Spectacle of feminine strength

Nak Dara resists traditional and patriarchal notions of how women, especially Malay Muslim women, should understand and experience their bodies. PHOTO: GRACE BAEY

NAK DARA

P7:1SMA

Stamford Arts Centre Blackbox/Jan 11

The creation of Nak Dara ("wanting a virgin") was guided by Hasyimah Harith in collaboration with two groups of female performers, separated into Circle A and Circle B.

I watched Circle B, which included Hasyimah and performers Sonia Kwek, Pamela Tan, Eya Awal Din, Syimah Sabtu, Amira Azlin, Atikah Hasimen, Bib Mockram and sound collaborator Syarfa Syahiran.

Nak Dara's quiet spectacle of feminine strength and playfulness has emerged after more than two years of craft and experimentation.

Previous iterations of the work have been presented at Esplanade's Joget in 2018 and at work-in-progress showings at Dance Nucleus - an incubation space for practice-based research and contemporary performance - last year.

The experience began when we purchased tickets. One of the questions on the registration form read: "Who do you think owns your body?"

The performers answered this question in various ways in the programme booklet. Some invoked poetry and a divine creator, others simply said: My body is a vessel for me and you.

This was conveyed in the first 45 minutes of the piece, as Hasyimah entered slowly and gently, then bit the tip of her kain batik (batik fabric) and began to undress.

How did the batik feel on the skin? How did the performer feel, undressing in front of strangers? Kinaesthetic empathy allowed Hasyimah's body to be a vessel of physical sensations and emotional states.

Although she was in a vulnerable position, she was not soft or about to collapse. Her aura felt confident and warm, open and playful.

The sound design was electrifying in a quiet, tingly way, as were the performers on their individual journeys as they travelled in and out of the Blackbox through doors which were kept open throughout the show.

For example, Kwek entered holding a small basin of water filled with flowers and went towards an audience member, asking if she could wash her feet, mandi bunga (flower bath) style.

After washing the audience member's feet, she carried the basin to a balcony outside, still in view of the audience, and poured the basin over her head, washing herself with the same water.

Nak Dara resists traditional and patriarchal notions of how women - especially Malay Muslim women - should understand and experience their bodies.

It is a brave undertaking that might appeal only to those who are open to more feminist ways of understanding the female body.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 18, 2020, with the headline Spectacle of feminine strength. Subscribe