“Wayang” a contemporary dance was performed by two British dance artists from Nusantara and two visiting Indonesian artists from Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia in Surakarta, Central Java, at University of Nottingham’s Lakeside Arts Centre on Wednesday, 6th February 2008.

“Wayang” is a project funded by Arts Council England, inspired by shadow puppet play which is unique to Southeast Asian region. It features four essential characteristics, namely alus (refinement and delicacy), kasar (roughness and vulgarity), lahir (privacy and spirituality) and rasa (emotion and taste).

“Wayang” interprets the shadow play in a broader context as the development and change in human characteristics, their values and morality. It explores relationships between people from past to present, rural and urban, traditional and contemporary, looking at cross cultural social issues and crossing the boundaries of the Southeast Asian and Western contemporary forms.

Nusantara Ltd. is a performing arts company based in Nottingham. It specialises in traditional and contemporary Southeast Asian work ranges across dance, drama and music through performances and workshops. Its Artistic Director, Ms. Maziah Omar, was trained as a dancer and choreographer on an ASEAN Scholarship in Yogyakarta.