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With no stage, no seats and no barriers between the dancers and the audience, “Petals in the Crowd — Flowers of Lamentation Series II,” a contemporary dance piece, won’t settle for being an evening of pretty but passive entertainment.

Less of a performance and more about experience, “Petals” aims to challenge people’s notions of dance recitals, personal and public space and interactions with others.

“Petals” is the creation of Angela Liong, who was once proclaimed Singapore’s shaman of dance, and her dance group, The Arts Fission Company.

In creating “Petals,” Liong said, she considered the impact of technology on modern society. But she also drew from Ezra Pound’s 1913 haiku-influenced poem, “In a Station of the Metro,” and the Tang Dynasty-era piece “Face in the Peach Blossoms.”

Although the influences and ideas might seem disjointed, Liong said the disparate themes were united through flowers.

In addition to their symbolism in literature (especially Asian literature), seeing real live flowers or other organic beauty in urban societies is rare.

“I wanted to reflect on flowers in modern times,” Liong said on Wednesday during a rehearsal at Komunitas Salihara. “They are so common, but also have many different perspectives.”

There will be two performances of “Petals” at Komunitas Salihara: Friday and Saturday. Both shows will start at 8 p.m., but that is where the similarities end. Each performance will be defined by where the audience stands in the theater.

“There are no seats, no one will sit back and take it easy,” Liong said. “Dancers will be flying past audience members. It’s a very active and dynamic experience and it will be like people are standing in the middle of stage with bodies flying everywhere.”

Liong said it was a challenge to have adequate space between the performers and the viewers and that it would be interesting to see who shied away from being so close to strangers and who held their ground.

Dancer Edwin Wee said the impromptu formations would add an element of difficulty to “Petals” because it prevented the dancers from having dress rehearsals.

“The performance depends on the space around the audience members,” he said. “Nothing is fixed. The exploration starts when the audience comes in.”

“Petals” is a collaboration between Arts Fission and the arts and design collective :phunk, which created music and visuals for the performance.

Liong said she wanted the area to resemble an average nightclub, but instead of the usual club antics she has filled the area with contemporary dance — the unfamiliar in the familiar.

While the performance features a light setup, visuals and a soundtrack with musicians Brian Eno and Tom Waits, Liong said the live performance translated into a personal and thought-provoking experience.

“It is the difference between a theater performance and a movie,” she said. “Theater reflects on life and makes people question things, while movies are more immediate and involve experiencing sensations. The audience will be reflecting back to the dancers as well, another reason for the setup we have chosen.”

Liong founded Arts Fission in 1994. She is dedicated to exploring different aspects of Asian culture and making dance exciting and relevant in society.

In addition to its performance-related activities, Liong takes great pride in the company’s outreach and community work.

Arts Fission frequently performs in schools to expose students to art, helping cultivate a more discerning and dance-savvy future audience. The group also teaches movement to children, and on the other end of the spectrum, conducts movement classes with elderly participants.

“We like to say we teach dance to 3 to 93-year-olds,” Liong said.

The group is also involved in the early stages of a project that will focus on using movement to help alleviate the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“Petals” features the full Arts Fission company of six dancers. In addition to Wee from Singapore, the group is composed of Japanese dancers Mayu Watanabe and Tomomi Aramaki, Thai dancers Vararom Tavivoradilok and Aditep Buanoi, and Chinese dancer Wang Weiwei.

“I feel very lucky because I love to dance and it is very hard to survive in Bangkok with just dance,” Aditep said. “Now I can earn enough with dance to support myself and my family.”

The dancers have the same universal hardships as other artists — such as a lack of funding and opportunities for steady work — but they also deal with their own specific struggles.

“It’s hard for [audiences] to understand because in traditional dance, everything is understood and there is only one meaning for [every movement],” Vararom said. “But with contemporary dance, it’s not so much about the story as it is about art inspiring a feeling.”

Despite the inherent hardships, the Arts Fission dancers continue to turn their back on more lucrative or accepted careers because of their passion for the craft.

“It calls me back, no matter what else I do, it calls me back,” Vararom said.

“It’s a gift. Movement is movement, but when you can expresses very intimate communications through movement, it is a gift,” Wee said, the other dancers agreeing with him.

“You pursue it because not everyone is lucky enough to have such a thing. It is a comfort and a challenge. It nourishes me.”

‘Petals in the Crowd — Flowers of Lamentation Series II’ is being performed at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at:
Komunitas SaliharaJl. Salihara No. 16 Pasar Minggu South Jakarta
Tickets are Rp 50,000 and Rp 25,000 for students