Eko Supriyanto got his big international break in 2001 as one of six dancers chosen among 6,000 aspirants for pop icon Madonna’s “Drowned” world tour.

In the nine months he was on tour with the Queen of Pop, Eko said, he was able to soak up knowledge and experience about performing on stage, lights and music arrangement. Eko describes Madonna as a smart and beautiful artist who knows what she wants. She is a hard worker who would practice Mondays to Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., he said. “This is what I don’t see from Indonesian artists, the willingness to practise,” he says sadly.

He added that a performance should integrate both singers and dancers on stage because everything has to be well-executed and precise. “For example, without her dancers, a singer like Madonna is nothing. She said so herself.”

the jakarta globe