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SUMMER IMPRESSIONS: Prehistoric Body Theater's "Ghosts of Hell Creek: Stone Garuda" at Asia Society (and Jacob's Pillow)
By Ann Moradian
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Published on September 15, 2025
Prehistoric Body Theater. Photo: Ellen Wallop
Prehistoric Body Theater
Ghosts of Hell Creek: Stone Garuda
Choreographed and performed by: Ari Dharminalan Rudenko, Sofyan Joyo Utomo, Alan Ilun, Widi Pramono, Boy Mahmudi, Arif Pam, Nada Soraya, Tirta Nopa Tarani
Asia Society, New York
June 28, 2025
If you have ever spent an afternoon staring at insects or birds as they go about their lives, then the strange universe created on stage in Ghosts of Hell Creek: Stone Garuda at the Asia Society (and Jacob’s Pillow) this summer may be familiar to you.
The Indonesian collective Prehistoric Body Theater depicts the mating rituals of Acheroraptor, a feathered raptor that perished in the same asteroid collision that annihilated the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Being human, I found myself trying to identify familiar traits or create stories about the relationships among the performers, but anthropomorphizing was simply impossible.
Stunning mud-paint costumes with birdlike headcaps and moveable wing extensions made the dancers’ micro-twitches and chest undulations so true-to-life, one could only watch and wonder. Multiple layers and textures of gamelan music, the rich and mysterious sounds of Indonesia’s nocturnal animal life (including recordings of actual wildlife), and richly textured lighting, designed by Kia Rogers, combined to create a bewitching jungle.
This “deep-time animal dance” combined traditional Indonesian dance, evolutionary movement, animal observation, and paleontological knowledge. The dancers’ control and articulation were astonishingly precise, often initiated from a deeply fluid spine. With powerful legs crouching low, they thrust their bodies up into the air as if out of nowhere. They do spend a painful amount of time with torsos folded over bent legs, fluffing, thrusting, and puffing.
Nothing ever seems to really happen, with very little change and almost no development in the work as it unfolds, which I found became boring over time. But the potential for this collective project, developed over years in collaboration not only with the dancers but also scientists, has enormous potential. Lizards and dino-birds beware!
