SarBearProfile GeneratorSTAR STOMPERS
THE TEAM
"STAR STOMPERS†is a renowned non-traditional percussions group that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a percussive physical theatre performance. It is a piece of theatre that's been created by musicians. It doesn't have narrative and it doesn't have dialogue and it doesn't have melody particularly, but it is totally rhythmically based. Everything that happens in the show has totally to do with rhythm. The prime directive for all the performances is: rhythm comes first. Movement comes second and we try to make that mixture more interesting and more palatable by adding levels of comedy to it.
They developed from the students of Music Faculty and Performing Art UiTM which features the group members producing percussion out of normal household items, even in a junk yard.
The term may also refer to a distinct sub-genre of physical theatre where the body is incorporated with other objects as a means of producing percussion and movement that has echoes of dance and Malaysian ethnic beat including beat from Malays, Chinese and Indian music.
Inspired by the famous group called STOMP (originating in Brighton, UK), STAR STOMPERS has put more Malaysian and Asian flavor in their performances. It is a piece of music theatre, created by musicians: it's fast moving, very physical and full of energy, but it is performed with humor and with an eye to the dynamics of music and theatre, pure percussion, by the light and shade of a show that contrasts humor with muscle and sweat and that combines the raucous with the delicate.
WHAT IS STOMP?
What does the word STOMP make you think of? It is very difficult to classify the show STOMP. Do you put it under the heading of theater, dance, music or performance art?
STOMP is performed in theaters, but it is not a play, musical, or opera. It is not theater in the traditional sense of the word. There is no speech, dialogue or plot. However, it does have two characteristics of traditional theater: mime and characterization. Each performer has an individual character which is distinct from the others. These characters are brought out through the mime and dance in the show.
The entire show is highly choreographed, interweaving dance into all of its aspects. In STOMP, there is a symbiotic relationship between dance and music. The music is created within the dance, but the dance itself is dependent on the music for its rhythm and character. STOMP shows a true marriage of movement and music, where both create and enhance each other.
THE GOAL
If there is a message (which everyone seems to expect from theatre), it is that you can make something out of nothing. Using junk, a household and industrial object, by its very nature, challenges the issue of waste and challenges the notion of culture as being highbrow or detached (i.e., you don't have to buy a cello or a drum kit to make music). Beyond that, it is really down to the attitude of the group. We want to amuse, uplift and inspire.
We feel we've succeeded when the audience leaves trying to play every object in their path as they leave the theatre.
