Eko Supriyanto

Founder and artistic director for EkosDance Company and Solo Dance Studio in Surakarta Indonesia, Eko Supriyanto’s performance career spans major works and tours throughout Indonesia, Europe, America and the Asia Pacific.

Trained in Javanese court dances and the Indonesian martial arts of Pencak Silat since the age of seven, Eko is a full-time faculty lecturer at the Indonesian Institute for the Arts, Surakarta (ISI Surakarta). He holds a PhD in Performance Studies (2014) from Gadjah Mada University and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance and Choreography from the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures (2001). 

Eko’s performance career stretches across major commercial productions and dance research projects. He was enlisted as a dance consultant for Julie Taymor’s Lion King Broadway production, and choreographed and performed for major international productions including Peter Sellars’ Le Grand Macabre, John Adams’ A Flowering Tree in Vienna, the Barbican Centre in London and the Lincoln Centre in New York, Garin Nugroho’s Opera Jawa, MAU Lemi Ponifasio’s Tempest, solid.states with Arco Renz, and was a featured dancer in Madonna’s 2001 Drowned World Tour.

His recent major works have received great acclaim. The first in a trilogy of works, Cry Jailolo – with seven young men from Jailolo, North Maluku – is followed by the sister work Balabala, and his solo work in development, SALT. Alongside these works, Eko has developed discourse surrounding silent tourism and performance research into the embodiment of Indonesian dancers and its connection to maritime culture, entitled The Future of Dance is Under Water.