DiverseCity, the ongoing exhibition by the Singapore International Foundation, isn’t exactly an exhibition exhibition.
A great part of it really is simply a showcase of the stuff that SIF has supported for the past year by way of travel grants overseas presentation grants. I thought I needed to clarify that because it is at the fourth floor of SAM at 8Q (in contrast to the previous one held at SOTA). Continue reading ‘S’pore Int’l Foundation showcases its DiverseCity’
Silences We Are Familiar With—An Ode To Love by Kuik Swee Boon, Bani Haykal and THE Dance Company. Photo courtesy of The Esplanade.
Silences We Are Familiar With—An Ode To Love. It’s a mouthful of a title, and a rather sappy one, too, methinks. And yet…. and yet…
This time around, The Human Expression sets its sights on that complicated yet oft expounded subject of love. Prior to tonight, I was wary of the group taking it on so blatantly. I mean, when did they get so, well, romantic? Did they all start reading Shakespeare sonnets this year? Silly me. It was haunting.
With their latest show, Solo/Duet, it would appear that The Human Expression has done it again. And by “it” I mean surprising us with their willingness to push things further.
The premise behind this three-in-one production, which is part of the ongoing NUS Arts Festival (along with a rather nice portrait exhibition by longtime collaborator Matthew G Johnson, from which the photo above was taken), is simple.
Artistic director Kuik Swee Boon doesn’t want to have a “cookie cutter” group, he wants strong individuals. So members take a break from the company and work with another choreographer in another country (for the most part) and spread their wings, so to speak. It’s a strategy – a magnanimous one on the part of Kuik – that in a lot of ways diverges from the typical mindset of a dance company and informs the very essence of The Human Expression. No groupthink, thank you very much, we are here to realise potential in all its forms. Continue reading ‘NUS Arts Fest 2012! Solo/Duet! No to groupthink!’
Re: OK… But! is one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.
For one and a half hours, I sat in front mesmerised by the all-out levels of physical and emotional intensity as THE Dance Company brought to life this uber dark collaboration between choreographers Kuik Swee Boon and fest guest Kim Jae Duk.
What a great way to kick off Contact 2011. From the doom and gloom of the first piece to the life-affirming oomph of the third, the contemporary dance fest’s triple-bill opening salvo Right Here 3×3 was a satisfying way to spend a Friday night.
Sandwiching Singapore Dance Theatre’s jarringly out-of-place Hold The Fourth (performed for the umpteenth time since 2010) were Frontier Danceland’s In The Light Of Day and THE Dance Company’s Vague Individual Situations, two works in perfect dialogue with each other.
Like 2008/2010’s O(ld) Sounds, T.H.E. Dance Company’s latest, As It Fades, was born out of choreographer/artistic director Kuik Swee Boon’s current preoccupation with slowly disappearing dialects in contemporary Singapore culture.
Here, it’s played out on a grander scale than its predecessor, its scope more expansive as he frames the dialect issue on generational terms, as evidenced from the very first scene’s contemporary dance-meets-traditional song.
Continue reading ‘S’pore Arts Fest 2011! As It Fades! Bursting with ideas?!’
Anyone realise that from mid-March until the first week of June it’s practically an arts relay race? And I’m just talking about the big events. Two days before the Singapore Biennale 2011 wraps up, the Singapore Arts Festival begins.
Arts lovers should get discounts at New Balance.
SAF11 will run from May 13 to June 5 with the theme “I Want To Remember”. A sort of festival triptych that began last year with “Between You And Me”. Continue reading ‘S’pore Arts Fest 2011! Part one! Asian flava! Local delights!’
I think people should take a leaf out of THE Dance Company Guidebook. In particular, from that chapter on Being Adventurous.
Their performances of three pieces in tonight’s Edge is testament to just how willing this young company is to get out of their comfort zones and simply try something new, occasional awkward hiphop moves be damned. Continue reading ‘Contact 2010! Edge! Gangsters! Hiphop! Down with comfort zones!’
I’m looking at Contact 2010’s programme and I realised all the shows are, if I must pull out that card, value for money. The opening show last weekend had three pieces. The coming show Edge has four. The studio presentations at least four each time. A bargain don’t you think?
Tonight’s Momento also presented four pieces: Lee Ren Xin’s Do You Miss Me? (picture), Alison Chong’s Deafening Silence and Cumulus by Yarra Ileto (all performed by THE Second Company) and Taiwanese Chou Shu-Yi’s solo Start With The Body. Continue reading ‘Contact 2010! Momento! Lightbulb! Chairs!’
Fresh from their Paris/Dubai tour, T.H.E. Dance Company will now be doing some hip-hop.
Word up.
For one of their performances at their Contact 2010 contemporary dance festival (or “intensive” as they like to call it), they’ll be wearing all white and doing lots of hip-hop stuff. Seriously. No bling though.
But actually it’s a collaboration with Korean choreographer/composer Kim Jae Duk titled Bohemian Parody.
They performed the opening sequence for a casual preview this afternoon at NUS’s dance studio.
See the sneakers? Word. Continue reading ‘Contact 2010! Sneak peak! Swee Boon and gang go hip hop!’
