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'GONG' at Gasteig Theatre - Iwan Gunawan (Kyai Fatahillah) & Aafke de Jong
COLLABORATIONS

AFK often collaborates with artists from The Netherlands and abroad. Her work is shown on several festivals and other occasions. Below you'll find a selection. In 2005 Aafke was invited to make a choreography (Jatuh Bisu/Falling in Silence) especially designed for the opening of the World Music and Dance Centre (Codarts, Rotterdam, NL).  For this piece, which was inspired by 'rites of passage' as found in Balinese culture, AFK collaborated with composer of contemporary gamelan Sinta Wullur, poet Ketut Yuliarsa (Bali, Indonesia) and actor Dion Vincken. The piece was performed with chromatic gamelan ensemble Multifoon, the DoelenKwartet and the Zephyr Quartet for string instruments.

Together with internationally acclaimed jazz pianist, composer (and Head of Jazz & Pop Department of ArtEZ Conservatory in Arnhem) Michiel Braam and visual artist Gerrit van Middelkoop, AFK made the site specific performance  'In The Beginning There Was' (2011), under a railway bridge at the shores of the IJssel river in Arnhem.

At the invitation of the Münchner Stadtmuseum (DE) Aafke created the work 'GONG' together with composer Iwan Gunawan (Kyai Fatahillah, Bandung, Indonesia) - one of the most influencial composers of contemporary gamelan - for the International Gamelan Festival in 2018. 

Aafke's short dance film 'Itch I' was nominated for the Side By Side Festival in Dusseldorf (DE) in 2010 and also played in Athens (Greece) during International Digital Arts Festival in 2011. Out of this she developed a live version ('Itch II'), for which she worked together with composer Tjerk van der Ham and the 'Kaaskwartet' and multi-instrumentalist Jaap Berends. It was performed a.o. during Julidans Festival (I Like To Watch Too) in Paradiso, Amsterdam. 

With her sister, theatre maker and singer/songwriter Hanneke de Jong and her partner, video artist Jonas de Witte, she made the site specific performance 'Eitulovni', about the rising of the water. With floating poetry, this partly swam and sung duet took place in a small forest lake on Vlieland, a small island in the north of The Netherlands for the Into The Great Wide Open Festival.

Commissioned by the Stichting Indisch Erfgoed (Foundation for Indo European Heritage) and inspired by the book of Reggie Baay about slavery in the former Dutch Eat Indies, Aafke made the performance 'Tanpa Wajah /Without a Face'  with a Javanese dancer and an actor. 

Recently she established a collaboration with California based composer Brian Baumbusch (the Lightbulb Ensemble) who likes to push the boundaries of new music. ​ 

Rehearsal for 'GONG' with Iwan Gunawan (Kyai Fatahillah) & Aafke de Jong
Jatuh Bisu/Falling in Silence with Sinta Wullur / Multifoon / Zephy Quartet / Dion Vinken / Ketut Yuliarsa & Aafke de Jong
Music rehearsal with Iwan Gunawan & Gamelan Ensemble Kyai Fatahillah
pictures left and right by Connie Forndran
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