KFDA : Ridden
Leu Wijee & Mio Ishida
- Dance
- Indonesia
- Japan
What happens to the body when collapse becomes a condition rather than an exception?
For years, choreographer Leu Wijee has researched everyday life of places in the aftermath of natural disasters, observing how bodies and environments absorb shock, memory, and renewal. Wijee is from Indonesia, a country increasingly affected by rising sea levels and the impact of human-caused global warming. His hometown in Central Sulawesi was devastated and reshaped by a 2018 earthquake and ground liquefaction.
This research expanded through an encounter with dance artist Mio Ishida, whose practice explores bodies, objects, and the landscapes she inhabits in Tokyo and Chigasaki. Together, they created RIDDEN. Drawing on their lived experiences and personal accounts collected across Japan and Indonesia, five performers generate a magnetic force through sweat and endurance. Over the course of an hour, their bodies become a living testimony to inundation and seismic rupture.
They unfold a hypnotic, rhythm-driven choreography that transports the audience into a state at once meditative and explosive. Presented this year for the first time in Europe, RIDDEN swings between dance, ritual, sport, and band performance, sharing an ecological reflection on the absurdity of perpetual survival.
As part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts.
© Basir Yang & Miller, Tainan Arts Festival 2025
Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre Les Tanneurs
Performance: Bade Arrasyid, Dani S Budiman, Leu Wijee, Mio Ishida, Rheza Oktavia | Choreography, concept and directed by: Leu Wijee | Co-researcher and collaborator: Mio Ishida | Scenography: Leu Wijee & Mio Ishida
Production: wijeesworks | Coproduction: Indonesian Dance Festival
The artistic research for this performance has been supported by Jakarta Arts Council, Jakpro, Jakarta International Contemporary Dance Festival, Japan Foundation Jakarta, Kobalt Works, Toko Seniman (as part of Dalam Seniman artist in residence 2024), Indonesian Dance Festival (as part of Indonesian Dance Festival 2024), Taipei Performing Arts Center (as part of ADAM – Asia
Discovers Asia Meeting for Contemporary Performance / Kitchen 2023), Taitung County
Government (as part of Taitung Fringe Festival 2023), Ministry of Education, Culture,
Research and Technology of Indonesia (as part of Ngetest 2023), Indonesian Dance Festival in collaboration with Japan Foundation Jakarta (as part of Kampana of Indonesian Dance Festival 2022), Asia Performing Arts Farm (as part of workshop Farm-Lab Exhibition Tokyo 2021), Salihara Arts Center (as part of Helatari 2021) and Jakarta Arts Council (as part of Upcoming Choreographer VS Koreografi Tari 2020). Special thanks to many friends and communities in Chigasaki, Jakarta, Palu, Papua, Taipei, Taitung and Yogyakarta who have generously and critically responded to the development of the work.
Presentation Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre Les Tanneurs
Performance Bade Arrasyid, Dani S Budiman, Leu Wijee, Mio Ishida, Rheza Oktavia
Choreography, concept and directed by Leu Wijee
Co-researcher and collaborator Mio Ishida
Scenography Leu Wijee & Mio Ishida
Production wijeesworks
Coproduction Indonesian Dance Festival
The artistic research for this performance has been supported by Jakarta Arts Council, Jakpro, Jakarta International Contemporary Dance Festival, Japan Foundation Jakarta, Kobalt Works, Toko Seniman (as part of Dalam Seniman artist in residence 2024), Indonesian Dance Festival (as part of Indonesian Dance Festival 2024), Taipei Performing Arts Center (as part of ADAM – Asia Discovers Asia Meeting for Contemporary Performance / Kitchen 2023), Taitung County Government (as part of Taitung Fringe Festival 2023), Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of Indonesia (as part of Ngetest 2023), Indonesian Dance Festival in collaboration with Japan Foundation Jakarta (as part of Kampana of Indonesian Dance Festival 2022), Asia Performing Arts Farm (as part of workshop Farm-Lab Exhibition Tokyo 2021), Salihara Arts Center (as part of Helatari 2021) and Jakarta Arts Council (as part of Upcoming Choreographer VS Koreografi Tari 2020).
Special thanks to many friends and communities in Chigasaki, Jakarta, Palu, Papua, Taipei, Taitung and Yogyakarta who have generously and critically responded to the development of the work.
Friday 22 May, after the representation
Moderated by Ula Sickle (in English)
Accessible for wheelchair users
Seating without backrest
Please confirm your attendance with a wheelchair during online reservation or through box office