For six years, Dwight Currie, curator of performance at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, has sat tensely on the edge of his seat, waiting to see what will unfold at the Ringling International Arts Festival.
When the seventh annual festival opens on Oct. 15 with a courtyard gala and performances by three of the seven acts scheduled to appear through Oct. 18, Currie will be there, suffering from "the nerves of someone who's getting to throw a great party with great guests and great entertainment."
The 2015 festival is entirely Asian in theme, in keeping with the museum's newly-built Center for Asian Art, and includes circus, dance, theater, music and puppetry from Cambodia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and East Timor.
All the performers are working in 21st-century contemporary art forms, said Currie.
It's the juxtaposition of the up-to-the-moment performances and the museum's collection of visual art, which ranges from Baroque tapestries to ancient Chinese jades, that Currie finds so exciting.
"What RIAF affords me as a curator is a platform to present performance, time-based art, in this almost exclusively visual or object-based art environment," he said, "in particular to have the charge or the latitude to have that work be the work of contemporary artists, to see a starkly contemporary piece of performance in an historic 18th-century Italian Baroque theater or in relationship to our collection of Old Masters paintings or our collection of circus memorabilia."
The Center for Asian Art, which is barely completed and won't officially open until February, won't yet be the site of any performance or exhibit, although the museum's Searing Wing will be filled with "Royal Taste: The Art of Princely Courts in Fifteenth-Century China," more than 140 works of art selected from recent archaeological finds, now in the collections of four museums in Hubei province, China.
"This amazing lineup showcases the diversity of Asian art offering and the incredible opportunity that The Ringling now has to display Asian art in many different forms," said Steven High, the museum's executive director, earlier this year. "This year's lineup is an exciting glimpse of The Ringling's future."
The RIAF performers range from a Cambodian circus founded by performers orphaned by war to an exuberant Indonesian folk music ensemble.
The lineup was created with the assistance of Stanford Makishi, who was executive director of the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, which until last year partnered with The Ringling in presenting the festival. Makishi, now vice president for programming at City Center New York, was recently deputy director of programs at the Asian Cultural Council in New York.
"There was so much to choose from," said Currie. "To be able to do that with Stanford, in partnership again, was a wonderful opportunity that couldn't be passed up. He had traveled extensively throughout Asia with the mission to find these artists who then enjoyed the support from the Asian Cultural Council to develop and bring here, to come over here and collaborate with other artists."
Makishi gave Currie "the longest shortlist I'd ever seen," said Currie, and the process began of winnowing that list down to seven acts across a four-day performance schedule.
Makishi said that over his three and a half years with the Asian Cultural Council, he'd seen hundreds of performers in virtually every corner of Asia.
"In choosing the right repertoire for the festival, first of all we had to stick to the original vision, which was to stick to contemporary performance," said Makishi. "Right off the bat we knew we weren't going to do Cambodian court dance. On the other hand, there are some forms that are rooted in tradition but are extremely contemporary. We'll see that in Ronnarong Khampha, who uses tradition to create a very contemporary form."
"We had to make some decisions; you can't go checking boxes," said Currie. "He shared that list of artists, talked about them as people, as artists, as individuals, as organizations. The next step was honoring that commitment we'd made with RIAF, to diversity. We were looking for those rare artists who were personally authentic but most importantly, virtuosic, at the top of their craft in terms of presentation and realization of their works."
Five of the seven acts are coming to Sarasota either directly from Asia or as stops on world tours, which has presented the usual challenges of visas and travel booking that any international festival is faced with, said Currie. And with many of the acts having a dozen or more performers, just keeping all the names consistent from one document to the next can be a trick.
Currie credited Sen. Bill Nelson's office with being "absolutely heroic, because there were some confusions, there were some slowdowns, with the processing of visa applications and embassy interviews. They helped clear up very directly for us some confusion."
Three of the acts – Phare, Tom Lee and Ronnarong Khampha – will perform on the festival's opening night, their performances preceded by a champagne welcome in the museum courtyard and followed by the annual courtyard celebration with entertainment, food, drink and fireworks. Performances get underway for everyone else on Oct. 16 for a full weekend of performing art.
"You feel like a bit of a matchmaker," said Currie. "You want Sarasota to love all of them, you want them to love Sarasota."
Makishi said that all the performers are extremely well known in their home countries, although few have been seen on American stages (Tom Lee and Jen Shyu are based in the U.S.).
"You'll never see them all together at the same time, probably ever, for the rest of time," he said. "There is something really, really special about each of them. This really does represent a very, very high level of accomplishment. And I can't wait to see what audiences take away from it."
Currie encourages audiences to, as always with RIAF, open their minds to new possibilities. "People will say 'I just don't know what kind of music it's going to be,' and I say, 'EXACTLY.'"
RINGLING INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
Oct. 15-18, Ringling Museum of Art, Historic Asolo Theater and FSU Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $35, $125 for Opening Night. For a schedule and to order tickets, visit ringling.org or call 360-7399.
RIAF LINEUP
PHARE: THE CAMBODIAN CIRCUS
Phare: The Cambodian Circus
In their "Khmer Metal," young performers provide a glimpse at the wild side of urban life in Cambodia in a show set in a grungy rock bar, where the owner and his brother find profits from customers seeking adventure and love. The story is told through a combination of music, dance, acting and modern circus arts. Phare staged its first outdoor show in 2013, combining Cambodian history and culture in stories with a circus flare and featuring a variety of art forms. In two years, it has grown to offer nightly indoor performances in a big red top tent in Siem Reap. pharecircus.org/
7 p.m. Oct. 15, 2 p.m. Oct. 16, 8 p.m. Oct. 17, 2 p.m. Oct. 18, Mertz Theatre
RONNARONG "ONG" KHAMPHA
Raonnarong Khampha
This dancer/choreographer, whose nickname ("Ong") means "little emperor," is from Northern Thailand. He combines the "Lanna" dance of his birthplace with aesthetics from the many other Indonesian and Asian dance traditions he has studied. He will perform three solos: The "Fingernail Dance," a Lanna dance originally performed by women with long fingernail extensions; "Martial Arts Dance," which is danced to percussion (drum and cymbal) and draws on the martial arts influences of Burma, China, Laos, and Cambodia; and "My Name is Ong," a semi-autobiographical work about growing up in a small village and what it was like to become a dancer. www.ronnarongkhampha.com/
7 p.m. Oct. 15, 5 p.m. Oct. 16, 2 p.m. Oct. 17, Cook Theatre
JEN SHYU
Jen Shyu
American born to parents from Taiwan and East Timor, Jen Shyu is an experimental jazz vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer and producer. A graduate of Stanford University, she performed with saxophonist Steve Coleman's Five Elements band for eight years. "Solo Rites: Seven Breaths" is a solo opera inspired by her travel and fieldwork over the last 10 years. www.jenshyu.com/
8 p.m. Oct 16, 5 p.m. Oct. 17, 2 p.m. Oct. 18, Cook Theatre
TOM LEE: SHANK'S MARE
Tom Lee: Shank's Mare
Puppeteer Tom Lee, whose work has been seen on Broadway in "War Horse" and the Metropolitan Opera's "Madama Butterfly," joins with Japanese master Koryu Nishikawa V for a show that features traditional Kuruma Ningyo puppetry of Japan with video and live music. Lee describes the piece as a "puppet road movie." It deals with different characters near the ends of their lives. One is a thief and murderer who is sent to hell for a chance at salvation, and the other is a medieval astronomer who hopes to witness a rare cosmic event before he dies. tomleeprojects.com/shanks-mare
7 p.m. Oct. 15, 8 p.m. Oct. 16, 5 p.m. Oct. 17, 2 p.m. Oct. 18, Historic Asolo Theater
TAO DANCE THEATER
Tao Dance Theater
This China-based contemporary dance company is known for its cross-genre collaborations with theater, experimental music, film, visual arts and installation artists. The company will present "Weight X 3," to the minimalist music of Steve Reich. It includes two duets and one solo that reflect the company's exploration of body and physical practices over the course of a year. The first and third sections will be performed live; the second will be presented via an art video made of that movement. RIAF is the company's only U.S. stop on a 2015 world tour. www.facebook.com/TAO.Dance.Theater?sk=wall
8 p.m. Oct. 16, 2 p.m. Oct. 17, 5 p.m. Oct. 18, Mertz Theatre
PENI CANDRA RINI: RAHIM
Peni Candra Rini
Indonesian composer, songwriter and singer who is known as a “sindhen” – a female solo singer who performs with a gamelan (ensemble of Indonesian musicians). She performs on traditional Indonesian instruments but brings movement and imagery into “Rahim,” which means “womb.”
2 p.m. Oct. 16, 8 p.m. Oct. 17, 5 p.m. Oct. 18, Cook Theatre
ORKES SINTEN REMEN
Orkes Sinten Remen
Led by the charismatic Djaduk Ferjanto, the 10-member Indonesian band transforms folk music into something altogether different in performances that are raucous and rowdy. Popular music is run through the filter of their traditional instruments – strings and percussion – into something completely new. VIDEO
5 p.m. Oct. 16, 2 and 8 p.m. Oct. 17, 5 p.m. Oct. 18, Historic Asolo Theater
