SETAMPUK PINANG : NARTANA (Workshops)

Workshops led by contemporary practitioners in dialogue with tradition bearer. Focusing on movement transmission, care and ethics, adaptation, and cultural continuity, with reflections on how traditions evolve across time and context in Penang.

The dance workshops will be led by Malaysian contemporary practitioners to share their research and practice as they unpack the nuances of tradition - not as fixed heritage, but as a living process informing choreographic approaches that are responsive, reflective, and evolving. Nartana dance workshop invites participants into a space where continuity and change coexist, where each of the artists are shaping new body expressions grounded in deep cultural insight.

Workshop Artists - Lau Beh Chin (From Ethnographic Craftsmanship Research to Choreographic Language Workshop), Lenzo (Voices from Our Roots), Luvenia Kalia, Kausalyaa Sugumarin, Devamayi Somasundaram (Beyond Form: Giving voice to movement)

Lau Beh Chin is a Malaysian choreographer, socially engaged artist, and movement researcher who uniquely integrates a background in Chemical Engineering with an MA in Contemporary Dance Performance from the University of Limerick. Her work bridges dance, ecology, and community engagement, focusing on heritage preservation through inclusive, participatory artistic experiences.

She is bringing us a workshop titled, From Ethnographic Craftsmanship Research to Choreographic Language Workshop

Beyond Moving with Artisans (BMoA) is an interdisciplinary dance project that highlights traditional Malaysian cultural trades facing decline due to industrialization, technology, and a lack of successors. In this workshop, we’re not just learning the stories of the artisans; we’re exploring how to turn their craft into a living choreographic language. This is all about body archiving, where we take the traditional gestures of local craftsmanship and translate them into contemporary movement.

It’s going to be an immersive process of discovery. Through a series of tasks, we’ll start by embodying these artisans' "moments of making" and then move into working together to develop them further. It’s a space to connect the soundscape, the workspace, and the craft while experimenting freely with our own creativity. By the end, we will transform these embodied archives into unique combinations, exploring the rhythms of these local artisans and turning their heritage into motion.

Lenzo (@limlenzo) is a freelance dance and movement artist inspired by martial arts, gaming, and performance. Once skeptical of dance, he now explores its expressive potential through workshops and residencies across the regional arts scene.

Voices from Our Roots. Explore the intersection of voice and text through structured improvisation. This workshop utilises physical metaphors to unlock vocal potential, beginning with “Human Theremin”—where participants deconstruct pitch and volume by imagining one body as the instrument and the other as the player. The concept of Theremin resonance with how one’s nostalgia affected by the amount of distance and time.

Through the “Problem vs Solution” exercise, participants delve into the daily conversation between the parents and children on their roots translate into spontaneous body language and random vocal responses. The process invites a light-hearted, humorous environment where participants can sense deeply and express freely. Due to the intensive nature of the vocal work, participants are encouraged to bring plenty of water to stay hydrated.

Luvenia Kalia is a dancer, producer, and emerging dance anthropologist with over 25 years of experience. Her practice blends embodied research, ecology, and collective memory, fostering cultural exchange, connection, and place-responsive artistic work.

Kausalyaa Sugumarin is a multidisciplinary performing artist, drama educator, and Bharatanatyam practitioner based in Johor Bahru. Her work weaves tradition, storytelling, and personal narrative, exploring identity, displacement, and vulnerability through deeply embodied and intuitive practice.

Devamayi Somasundaram, a dancer and educator from Penang, grounded in Bharatanatyam and expanding into contemporary and modern movement, with a keen interest in socially engaged arts.

Beyond Form: Giving voice to movement.

Guided by choreographers Luvenia Kalia, Kausalyaa Sugumarin, and Devamayii Somasundaram, this workshop explores the creative processes behind BhumiMata and Varushaali, two productions that weave personal and collective memory with classical and folk movement vocabularies.

Building on methods developed in devising Varushaali, participants will begin by experimenting with foundational elements of Bharatanatyam, while learning to translate their own stories into movement. They will then respond to stories from a collection of folk songs once sung by Malaysian-Tamil plantation labourers in Colonial Malaya, curated and researched by Malaysian filmmaker Gogularaajan Rajendran, by developing movement from them.

By engaging with these songs, we imagine their lives, remember their experiences, and allow their stories to live on through our bodies.