Introduction to Indonesian Dance Workshop
All dancers from any style are welcome and encouraged to come.
Maho Ishiguro is an ethnomusicologist whose research focuses on dance and music of Indonesia. Ishiguro uses dance as a lens for studying and engaging with Indonesian people, cultural practices, and living traditions. Ishiguro began her study of Javanese court dance at Wesleyan, and has since trained with renowned teachers at the Mangkunegaran court in Surakarta, Indonesia. A longtime student of Sumarsam, a prominent Indonesian ethnomusicologist; and I.M. Harjito, master of Central Javanese Gamelan; Ishiguro regularly performs with gamelan ensembles throughout the northeastern United States. She also studied Acehnese dance with a renowned art community, Sanggar Rampoe Banda Aceh, under the tutelage of Zul Kifri and Yusri Sulaiman, maestro of music and dance from Aceh. Her current research focuses on how Acehnese and Javanese performing arts practitioners negotiate and navigate through the current socio-cultural and religious climate, particularly today’s conservative turn in Islam in Indonesia. Ishiguro holds a Ph.D. (’18) and M.A. (’12) in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, and the M.M. in Historical Musicology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (’10).