A quick glance at the walls in Marion D'Cruz' office, the executive producer of Five Arts Centre, will tell you that if she is a dancer and a choreographer among other things, she is not the ethereal, head in the clouds type. On the walls you see posters of her heroes, as she calls them laughing, the politically engaged Indonesian writer W.S.Rendra, Che Guevara and Jesus Christ. All people engaged in a battle to make their world a better place. No, Marion D'Cruz is no revolutionary.

But her work at Five Arts Centre, while exploring a new language in dance, has also taken a more socially engaged turn in the past few years, with more community work and work with young people. "You have to take responsibility", she says in her interview with kakiseni.com, and that is exactly how she expects to make you feel if you see her piece "War on Iraq" presented next Saturday night at the Mydance festival.

Read on below as she talks about contemporary dance in Malaysia and many other things.

Kakiseni: What evolutions have you seen in the dance scene in Malaysia over the past 20 years?

Marion D'Cruz: There are many more companies, and they are more professional in terms of quality of work. Some people object that professional means that you earn a living from dancing, but even in New York, so-called professional dancers need to earn a living by doing some baby-sitting or waiting jobs. We are very professional in our attitude, passion, discipline and the production of very high quality work - high quality in all aspects - concepts, quality of dancing and production values i.e. staging, lighting etc. We now have in Malaysia a wider crop of good, well trained dancers. That is partly thanks to local dance schools like ASK (Akademi Seni Kebangsaan), partly thanks to returnees, partly due to greater exposure to different dance styles, many things that have come together to raise the standards. For example Spring In Kuala Lumpur [staged in September this year] gave 10 Malaysian performers an opportunity to work with a well known Japanese director.

Kakiseni: How vibrant is contemporary dance here?

Marion D'Cruz: Actually, the contemporary dance scene is unusually popping and thriving. There is a lot of cross between companies [of more traditional forms], and many free lance dancers. There are still very few actual contemporary dance companies. But dancers dance with different companies which is very good for the scene and for the dancers themselves. Whereas elsewhere often classical ballet is very important, you don't have that here. There are several classical ballet schools, but not many high level classical ballet dancers. Contemporary dance is more visible. There is also a very interesting development of contemporary dance from the traditional dance areas - like from traditional Malay dance, traditional Indian dance. Choreographers are creating new contemporary creations from these traditional forms.

Kakiseni: What contributed to this?

Marion D'Cruz: Many things like the ASK dance department for example has really provided an opening for all kinds of dance including contemporary dance. It is the only department within ASK that has such a wide range of expertise, age, ethnic background and style. You have people like Suhaimi Magi, Mew Chang Tsing, Choo Tee Kuang, Joseph Gonzales, Loke Soh Kim, Umesh Shetty, myself and others teaching there. The credit really goes to the department director, Joseph Gonzales for his expansive and inclusive vision. They have produced several outstanding dancers, Shafirul Suhaimi, for example, is one of them. He is probably the most exciting contemporary dancer in this city right now. People like Ramli Ibrahim and his work with Sutra have been a huge influence in the community. Ramli and Sutra [Dance Theatre] are probably the most prolific dance company in Malaysia - this year alone they have produced many shows - both traditional and contemporary. And they consistently take the work out of KL. Not an easy thing to do.

Kakiseni: Can you see any trends in contemporary dance here?

Marion D'Cruz: There is still a strong influence from Hong Kong and Taiwan within Chinese contemporary companies, such as Batu Dance Theatre, Dua Space. Many of their dancers trained or worked there. And the style overall is quite post-grahamesque.

["Martha Graham, a central figure of the modern dance movement developed an original technique involving the expression of primal emotions through stylized bodily movement of great intensity." From www.noguchi.org.]

This is not a bad thing. As they work they will develop their own identities. Others are developing strong styles and identities - like Mew Chang Tsing who has been committed to developing a South East Asian style in her work. So, each one is working to develop styles and identities. The best major trend is that there is a lot of good work being done with passion and discipline.

Kakiseni: Tell us about your own work!

Marion D'Cruz: My whole work has had a shift in the past five to six years. When I first started I did a lot of choreography and performances, then more choreography, then spent more time running Five Arts and getting involved in young people's work. I guess it is all to do with becoming older! I feel there's less space in Malaysia for young people to be free, and I want to do what I can to remedy to it. I never really wanted to open the Marion D'Cruz Dance School - I just wanted to dance and make dance. Sometimes I wonder how I got here! But now I am concerned with other things. If there is a legacy to be left, it is to create safe places for young people to be empowered, to create, to take ownership of their lives and this country. The arts are a good way to create these spaces - all kinds of arts including dance. Which is why we started Teater Muda and community arts projects with young people. In 2001 we did a Community Dance project with the Ludus Co from UK, also for young people.

Kakiseni: What else do you do?

Marion D'Cruz: I also teach at ASK, and at The One Academy, a school of communication and design, on culture and identity.

Kakiseni: How important is choreography to you?

Marion D'Cruz: To be quite honest, choreography makes my soul dance. But if I never choreographed nor danced again, it wouldn't be a problem. I will be dancing in my head and in my soul till I drop dead!

Kakiseni: What do you think your role was in the development on contemporary dance in Malaysia?

Marion D'Cruz: When I started in the eighties, there was little concept of contemporary dance. It was really just Ramli [Ibrahim] and myself. Mohd. Ghouse and Lee Lee Lan had done ground breaking work in the seventies, but it was not enough in the public eye. Ramli and I started doing big shows in Kuala Lumpur, we opened up new choreographic spaces, new ideas - all was possible. Mohd Ghouse Nasaruddin was my main influence, he did work mainly in Penang, he was a teacher at USM. He was doing wild and wonderful things, with ballet and Malay dance. There was a place in the seventies when all things were possible. There was lots of discussion then, because of the riots in 69, on who we were, what is being Malay, non Malay, what was the meaning of identity, questions on culture and cultural identity. A friend and I were the first females non Malay to learn wayang kulit, with the late Dalang Hamzah in USM in 1976. In the 1990s Dalang Hamzah and I were both teaching in ASK and he would always tell people with great pride that I was his first student long ago.

Kakiseni: How would you describe your style?

Marion D'Cruz: My shows were very minimalist in concept, and were a fusion of influences. My most famous choreography was probably The Urn Piece, when we came out of urns!. People are still asking me to redo it. A lot of my early work was rejected by audiences and critics. I used non dancers, I was in search of a new vocabulary. I felt that contemporary dance was trapped between traditional Asian forms and Western forms, and that trained dancers couldn't get out of their form to explore. Non dancers were more open to exploring with their bodies. I really believe there is a dancer in everyone. Movement comes to us before language. Children love to dance, to move, to hug, we teach them to stay still and we lose that spontaneity and capacity. Earlier some of my pieces had no particular message. They were about finding a form, a vocabulary. Then I moved into pieces with content - and much of this was social commentary - things which I was terribly concerned with. But still always experimenting with the form.

Kakiseni: Tell us about the piece you are presenting for this year's Mydance Festival?

Marion D'Cruz: Yes, it is about the war in Iraq but it is called WAR ON IRAQ. It is a very simple, stark, dark piece on war, with highly trained dancers, and others - a variety of performers. Sometimes the message in my pieces are not very clear, here it is very clear! We are all responsible for all that goes on in the world - near or far. We have to take responsibility.

Kakiseni: Can you tell us a bit about all the different types of dance practiced here?

Marion D'Cruz: There is a lot - traditional dance, ballet, modern, jazz, salsa, and more and more. There are plenty of Indian classical dance schools. Partly the Indians are terribly concerned about keeping their culture strong and vibrant - notice how Thaipusam gets bigger and bigger every year. Partly it is the fact that Indian classical dance is closely connected to religion, but also the Bollywood phenomenon has really validated Indian culture. Indian is very 'in' now. Have you seen the colourful Indian handbags at British India? That would have been unthinkable a while ago. Also the tradition is old and has been passed down systematically for generations. So for these and many more reasons hundreds of children learn Indian classical dance, music etc. Institutions like the Temple of Fine Arts have contributed to this.

Now about Malay dance… the big question about Malay performing arts is whether they are haram or halal ... meaning are they in line with religion or not. This is a complicated issue. We often choose to forget that culture exists before religious systems. The negotiation between culture and religion is always a tricky business. In Malaysia much of the Malay performing arts is state organised and/or funded. This creates a different system within the Malay arts. There are many practitioners but not many companies. The oldest Malay theatre company is Centre Stage led by Normah Nordin. Nowadays a lot of dance activity is coming out of Istana Budaya and the Petronas Performing Arts Group. There is however a new trend which I feel is exciting with new young groups like Namron's Alternative Stage, Junainah Lojong's new studio, Chombrang, set up with artist Bayu Utomo, Syed Mustafa's Tandak Dance Theatre. New blood, new ideas. Interestingly, Namron, Junainah and Syed are all ASK graduates.

Chinese dance groups still flourish especially with support from the Chinese community like the associations. Ballet schools keep sprouting up all over. I could go on and on and on ...

Contemporary dance is an area where I think we cross these ethnic boundaries. The community is small but vibrant. Everyone more or less dances with everyone and that is great. The form keeps evolving and that is good too. Diversity in Motion is the theme of this year's MyDance Festival and really that's what it is about. About truly celebrating that diversity.