Residency for Filipino Choreographers @ Rimbun Dahan

Residency for Filipino Choreographers at Rimbun Dahan

Where: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
When: March - June 2007
Deadline: 31 December, 2006

The compound of Rimbun Dahan, located just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is a centre for developing traditional and contemporary art forms. It features buildings designed by architect Hijjas Kasturi, as well as a 19th century traditional Malay house, in an 14-acre indigenous garden environment.

Over the past twelve years, Rimbun Dahan has hosted over 45 resident artists, many of them visual artists, for periods between a month and a year. In partnership with the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac), we are now hoping to expand our arts residency program to include contemporary dance choreographers. We would like to invite expressions of interest from young/emerging Filipino choreographers for a 3-4 month residency at Rimbun Dahan from March to June 2007.

The purpose of the residency is to encourage the production of new dance works, and to foster links between arts communities in the Southeast Asian region. As the Philippines has a particularly vibrant contemporary dance scene, Filipino choreographers can make a valuable contribution to the development of contemporary dance in Malaysia.

Rimbun Dahan will provide self-contained accommodation and access to the dance studio and other arts spaces scattered throughout the garden. KLPac has volunteered the use of its studios and performance spaces. Rimbun Dahan will also provide a living allowance of RM1000 (PHP 13,700) per month and a return airfare from the Philippines on Air Asia.

The choreographer is expected to spend the residency developing a new contemporary dance work which will be performed as a finished product or as work-in-progress in a showing at the end of the residency. The choreographer is encouraged, but not obliged, to collaborate with other artists and choreographers working at Rimbun Dahan, and to engage local dancers. Dancers from the new company Balletbase (http://www.balletbase.org) are available, but the choreographers are welcome to invite dancers from outside as well. In exchange for the use of its studios and performance spaces, the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre would like the choreographers to spend a few hours conducting a workshop in movement for actors.

Residency for Filipino Choreographers at Rimbun Dahan
APPLICATION PROCESS: Applications should be submitted by 31 December 2006. Applicants will be informed of the outcome by the middle of January 2007. Please submit an application containing:
-- Biodata.
-- A video (maximum 30 minutes) or a selection of images of recent work.
-- A short statement of why this residency would benefit your choreographic practice.

Selection depends on the strength of the application. Send hard copy applications to:
Ms Bilqis Hijjas
c/ Hijjas Kasturi Associates Sdn.,
23rd floor Menara Promet,
Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia.

Send electronic applications to: Ms Bilqis Hijjas bilqis@rimbundahan.org

Hard copy application material will be returned after selections are made. For more information about Rimbun Dahan, please go to www.rimbundahan.org

Direct any further queries to bilqis@rimbundahan.org.