witnesses to aunique gathering of artists, scholars, and cultural workers from Southeast
sharing a fully packed program of presentations, film screenings, a play, anda theater workshop. It was moving to see participants engaging the resource
persons in serious discussions about the theater movement in the Philippines
and Southeast Asia in the 70s and 80s, a few of them in tears while reliving
the pains left behind by the Martial Law years. The pains kept coming backbrought by the play Sa Digma ng Halimaw (In the War of the Monster), a docutheater presentation on Duterte’s drug war; and the screening of Chikako
Yamashiro’s Mud Man.

34

Perhaps the adaptability, social relevance and universal appeal of the Jejak旅 Tabi Exchange to go anywhere in the region outside the big cities were themain factors for its success wherever it ends up unfolding and unpacking its
goal. After Roxas, everyone was looking forward to the next edition in Naha,Japan, but the pandemic shut down the whole world in March 2020. To ourconsolation, the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange – Roxas edition was our last international gathering filled with good and meaningful memories.
As the pandemic continued to wreak havoc globally into 2021, the only option left to fulfill the promise of Naha was to go online. And so online wewent for the Jejak-旅 Tabi Manila-Roxas Program last July 17. Assembling aworking team and gathering an audience under the lockdown in Manila was
the most challenging part. With Mayumi joining us again, the team set up thecoordinating and technical hub at the Green Papaya office in Quezon City
(Manila), and organized two satellite online viewing venues in Roxas City. We
did it again despite the enormous obstacle. Under the clouds of uncertainties
and anxieties, working for the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange has remained challenging, fun and rewarding, like dancing in the rain, with the wandering queens
Helly Minarti and Akane Nakamura.
September 6, 2021

NORBERTO ROLDAN(Manila) is a multimedia
artist, curator andthe artistic director ofGreen Papaya Arts Project.

35

THE EVOLUTION OF THE FILIPINA
IN WESTERN VISAYAN LITERATURE
AND HISTORY*
Ma . C ec ilia L o c sin- Nava, Ph.D.
Western Visayan folk literature is replete with stories of how
pre-Hispanic women held real power. Accounts range from theawesome might wielded by the divinity Lallahon who, when angered hurls fire from the bowels of the mountains of Negros but
whom Negrenses of yore likewise invoked for good harvests to
how Lubluban’s incredulous but firm refusal to upset the material
world’s natural order by returning home to her newly resurrectedhusband, puts an end to the dead being brought back to life.1
More than mere chattels or mediums of exchange, women in precontact times were valued not just for their procreative powers but for their sagacity and perspicacity. Thus, it is
the astuteness of Suklang Malayon that saved Datu Paubari, the mighty mortal ruler ofHalawod and his wife, Alunsina, goddess of the eastern sky from the great flood that her
rejected god-suitors sent. As a consequence of which, humanity’s survival was ensured
through their offsprings, the epic heroes of Panay: Labaw Donggon, Humadapnon andDumalapdap.2 Similarly, when Humadapnon and his half-brother Amarotha fail to workout their differences after a seven-year combat for the hand of the stunning and sagacious Nagmalitung Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata, it is Laun Sina, their wise grandmotherwho decisively puts an end to the fraternal strife with the Solomonic gesture of dividing
the object of their desire into two persons.3
In like manner, when the powerful Masangladun who rules Panibyungan, the realm underneath the sea, abducts and refuses to return Matan-ayon, the ravishing wife of Labaw
Donggon in the epic, Kalampay, it is Luyong Kabig, the female arch deity assigned tothe undersea world who works out a solution that proves satisfactory to both contending
parties by decreeing that Abaw can bring his alluring wife home but every seven years
when the buruhisan ritual is performed, he must return her to Masangladon..4
Finally, in the Panay epic, Hinilawod, the heroine, Nagmalitung Yawa is portrayed not
only as a sage and seer but also as a compassionate and sensitive savior who assumes
the manly persona of Buyong Sumasangkay to spare the hero Humadapnon from theembarrassment of discovering that the person who rescued him and his brother fromtheir enemies is the stunning object of his desire.5
Since folklore, according to Bascom, provides a revealing picture of people’s thoughts,
beliefs, feelings, goals and aspirations, it is not surprising to discover that history© Rick Vicmar Ambrosio

reinforces these accounts. Significantly, ofthe three pillars of Philippine pre-Hispanic
society, namely: the datu (political leader),the panday (craftsman) and the babaylan(the shaman), the last who was generally a woman essayed the most complex
role. Imbued with extraordinary powers,
she was healer, historian, artist, ritualproducer, priestess, psychologist andproto-scientist in charge with the economy through her knowledge of astronomy.6
Thus, when the towns of Miagao and San
Joaquin in Iloilo experienced a three-year
dry spell, it was the babaylan Estrella“Tagsagod sang Kalibutan” (caretaker ofthe world) Bangotbanwa who summoned
heavy rains in a complicated ritual that
ended the three-year drought.7
As priestess, the babaylan likewise acted
as mediator between the material and spiritual world. Significantly, when the eponymous hero in the Panay epic Humadapnon,
is enthralled by witches who imprison him
for seven years, only the babaylan/binukot(kept maiden) Nagmalitung Yawa, who is
the object of the hero’s affection succeeds
in saving him by slaying his antagonists
then quartering him and performing anelaborate babaylan ritual that reconstitutes
his body and brings him back to life.8* Excerpts of the long versionof the essay, taken fromthe beginning of the essay,
which is about ⅕ length of theoriginal. Please go to this link
to read the full version: https://bit.ly/3zyIfMZ or scan the QR
code above.

Babaylanes also wielded tremendous
political power when they took up armed
struggle against our foreign invaders after the latter co-opted our local politicalelites. Thus, Spanish chroniclers arefilled with accounts of frustrated attempts
to stamp out indigenous animism inPanay due to vigorous resistance led
by famous babaylanes like Dupinagay,
Monica Gapon and Agustina Hiticon.9
Their male equivalents like Gregorio Diosof Panay and Dionisio Magbuela “PapaIsio” Sigobela of Negros who emerged asstrong counterparts to the Spanish friar in
the male-led Catholic religion sustained
these efforts. In the latter’s case by leading the longest struggle against Westerncolonizers in Negros island.10 In the caseof Capiz, the animosity Spanish friars had
for activist women who carried on theirrevolutionary activities at night was suchthey were demonized as aswangs. Consequently, centuries after when efforts were
expended to come up with an aswang festival for touristic purposes as well as toremember two freedom fighters during the
Spanish period from Bailan, Capiz, named
Canitnit and Cauayuay, church resistance37was so violent as Cheryl Anne del Rosario
showed in her paper in the recently
concluded Roxas City VIVAEXCON, theeffort had to be given up.
Meanwhile, Iberian chroniclers from Chirino
to Plasencia attest to the privileged statusof the precolonial Filipina who was prized
over their menfolk for being “the more serious and formal partner in the making ofcontracts’’ aside from being “gifted witha sensible and affective temperament ...
showing more tenacity and strength in theface of the necessitudes in life.”11
Thus, she oftentimes provided economic
stability for the family even under adverse
conditions:
Impelled by her personal situation andrecognized moral supremacy, the india
found herself the real chief of her landholdings and in spite of communal
deprivations by her industrious andgeneral labor and thanks to the fertilityof her soul, the india not only succeeded in attending to the ordinary
necessities of the house but she alsofrequently improved its economic situation achieving a position of relative
prosperity (Italics provided).12
Educated alongside their brothers, precolonial Filipinas enjoyed substantial
equality with their men folk. Hence, liketheir male siblings, they inherited property
and succeeded their fathers as rulers if
first-born in the family. After marriage, theyheld onto their paraphernal property, kept
their maiden names, were free to decideon the number of children they would bear,
could divorce and remarry by simply returning their dowries to the men or theirparents. In case of separation, they wereentitled to a part of the conjugal earnings,
and to a share of the children.13
Ironically the influence of a “superior”
Spanish culture resulted in a sea change
in the Filipinas’ position from which she
never completely recovered. Thus, withthe advent of colonization these feisty
females eventually gave way to the fragile, helpless, lachrymose heroines of the
Spanish period—virginal before marriage,
fecund after, and forbearing to the end.
The key lies in the patriarchal structures
and the value system of the Siglo de Orothat Spanish colonizers brought to thePhilippines. When the Spanish conquistadors brought in their own institutions
and transplanted them on Philippine soil,
the social construction of the Filipina wastransformed. From her status as co-equal
to man by virtue of having sprung form thesame node of split bamboo, she suddenly
became his inferior because in the patriarchal Judeo-Christian context she was the“second sex.” The implication of all thesewas:…the new Filipina (or female indio) was
now her father’s meek daughter, herhusband’s faithful subject, the church’s
obedient servant, and before marriage,a chaste virgin who would yield only to
her husband (and occasionally to thefriar).14
Thus, women’s educational opportunities
were diminished. Only upper class women were educated and the sum of theireducation was embroidery, catechism andother related concerns that were intended
to circumscribe their existence into church,
kitchen and children. Monogamous marriages became the rule and though couples could separate they could not remarry. Spanish marriage law even stripped themother who remarried of parental authority
over her children and unless her deceased
husband had expressly anticipated in his
will that his widow should remarry, could
not do so. The new laws likewise deprived
women of the right to hold public office,join professions or engage in businesswithout the consent of their husbands who
could dispose of their paraphernal properties. Religion became their main preoccupation eliciting in them an infinite capacity
for tolerance, forgiveness, and suffering.15

Women’s subjugated status was preached not only from the pulpits but circulated
in countless conduct books. These included, among others, first Filipino Archbishop and Capiz’ own Bishop Gabriel Reyes’
Urbanidad con Maayo nga Pamatasan(Urbanity or Good Manners), Mariano
Perfecto’s translation of Paluzie andCantalozella’s Diutay nga Talamdanpara sa Kabataan (A Little Guidebook of
Conduct for Children), and Maria Pilar
Sinues‘ manual de urbanidad for adults,
thinly disguised as an epistolary novel
entitled Ang Babae Caron con Ang Mga
Sulat ni Felicia cay Julia (Woman Today, or
The Letters of Felicia to Julia). Serialized in
the nationalist bi-weekly Makinaugalingon,
the last lays down all rules of conductfrom holding a conversation with one’ssocial superior to choosing a marriage
partner.16 Meanwhile on the pages of thepasion, novenas and saints’ lives was
propagated the cult of the Blessed Virginand her votaries emphasizing her virginityand purity as well as her feminine virtuesof humility, obedience, modesty, and selfeffacement. Free from sex, painful delivery,
age, death and sin, the Blessed Virgin, in
contrast to the temptress Eve, became an
impossible ideal, women were exhorted toemulate.17
Sources:1

F. Landa Jocano, Outline of Philippine
Mythology (Manila: Centro Escolar University
Press, 1968), 39.

2

Ibid. 96.

3________. Hinilawod: Adventures of
Humadapnon, Tarangban I (Manila: PunladResearch House, Inc. 2000), 173–180.
Hereafter referred to as Hinilawod.

4

Zeus Salazar, “The Babaylan in Philippine
History.” Women’s Role in Philippine History(Quezon City: University. Center for Women’sStudies, University of the Philippines, 1996),
213; see also Alicia Magos, “The Visayan
Babaylan”, U.P Research House, Inc. 2000),
173–180. Hereafter referred to as Hinilawod.

MA. CECILIA LOCSIN-NAVA,
PH.D. (Bacolod City)is a specialist in the literatureand culture of Western
Visayan Studies.

5

Hinilawod, op. cit. 173–180.

6Felix Regalado and Quintin Franco, History of
Panay, (Iloilo City: Central Philippine University,1975), 117–120.

7

Pedro Chirino, Relaciones de las Islas Filipinas(Manila: Bookmark Inc, 1969), 221.

8

Evelyn Cullamar, Babaylanism in Negros:
1896–1907 (Quezon City: New Da Publishers,1986), 65.

9Francisco Valdes, “El Archipiélago Filipino: La
Mujer Indigena,” in Ciudad de Dios, Vol. XXIV,
1981: 336–338 cited in Mananzan, OSB, Sr.
Mary John. “The Filipino Women: Before andAfter the Spanish Conquest of the Philippines,”
Sr. Mary John.

10 Mananzan, OSB, ed., Essays on Women(Manila: Institute of Women Studies, 1991),
12–13.
11 Myrna Feliciano, “The Filipina: A Historical
Legal Perspective,” Women’s Role in Philippine
History: Selected Essays (Quezon City:
University Center for Women’s Studies, 1996),
23.
12 Fe Mangahas, “Do Women Really Hold up Halfthe Sky?” Mananzan, OSB., Sr. Mary John, ed.,Essays on Women (Manila: Institute of Women
Studies, 1991), 38.
13 Leonora Angeles, “Women’s Roles and Status
in the Philippines’’. Evasco, Marjorie et al, ed.
Women’s Springbook (Quezon City: Fresan
Pess, 1990), 16.
14 Ma. Cecilia, Locsin-Nava, History and Society in
the Novels of Ramon Muzones. (Quezon City:
Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2001).
15 Ma. Cecilia, Locsin-Nava, History and Society in
the Novels of Ramon Muzones. (Quezon City:
Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2001), 62.
16 Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Mythand Cult of the Blessed Virgin. (New York:
Vintage Books, 1976), 148.
17 Ibid, 140.

39

© Yuji de Torres“

M J A p atan (C u ltu ra l worker, Escalant e)

Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange Roxas was a very engaging Arts Exchange of Contemporary Asian Artists. It recognized and showcased the diverse, unique, and colorful spectrum of Asian culture
and politics. The different contemporary performances helped open
the minds of the audience to the social realities.
As for my personal experience, the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange had motivated me to redefine and reestablish my stand points as a volunteer
cultural worker which then was threatened by the antipathic forces.
The sharing of experiences with the fellow artists had given me a
glimpse of their own personal struggles that they had to hurdle justto continuously educate their respective communities through theirartworks.

”40

© Yuji de Torres© Rick Vicmar Ambrosio

BRIDGINGEDITIONROXAS CITY to NAHA, 2020
+ Pandemic

From ‘Khao Khao Club.mp4’ – Khao Khao Club Online © Yudai Kamisato© Nine Stray Okinawans

REFLECTIONS ON
NINE STRAY OKINAWANS
A lfia n Sa’at
In February 2018 I made a trip to Okinawa. I was accompanied
by members of “shelf”, a Japanese theatre company based inTokyo. We were planning to work together on a play about war
memory. We had already made research trips to various sites inTokyo, such as the infamous Yasukuni shrine and the right-wing
Yushukan museum, as well as museums on comfort women andinjured soldiers.

I wrote some notes from thattrip:
On our first night in Okinawa,
while being driven around by
our actor-collaborator and local Takashi Okito, it struck mewhat it meant to live in a place
where 36% of the land area is
occupied by US military bases.
It is too often skirt fencing whileon the road, to feel displaced
to the periphery. Fencing that
separates the civilians from themilitary. Except that this distinction is also one between
locals and foreigners. And notjust any foreigner—a former
occupier, a security guarantor,
a jobs provider, and an environmental polluter.
The next day Takashi brings us
to an observation deck overlooking Kadena air base. He
was born in a town beside thebase. What was most surprising for me was how close someof these bases were to various
town centers—they seemed
inseparable from the fabric of
Okinawan life.
I couldn’t help but reflect on
issues of exclusion, ownership,
sovereignty. Okinawa itself is amelange of Japanese, Chineseand American influences, laid
over its indigenous Ryukyuan
culture. What is assimilated
becomes part of one’s blood.
What is not becomes a scar.
Our research trip in Okinawa
consisted of visits to museums as well as sites such as

underground caves and memorials. We did not get
an opportunity to watch any cultural performances. In
2020, when the Jejak-旅 Tabi exchange threw a spotlight on the city of Naha in Okinawa for its second
phase, I found myself being able to access a belated
yet essential supplement to my research trip. This was
the recording of a play called Nine Stray Okinawans.*
The play, written by Gakuji Awa and Seiichiro
Kuniyoshi, and directed by Shoichi Touyama, firstpremiered in 2015, to mark 70 years since the end ofWorld War 2. The “Nine Stray Okinawans” in the title
refers to a group of nine people who gather in 1972 to
discuss some possible future trajectories for Okinawa
as they approach the date for its planned reversion to
Japan. Among them are a housewife, an old woman,a traditional actor, an “expert”, a pro-independence
advocate and a “theorist” advocating reversion.
At the same time, the title also refers to the nine actors, in the present, who are playing those characters.
We learn that what we are watching is a play withina play, with contemporary actors taking on the rolesof Okinawans who debated the fates of their islands
around 50 years before. The play elegantly shuttles
between these two time periods with blackout transitions which are filled with the ominous sounds ofplanes and helicopters.
The scenes set in the present allow the actors tocomment on the characters that they play, as well assome of the ideas that were presented. Among someof these are issues such as whether it was possible for Okinawa to be economically self-sufficient,
whether it could divest itself of the US military bases,
and whether Okinawan culture would be preserved
after its absorption into the Japanese nation-state.
This blending of multiple temporalities is one of
the most intriguing aspects of the play. The actorcharacters speak from a position of hindsight, adjudicating the actions of their forebears by placing themin relief against the reality of contemporary Okinawa.
Yet, as they play their 1972 characters, they are required to become amnesiacs—to embrace fully thenaivete and utopianism of those who were blind to
the future. There are complex layers of dramatic* The play was live streamed during Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange, the bridging edition for Naha,
1–7 December 2020.

45

© Nine Stray Okinawans

irony: the present-day actors have to feign ignoranceof the viability of the predictions made by their 1972characters, while we as the audience know what they
are trying so hard not to know.
Two moments in the play seized my attention. At the
56 minute mark, the “expert” opined that Okinawa
could secure its independence by becoming a “hubfor global economy and logistics”. He goes on tosay, “first, become a country like Hong Kong underUK rule, then a country like Singapore. If Okinawa
becomes a global economy hub like Singapore, invading us would be difficult.”
Indeed, there were some parallels between
Singapore, my home country, and Okinawa.
Singapore had hosted one of the largest British naval
bases in Southeast Asia. Completed in 1938, it was
an Imperial fortress designed as a deterrent to thethen aggressively expanding Japanese Empire. Two
decades after the war, however, the British announced plans to withdraw its troops from its major militarybases in Southeast Asia. By 1971, withdrawal wascomplete.
In preparation for the resulting unemployment,
Singapore invested heavily in manufacturing industries and ultimately emerged as one of the mostdynamic economies in Asia. It is tantalising to speculate as to whether a similar pathway could haveopened up for an independent Okinawa.

The second moment involved
the actor playing the “expert”.
In the present-day scenes, it
was revealed that he had beenspotted at the hospital, alongwith his mother and somepolice officers. Later on, whilein character as the “expert”,
he expressed his anguishedambivalence at the presenceof the military bases—they
had provided his mother with ajob, but later a US soldier had
knocked her down with his vehicle and could potentially escape justice.
At that moment, it seemed asif the actor and the character
had fused, stitching together two different timelines. It
was unclear at times who was
speaking—was the actor stillin character, and how much of
the character’s pain drew fromthe actor’s own? A fistula hadformed between the past andthe present, joining one wound
to another.

The actors in Nine Stray Okinawans were reenacting a past that could no longer be altered. Or rather,
it was a past that could only be altered through reenactment, and even then within permissible boundaries, tied to certain facts, lest one strays too far from
history. And what then is history? A sum of paths nottaken, what is left after the subtraction of countlessunrealized futures. Where Okinawa did not become
another Singapore, where it dreamed and woke up
and found itself still inside the dream.

ALFIAN SA’AT (Singapore)is a playwright, poet andwriter.

47

ON TAKING PART IN THE JEJAK-旅TABI EXCHANGE PROJECT© Rick Vicmar Ambrosio

S ei K amid a (A c t or, Okinawa)
Roxas City 2020“

When COVID-19 started to spread in China in 2020, I did not imagine that the pandemic would continue for such a long time.
In Roxas City in the Philippines, we met artists and creators from different parts of Asia, had meals together, talked about our experiencesand visions, and exchanged information on the arts scene in respective
countries. I think it was indeed a great opportunity that allowed us toshare our sensibilities for being fellow Asians in the broad sense, going beyond frameworks defined by nationalities such as Japanese andOkinawans.
During the sessions in Roxas City, I became strongly aware that I knew
hardly anything about the political situation in the Philippines, such as
the Escalante massacre in 1985, and the clashes between the workers
and the authorities over unhumanitarian issues at the sugar plants aswell as the ongoing drug issues that we learnt through a play presented
as part of the program.
It was shocking when I realized that these facts had not been reported
at all in Japan. It was also a precious experience to have heard about
the issues directly from the local people.
There were two points that helped me relate to the history and the current situation of the Philippines.
Firstly, the historical incidents have come to stay in my mind as immediate experiences felt through the local atmosphere and culture aswell as through the exchanges, as I had attended the project physically and learned about them face-to-face instead of merely throughtext and information.
Secondly, I became more aware of the fact that the Philippines had
been occupied by foreign countries several times just like Okinawa.
I was able to expand my scope of vision by taking part in the Jejak-旅Tabi Exchange project
Postscript:
I had a reunion with Rudy Reveche through the Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange project. We first met at the Bangkok Theatre Festival (BTF) in
2019, when he was heading the team from the Philippines. He invited
me to the Philippines to give performances but due to the spread of the
new coronavirus pandemic, the project was postponed and our performance was screened instead at the Online Art Event that Rudy hadorganized at his university last year. And this year, the Jejak-旅 Tabi
Exchange project has brought us together again.

49

The 2020 Naha Online Edition
The project took place when the pandemic had spread all over the world, andmany stage performances and live events in Okinawa and mainland Japan had
been cancelled. At a time when many artists were feeling anxiety and werequestioning “whether art is necessary or not,” we were able to share our current
situations and discuss what could be done under such circumstances, how tospend our time and about post-pandemic visions. It was encouraging to learn
how other artists abroad were responding to the pandemic.
I remember thinking that we are all pioneers who are experiencing an unprecedented situation and that it is perhaps important to stop at times to look back at
the past.
I was especially inspired by the notion of “regionality”. It was because I could
strongly relate to the idea of having another look at the local community.
I could also relate to the opinion that in the post-COVID world, the fact that theentire world was experiencing the pandemic almost simultaneously would bereferred to on many occasions in future art scenes as a memory of the past thatcannot be overlooked.

”

50© Mark Teh© Mark Teh

51

2021

NAHA,
Okinawa Prefecture,
Japan

NAHA
JAPAN

20 m
u Mekaru BasedMAO ISHIKAWA’S PHOTOGRAPHY
AND THE PHILIPPINESF u miak i Kamegai
Mao Ishikawa is a photographer who was born in Okinawa in 1953. In
1971, when Okinawa was under U.S. occupation, there were large-scale
general strikes held against the reversion of administrative rights to Japan,
and Ishikawa, who was still a high school student back then, witnessed
the clashes between the riot police and the demonstrators. Having seen
the Okinawans fighting among themselves, she hit upon the idea of “expressing the paradoxical realities of Okinawa through photographs”. In
1974, she started her career as a photographer under the pen name of
Mao Ishikawa. The photographs in her first series Akabanaa were shot
between 1975 and 1977. She had taken photographs of women working
in bars in the downtown areas in Koza City, where there is a U.S. militarybase, and in Kin Town as well as photographs of Afro-American soldiers
who frequented those areas. As Ishikawa had worked in one of the bars,
she was able to take photographs based on the intimate relation between
the subjects and herself, which later developed into the uniqueness andthe charm of her photography.

From 1988 up till 1989, Ishikawa shot thePhilippine Dancers series in Kin Town. She
had not been there for eleven years since
she completed the Akabanaa series. She
visited the bar where she used to workand she found out that dancers from thePhilippines were working there instead of
Okinawans. Having told the dancers that
she also used to work there, they allowed
her to take photos of them performing andduring their downtime. When you see theexpressions of the Philippine dancers relaxing in their bedrooms and inside the bar,
you could tell that she had established intimate relations with them. Ishikawa thenheaded off to the Philippines to accompany
two Philippine dancers who had to go backto their home country temporarily to renew
their visas.
This year, which is 2021, we were able
to introduce the forty-seven years of Mao
Ishikawa’s career as a photographer
alongside her fifteen series through an exhibition held at the Okinawa Prefectural

Museum and Art Museum. Looking backat her past series, you notice that she has
been shooting not only in Okinawa but
also in Japan’s mainland as well as othercountries. She has consistently taken photos of Okinawa and the people who had
something to do with Okinawa. In her journey to find out the meaning of the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, she had visitedthe veterans living in the U.S. mainlandand had also interviewed the locals inSoutheast Asia who knew about the tracesof war left by the Japanese military dur-ing
the Second World War. You can say thatthe photographs in the Philippine Dancers
series were shot when Ishikawa had started to turn the camera outside Japan. It
is also an important series that gives us
clues about how her works had developed
afterwards.
Mao Ishikawa is a photographer whose
works are housed in museums in the UnitedStates and Australia. She is also an important creator whom I would like to intro-

From the series Philippine Dancers, Philippine (Olongapo), 1988–89 © Mao Ishikawa

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From the series Philippine Dancers, Philippine (Olongapo), 1988–89 © Mao Ishikawa

From the series Philippine Dancers, Kin Town (Shinkaichi), 1988–89 © Mao Ishikawa

From the series Philippine Dancers, Kin Town (Shinkaichi), 1988–89 © Mao Ishikawa

duce to the people living on the islands in
the Asia and Oceania region. This feelingbecame even stronger when I talked tothe artists and researchers who live in
the Philippines at the Talk & Discussions
sessions. Each island has gone throughunprecedented history, which has led toconflicts among the people living there.
The islanders are still being rocked byvarious problems occurring on their islands. And so is Ishikawa. Witnessing thepeople in Okinawa who were torn apartby the conflicting views on reversion waswhat initially motivated her to become aphotographer. “National history” is one of
the modules of history. By sharing eachisland’s history, and overlapping a few ofthem from respective standpoints, we may
discover new sources of inspiration. I thinkthat the idea of capturing the situation ineach island based on units beside nations
has already sprung here and there and theJejak-旅 Tabi Exchange project* certainly did provide opportunities to rediscoverthese facts.
* The author did a presentation on Mao Ishikawa’s
work in a panel organized by Green Papaya collective (Manila and Roxas City) during Jejak-旅 Tabi
Exchange, Naha Edition, online, 13–18 July 2021.

FUMIAKI KAMEGAI (Naha)
is a curator of Okinawa
Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, curated “Mao Ishikawa:
Bad Ass and Beauty – One
Love,” an exhibition presenting
fifteen projects spanning Mao
Ishikawa’s career.

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ON PARTICIPATING IN THE
JEJAK-旅 TABI EXCHANGE PROJECT
S h o ic h i Touyama

Early in 2020, we got an offer to take part in this project. The content seemed extremely promising as it would provide Asian theater practitioners opportunities to get together at symposiums todiscuss ways to carry out exchanges and to present their works
in the Asian region in the future. The program also contained
workshops and performances. I was thrilled to hear that Atelier
Mekaru Base, which opened in 2017, was chosen as the venue
for the project that has set such a grand vision. I was even more
excited to find out that “Nine Stray Okinawans - 50 Years Since
Then” was chosen for the public performance.

However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19
pandemic, to our disappointment, the entire
project had to be reprogrammed. Still, due tothe hard efforts of the members of the secretariat, we were happily able to carry out the
program online
After the “Nine Okinawans” was presented, aparticipant from Singapore gave us a valuable
feedback and I was convinced that the message implied in the play had got across to people from other countries.

SHOICHI TOUYAMA(Naha) is an actor andis part of Okinawa Art
Culture Theater and a
representative ofAtelier Mekaru Base.

During the dialog between the participantsfrom Yogyakarta and Mr. Makoto Sato, who isthe artistic director of the Wakabacho Warf, we
discussed how the works were created in therespective regions, whether the creators wereconscious of the intended audience when theycreated their works as well as other topics.
I attended the workshop on Ryukyu Buyo,
which is Okinawa’s traditional dance, and I
was moved when I saw the participants from59

other Asian countries dance together with the
Okinawan dancers, whose movements were
projected fullscreen. The lecture on makeup
was about suddenly changing makeup for women into makeup for men, which is unlikely tohappen on site, but it was a very interestingand valuable experience.
I hope that the relationship between Okinawa,
which is an Asian hub, and the other Asian
countries that took part in the project thisyear will continue, and that there would be
more opportunities in the future to have crosscultural exchanges with people from otherparts of Asia that we have not yet met.
https://www.tjf.or.jp/deai/contents/teacher/mini_en/html/ryukyubuyo.html

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EACH CITY’SPROGRAMME

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EACH CITY’SPROGRAMME

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EACH CITY’SPROGRAMMEFOUNDING CURATORS (BY ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Helly Minarti is Jakarta-born and works as an independent, itinerant
dance scholar/curator, rethinking radical strategies to connect theory
and practice. She is interested in historiographies of choreography as
discursive practice vis-a-vis the eclectic knowledge that infuses the understanding of the human body/nature. She was involved in various arts
projects both locally and internationally; a recipient of some international fellowships. Helly earned a Ph.D. in dance studies from the Universityof Roehampton (UK) and now calls Yogyakarta home where she set up
LINGKARAN | koreografi, a collaborative research platform focusing to
expand the critical notions of choreography.
Akane Nakamura was born in Tokyo in 1979, and now works as aperforming arts producer and curator. While serving as a program
director at ST Spot Yokohama from 2004 to 2008, she co-founded a
production studio, Precog Co., Ltd in 2006 and became its CEO in2008. Nakamura has produced numerous inter-disciplinary projects
such as “Azumabashi Dance Crossing” (2004–2013) and “Spectaclein the Farm” (2009–2010). With Precog she has also produced for anumber of artists, including Chelfitsch and Toshiki Okada, Nibroll, andOkazaki Arts Theater of Yudai Kamisato. These artists have performedin over 70 cities in 30 countries. In 2012, Nakamura directed KAFE9, aperforming arts festival at Kanagawa Arts Theater. In 2012 and 2014,
she produced Kunisaki Peninsula Art Festival as its program director.
In 2016, she produced “Inuto Imago” as part of the Setouchi Art Triennial, featuring contemporary musician Kazuhisa Uchihashi and several
artists from Indonesia. In 2016, she was a grantee of the Asian Cultural
Council fellowship. In addition, she is one of the founding members of
The Open Network for Performing Arts Management.

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Lim How Ngean is Malaysian-born and works as an independent dance
dramaturg, producer and performance-maker, and has been involved in
the performing arts for 30 years. He was conferred his Ph.D. from the
National University of Singapore with his thesis entitled Choreographic
Modernities: Movement and Mobility in Southeast Asian Contemporary
Dance. He has dramaturged for notable choreographers fromSingapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. How Ngean is founding
director of the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network (ADN, 2016), a platform for
critical exchange on dramaturgy among dramaturgs in the Asian region.
He was co-curator for Jejak-旅 Tabi’s first season in 2018.

CO-CURATOR FOR NAHA (OKINAWA) EDITION
Masashi Nomura is a theater producer and dramaturge born in Nagano
Prefecture in 1978. Since 2007, he has been enrolled in the production
division of theater company SEINENDAN and Komaba Agora Theater.
Alongside, he has worked as a dramaturg for young directors. As the
program officer of Okinawa Arts Council, he was involved in the establishment of a small theater/atelier Mekaru Base in Naha City. He thenstarted to organize the annual meeting of the Free Scene Network
Japan with private theater managers. He is currently Nagano prefecture’s cultural coordinator and a board member of the Open Network
for Performing Arts 10/Management (ON-PAM). His latest works as
dramaturge are The Bacchae-Holstein Milk Cows (Aichi Triennale2019) by Satoko Ichihara, I Go Through You – Performance (Kyoto
Experiment 2018) by Chikako Yamashiro, and The Story of Descending
the Long Slopes of Valparaíso (Kyoto Experiment 2017).

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PRESENTED BY:
Drifters International

THIS PUBLICATION IS SUPPORTED BY:
The Japan Foundation Asia Center Grant Program for Promotionof Cultural Collaboration

CORE TEAM:
Publishers
Miki Nozaki
Akane Nakamura & Tamiko Ouki
Hitomi Sato & Tomo Seto
Managing Editor
Helly Minarti
Editorial Assistants
Eka Wahyuni & Dina Triastuti
Graphic Designer
Damar Sosodoro
Translators
Kyle Yamada - Art Translators Collective & Michiyo Sumida
Some photographs that are not credited were taken by
the documentation team of the respective cities.

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