Eko Pece, was born in Astambul, South Kalimantan, on November 26, 1970. He is a dancer, choreographer, and lecturer from Indonesia. Raised in Magelang, Central Java, Eko’s artistic blood flows from his grandfather, Djojoprayitno. At the age of 7, Eko learned silat (a traditional martial art) and Javanese dance from his grandfather. Eko enrolled at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (STSI 1990-1997) in Surakarta, specializing in Javanese dance under the guidance of S. Maridi, S. Ngaliman, Soenarno, and S. Pamardi.
Outside of campus, he studied under Suprapto Suryodarmo and Sardono W. Kusumo. He actively created choreography while still a student. He performed twice at the Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF), with “Lah” in 1994 and “Leleh” in 1996, which led him to the American Dance Festival (ADF 1997) in Durham, North Carolina, and the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange (APPEX 1997) in Los Angeles, United States.
Eko pursued his master’s degree at the Department of World Arts and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1998 to 2001. At UCLA, he studied modern dance techniques, improvisation, and choreography under David Rousseve, Simone Forti, Victoria Marks, and Angelia Leung. He actively participated in APPEX (1999, 2001), collaborating with artists from various regions in Asia and the United States. In Los Angeles, Eko also met opera director Peter Sellars, who involved him as a dancer and choreographer in “Le Grand Macabre” (1998), performed at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris and Covent Garden in London (1999).
Eko worked as a dancer for American pop singer Madonna during her “Drowned World” Tour (2001) in Europe and the United States. After completing his Master of Fine Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Eko returned to Indonesia and participated as a dancer in Sardono W. Kusumo’s opera “Diponegoro” (2002). He danced and collaborated on a work by Maxine Haepner (Canada) at Teater Utan Kayu, Jakarta (2002), and performed at the Contemporary Dance Market (Pekanbaru, Riau), Asian Contemporary Dance Festival (Osaka), and Hong Kong.
In 2003, Eko established Solo Dance Studio, which has now become EkosDance Company and the EkosDance Solo Foundation.
