In the studio with Javanese dancer Sonja Bloem. She was born in Arnhem to parents who are both of mixed heritage. Sonja has since become a mentor to me. I have been working with her since 1994 and we have been training together since I started dancing again in 2010.
Sonja studied Javanese dance in the Netherlands and on Java. She has continued to dance and is now mainly her own teacher. She practices Javanese dance daily, to music recorded for her in Indonesia in 1990.
Nita: In training, I shadow and follow Sonja as she dances like a wise sister guiding me; all I have to do is open all my senses. The child in me feels safe and free to explore. It is an encounter in motion. Not based on tradition, not based on analysis. Our practice - latihan - is a way of feeling, seeing, breathing.
Sonja: The essence is how you set yourself in motion, even when there are no other dancers opposite you.
Nita: Working with Sonja forces me to focus, to come up with constructs for making movements. I wonder what my foundation is, what is already inside me. And how I can access it.
Sonja: Foundation also has to do with the connections you make.
Nita: I take in everything around me, often not knowing how to connect it to myself. In Sonja's flow, I can land, in the creasi baru (new work) that she creates with me in that moment. It's like returning to something that has always been inside me.
When I see how Sonja draws entirely from Javanese dance, I sometimes long for such a single source myself, one thing that carries everything. I would like to be able to train myself, with the baggage I carry with me, and thereby become my own master. Sonja calls that discipline: not striving for perfection, but making a choice, taking the time for it.
Sonja: We create a dance together - but you have to go your own way. Protect your own values, stick to your own values. Independent, sendiri.
Nita: In Javanese dance, I learn to slow down; that means you don't miss anything, you see and feel more. I quickly assume that everyone around me sees the image I have in my head. That's not the case.
Sonja: Sendiri has to do with self-confidence. The confidence that you are already doing it. Your dance is already there.
