I La Galigo Coming to New York July 2005

(5/9/2005)

Critically acclaimed by audiences in Singapore, Holland, Spain, France and Italy - the Indonesian dance and drama masterpiece I La Galigo is scheduled for its U.S.A. premier at Lincoln Center Festival in New York, July 13, 14, 15, & 16, 2005.

A visionary work of theatre, dance, music and poetry created by the renowned Robert Wilson, I La Galigo is inspired by Sureg Galigo (the Galigo Manuscripts) – an epic poem of the Bugis people of Sulawesi retelling the creation of a Middle World and the lives of six generations of descendents of the gods. The exploits and adventures of these main characters illustrate the ancient Bugis cosmology via the use of music, dance, costumes and symbolism still found in the ritual life of the Bugis people today.

The presentation of I La Galigo's story line, which is no less complex than the ancient Mahabharata epic, in the contemporary theatre language of Robert Wilson involves a company of 50 actors, dancers and musicians. Coming primarily from South Sulawesi, the cast also includes artists from other Indonesian islands including Bali, Irian Jaya, Java, and Sumatra. The music was researched and composed by Indonesian master-musicologist Rahayu Supanggah, while the creative team behind the production is comprised of Robert Wilson and a group of International artists collaborating with performing artists, designers and craftsmen from all over Indonesia.

Bali Purnati Center for the Arts

Introduced to Robert Wilson by Rhoda Grauer and Restu Kusmaningrum, the Galigo Project was nurtured into its present dazzling theatrical production at The Bali Purnati Center for the Arts in partnership with Change Performing Arts of Milan, Italy.

Founded in 1999, the Bali Purnati Center for the Arts is an international non-profit cultural foundation dedicated to the preservation, promotion, presentation and creation of new directions in the performing, visual and design arts. It is also a center devoted to the documentation, in words and pictures, of various traditional and new artworks.

The Purnati Center's idyllic campus and performance venue surround by rice terraces on the outskirts of Bali's cultural heart of Ubud, served as the center for research and pre-production work during the 2 year incubation period before I La Galigo embarked on its world tour in 2004. During that period, more than a hundred dancers, actors and musicians arrived from many different provinces in Indonesia came to the Center to work closely with Wilson and a team of international production assistants to develop this great operatic piece about one of the world's most recently discovered major epics about the Bugis seafaring people.

Tickets are now on sale for the Lincoln Center Festival Performance of I La Galigo in July 13-16, 2005.