Ngayomi/Shelter | Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal & Ria Soemardjo
Ngayomi/Shelter is a shared journey between audience and two performers, a contemplation on water, displacement and hope. Encounter delicate sculptural objects, powerful movement and a live soundscape in this intimate experience. Dance and live music are interwoven by dancer/choreographer Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal and musician Ria Soemardjo, who draw on their shared Javanese cultural heritage in this collaborative work.
Hosted by two wise Jamu aunties, audiences are gently and playfully guided into an intimate encounter with sculptural objects, Jade Dewi’s visceral and sensual movement, and Ria’s bespoke musical instruments and voice creating a mesmerising soundscape. Set in a dystopian future, in a newly regenerating landscape, Ngayomi/Shelter evokes a ceremony for the losses and horror of the past, grounded in hope for the future.
Production history
Ngayomi/Shelter is an intimate, interactive immersive experience of about 30-40 minutes duration, depending on audience size; suitable for a range of spaces and contexts, from theatres to galleries and contained public spaces, with good acoustics and a threshhold space for audience entry and exit. The work has been performed in the following locations:
2024 Boyd Centre, Bundanon for Tales of Land and Sea
2024 107 Redfern for sound~body
About the artists
Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal is a performer, choreographer and creative collaborator. Born in Darkinjung Country she has Javanese ancestry directly descended from Yogyakarta’s first Sultan and Borobudur temple and equally Australian Scottish Viking convict-settler. Her unique dance language is forged in classical ballet, jazz, modern, Java court arts, Bali temple ritual, eco-somatic improvisation and creative collaboration with First Nations Australian dance artists. Awarded High Distinction for a Master of Choreography Research at VCA Melbourne University her entrancing intercultural transdisciplinary work has been created and performed in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Ria Soemardjo is a Melbourne based musician with a passion for collaboration across a diverse range of genres and artforms. Her evocative, textured soundscapes are often performed live using an eclectic array of unusual instruments including voice, gamelan instruments, percussion and found objects. Ria’s distinct, haunting vocal style and musicality reflects her Australian/Javanese cultural heritage and a deep appreciation for the timbres, rhythmic complexity and the ceremonial association of Balinese and Javanese gamelan traditions.