Alvin Yong

Ikat Tepi, initiated in 2026, is a new project from Alvin, exploring the transformation of Diabolo practice through helium balloons. In the same year, the project was selected as a finalist for the 2027 Circusnext edition, received creation support from local professionals and invited for a week of practice-sharing at Campus Paulo Cunha e Silva. The premier date is yet to be defined.

Synopsis

Ikat Tepi (pronounced ee-kaht tuh-pee) is a Malay phrase meaning "tie at the side", commonly used in Malaysia for takeaway drinks served in a plastic bag tied with a string. The title carries both cultural memory and symbolic resonance, suggesting something carried temporarily yet carefully, suspended, portable, and slightly fragile.

On stage, Diabolo meets helium balloons. Familiar relationships between gravity, tension, and control begin to shift. An apparatus once built on precision gradually loses its certainties, opening space for instability, play, and unexpected encounters.

As the apparatus transforms, so do the meanings attached to it. Ikat Tepi revisits a long-standing relationship between artist and object. Between past practice and present identity, the work reflects on what we continue carrying even after it has changed form.

Balancing sentiment with playfulness, Ikat Tepi approaches memory not as nostalgia, but as a dialogue with time. Perhaps, even when diluted into clear water, something of the original taste still remains.