MORE ABOUT AAFKE

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By asking herself relevant questions about universal themes like 

interpersonal relationships, processes in nature, environmental issues, multiculturalism etc. Aafke looks for ways to lead the focus of the audience and invites it to think, wonder, worry or smile with her. Her work lends itself to interpretation on many levels and allows the audience (and also it's performers) to reach their own heights of insight and appreciation. She hopes that her work can be looked upon as a 'conversation' - an exchange of thoughts, feelings and ideas.

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The ultimate sense of freedom: an empty space or a blank sheet of paper

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Wether an empty stage or a blank piece of paper Aafke finds inspiration from what the Balinese call sunyi, empty(ness) or void.
The liberation of creative process presented by the empty silence or the unlit stage fires her decisive nature. She finds the expressive world of art a place where she can manifest her insight and experience. Her compositions feed off the people and context which makes each performance ground breaking and unique.

Once she has set her mind upon a new subject, she makes sure she reads about everything about it, in the mean time shaping her own thoughts and creating images that can serve as a guide for her work later on in the process. To merge art, science and experiences from day to day life feels natural and logical to her (see e.g. her solo What Thoughts Are Made Of).

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A space within a space, a time within a time

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Since childhood she has a fascination for the repetitive patterns found in the graphic work of M.C. Escher, who combined art, nature and science. In her spare time she enjoys visiting museums, architectural interesting sites or landscapes, finding inspiration in simply 'being' in an interesting surrounding, allowing her thoughts to come to the surface.

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Aafke feels attracted to the anthropological idea of what is so familiair to Balinese culture - the concept of bhuwana alit 

(microcosm) and bhuwana agung (macrocosm). It feels comforting to her that the way our body and nature function on earth - mainly by cooperation and communication between cells, organs or other organisms -  reflects similar processes in the universe as a whole. That mean that these processes that take place within ourselves are larger than ourselves at the same time. Flocks of birds and swarms of bees move as one singular entity, driven not by one leading bird or bee in particular, but by a joint consciousness. A pile of leaves that moves as being choreographed by the wind somehow can provide hope and trust that life itself will never end.

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Two sides of a coin

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The ambiguity of 'belonging' to this place we call earth on the one hand and on the other sometimes feeling 'detached' from her 

surroundings is also characteristic to Aafke's work. The discrepancy between the two worlds - what we choose to show to the outside world and what we prefer to keep to ourselves never stops intriguing her. In her work she shows a desire to always equally "give the floor" to the two sides of the coin (see e.g. ITCH I and 

ITCH II). 

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Multiple disciplines to strengthen each other

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Aafke finds most joy in making or designing all needs for a performance herself, including costumes and stage setting. 

Upon recommendation of her high school teachers at first she

would attend art school to become an illustrator or painter. Instead she chose a professional education in dance, but never gave up drawing and painting. The idea of theatre functioning as a vessel for interdisciplinary art forms was simply more appealing to her. 

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Her preference for visual art often makes her approaching dance like a sculptor in space. To Aafke all art disciplines in fact sprout from a similar necessity and communicate in a similar way, only using different media. Perhaps therefor it is not a coincidence that since childhood she already felt so attracted to the culture of Bali, where many artists are often also dancers, musicians, singers, painters and sculptors at the same time.

 Education and work 

1993

graduated from Rotterdam Dance Academy (now Codarts)

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1993-1994

first year of studying Balinese dance on Bali, Indonesia at Denpasar

Conservatory STSI (now ISI) (*) and

with several renowned private 

teachers, like Jero Made Puspawati, 

Ni Ketut Arini Alit, A. A. Ayu 

Sukmawati and Gusti Ayu Raka 

Rasmi.

(*) study made possible by

fundings of NUFFIC and Nederlands

Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten

(NFPK/Dutch Fund for Performing

Arts

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1999

graduated from Leiden University - Languages and Cultures of South

East Asia and Oceania with a 

thesis on (political) developments

within the Balinese (court)dance

genre Legong Keraton.

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1999 - 2003

continuation of studying in Bali, Indonesia. During these years De Jong founded Centre for Balinese Art & Culture DwiBhumi (meaning 'two worlds') in cooperation with Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud, Bali.

Here many Balinese artists worked together involving foreigners in their

life, art and culture.

2003 - 2019

Aafke moved back to The Netherlands and founded 

Balinese dance ensemble DwiBhumi *, with which she 

mainly toured Europe, giving

dance performances, workshops and lectures. At the same time

she started Aafke de Jong / Interdisciplinary Dance Projects

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* Mid 2019 Aafke turned over her Balinese dance ensemble DwiBhumi to a senior dancer

of the group, in order to being able to focus more on 

choreography, drawing and

other art related projects.

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2003 - now

Member of (now advisor to) 

Stichting Indisch Erfgoed 

(Foundation for Indo-European Heritage) in The Netherlands for which she helped to realize 

several exhibitions.

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2005 - now

since many years Aafke is a regular guest dance teacher at 

Codarts Dance Academy in 

Rotterdam, where she also

received her formal dance 

education.​ 

picture by Jaap Berends

In(do)spiration - or living in two worlds

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Aafke creates multidisciplinary work, often - but not always - inspired by different aspects of various Indonesian cultures and 

art forms. Ways of movement found in specific Indonesian dance styles often find their way into her performances, be it in a changed, adapted, sometimes perhaps even distorted way.

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Her curiosity towards Indonesia started at a very young age -

she was around 7 years old - when she began to wonder why

so many people with an Indo-European background are living in 

The Netherlands. She started asking questions and somewhat 

later began reading books about the subject and so learned more about colonial history, which - be it in a very dubious way - ties Indonesia and The Netherlands together.

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Shared memories - bridging cultures

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Since 2003 Aafke often works together with Indonesian artists, about which you can find some examples on this website, 

e.g. GONG, a co-creation with Indonesian composer 

Iwan Gunawan (Java, Bandung) or Jatuh Bisu/Falling in Silence, a cooperation with Indonesian composer Sinta Wullur (Java) and writer Ketut Yuliarsa (Bali). She also regularly holds improvisation sessions with musician/composer Krishna Sutedja (Bali).

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Aafke believes that the - often troubled - debate about colonial history, that today is again particularly topical, can benefit from

the cooperation and exchange between artists from Indonesian

and Dutch background. However, this is not the single reason for

her to seek cooperation with other (for example Indonesian) 

artists. She is convinced that an open attitude towards 'the other' - be it another human being, another way of thinking or another culture  - is a necessity in order to being able to live together in

a peaceful way.

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Discover unbeaten paths together

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Aafke also often works together with artists from other art disciplines in general, like writers, composers, costume designers and video artists. She especially appreciates working together with other artists, not only because she enjoys exchanging ideas on a similar level, but also because she likes the idea of being able to inspire each other and discover unbeaten paths together.

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"When we (artists from Indonesian and Dutch back-

grounds) work together it is not even necessary to talk directly

about our shared history (when we feel like it we do so anyway), because we understand each other on a different level.

It is through our art that we can communicate and strive towards 

a more open and inclusive future

in general."

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- Aafke during a lecture at Iwanson School of Contemporary Dance in München, Germany 2017

"Art in general ,- unlike the language we often hear in every day speech or media - because of it's capability to bring more sensitive, hidden subjects or even taboos to the surface in a less direct way, has the unique quality to open up people's minds and therefor deserves ... no ... nééds to play a more prominent role in our (multicultural) society as we

live in today. 

It is especially through sharing 

music, dance, literature, poetry, visual arts etc. that we can learn

to listen to each other and that we can learn to have a more 

open and respectful attitude towards our fellow human beings, towards nature and towards our surroundings."

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-Aafke during an interview at the Münchner Stadtmuseum in Germany in 2017