Binary at M1 CONTACT 2019: Breaking all the rules with “Stigma” and “Dan-su”
By Chloe Chotrani (1,130 words, 6-minute read) The 10th anniversary edition of Binary – International Artist Showcase presented two returning artists to the festival. Last performed here in 2013, Stigma is a dark and enigmatic solo by highly acclaimed Danish…
Transgression, triggers, and the thousand cuts of “Blunt Knife”
By Corrie Tan (2,700 words, 13-minute read) Content Warning: Mentions of a sexual relationship involving a teenager This response contains major spoilers for Blunt Knife by Eng Kai Er and A Doll’s House by Theatre of Europe. Dear Kai,…
Sharjah Biennial 14: Embarrassment of Riches
By Sharaad Kuttan (878 words, 5-minute read) Landscape and memory – grand themes in the analysis of culture – came together at the Sharjah Biennial 14 (SB14) in the most unexpected ways. Perhaps for the outsider, like me, who had…
Open Call and Opportunities: June 2019 (Singapore/SEA)
[Updated as of 27 June 2019] Ten Years After: Call for articles on Asian cinema TEN YEARS AFTER is a special online-only edition of NANG magazine organised in memory of Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc, two committed young film critics who…
Reconstructing the Virtual in “Frogman”
By Shawn Chua (1,088 words, 6-minute read) Having securely fastened the headgear, I am submerged into the virtual world of Frogman. The instructional voice of the Queensland Jury service informs me through an earpiece that I have been selected at…
Asian Arts Media Roundtable 2019: When Asian Critics Meet
By Akanksha Raja and Ke Weiliang (1,444 words, 6-minute read) The inaugural Asian Arts Media Roundtable (AAMR) took place between 24 to 25 May 2019 at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Organised by ArtsEquator, the two-day gathering of over…
“Disappearing Act” “NAMUH” “DBL.TAP”: What’s In A Name? DiverCity at M1 CONTACT
The M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival returns this year for its 10th edition with 20 shows and over 30 classes and workshops. Returning platform DiverCity, which in past years was combined with M1 Open Stage, stands on its own this year…
Pretty Displaced: Staging Sexual Assault in the Age of #MeToo
By Nabilah Said (1,887 words, 7-minute read) Trigger/Content Warning: Discussions of sexual assault I watched two shows in the span of two weeks recently. Besides the fact that they were Singapore plays, they did not, from the outset, seem…
Go Big or Go Home: “Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner” Takes Flight
By Helmi Yusof (1,387 words, six-minute read) Why do people choose to go into poor, dangerous, war-torn countries to work as humanitarian workers? Do they have boundless courage, hope and kindness? Do they have a death wish? Do they believe…
“A Dream Under the Southern Bough: Reverie”: Down the Ant Hole
By Jocelyn Chng (1,138 words, five-minute read) My strongest memory from the first instalment of this three-year series by Toy Factory, A Dream Under the Southern Bough: The Beginning, was its dramatic cliffhanger of an ending. There, the protagonist, disgraced…
Mad women, divine punishment, and “Dionysus”
By Corrie Tan (1,700 words, eight-minute read) This review contains spoilers and/or plot points for The Bacchae, a 2,500-year-old ancient Greek tragedy; Beware of Pity, a 1939 German novel adapted for the stage by the Schaubühne Berlin and Complicité; as…
“Invisible Habitudes”: The Personal Goes Political Goes Global
By Nabilah Said (621 words, three-minute read) On a Monday afternoon in Goodman Arts Centre, I am watching a group of dancers working. They are leaping. They are climbing. They are pushing. They are sweating. They are making me feel…
Podcast 59: The Truth About Voguing in Asia
Duration: 20 min Podcast host Chloe Chotrani (assisted by Chan Sze-Wei) uncovers the world of vogue culture and voguing in Asia from legendary mother, Koppi Mizrahi, who hails from Tokyo, Singaporean drag queen Vanda Miss Joaquim and Singaporean dancer Amin…
“Beautiful Water”: Intercultural Theatre Made in Threes
By Ken Takiguchi (1,229 words, 6-minute read) As I enter the auditorium of Kirari Fujimi, a public theatre located about one hour away from the centre of Tokyo, I find myself in the waters of somewhere in Asia. The audience…
Reframing Colonialism: “Civilised” by The Necessary Stage
By Naeem Kapadia (954 words, 4-minute read) There has been a slew of works responding to the bicentennial of Singapore’s founding by Sir Stamford Raffles, an event that the authorities have chosen to spend all year celebrating through a series…
The Paris Opera Ballet performs Crystal Pite’s “The Seasons’ Canon”: Esplanade’s da:ns series 2019
By Elizabeth Chan (750 words, four-minute read) The prestigious Paris Opera Ballet arrives on local shores this June as part of Esplanade’s da:ns series, bringing with them a trio of wide ranging works. These include the stories of romantic love…
Silent Rooms, Silent Memories: “Flowers” by Drama Box
By Akanksha Raja (1,155 words, 5-minute read) It’s a series of plastic white flower-fans lining the fence of 74 Jalan Kelabu Asap that lets me know that I’ve arrived at the site of Drama Box’s first work of 2019, Flowers,…
Open Calls and Opportunities: May 2019 (Singapore)
National Youth Film Awards: Call for Entry (Deadline extended) Set up to promote and celebrate youth filmmakers, the National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) is a national award that seeks to instill a greater appreciation of film, fuel the passion for…
Does Singapore Theatre Have a Directing Problem?
By Adam Marple (1,781 words, 9-minute read) I always tell people this, right, if there was an international convention that invites the main people, directors from Singapore over, and that plane crashes, we’re screwed, right? We don’t have anything…
Confronting Truths in Ho Tzu Nyen’s “The Mysterious Lai Teck”
By Patricia Tobin (736 words, 3-minute read) Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for The Mysterious Lai Teck, which will run from 17 to 19 May at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. “I am the shadow of Ho Chi Minh,”…
The Body Remembers: Kitt Johnson on “Stigma” at M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2019
By Germaine Cheng (605 words, three-minute read) 2019 marks the 10th edition of the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, a humble endeavour by Kuik Swee Boon, artistic director of T.H.E Dance Company, that has expanded to be an incredible force…
What If Your Body Turns into a Sculpture?: Interview with Sasha Waltz on “Körper” at SIFA 2019
By Winnie Chen Dixon (600 words, four-minute read) Have you ever imagined dancers’ bodies turning into sculptures, as if time stood still? This is the impression of Körper (Body), the signature dance performance of this year’s edition of the Singapore…
Unravelling the History of Nudity in Singapore Theatre
By Akanksha Raja (2144 words, nine-minute read) The naked body on stage (even if only imagined) has a potent social power: taboos surrounding the body can shock and offend some Singaporeans. But when did this start? How has public response…
The Beauty of Time and Image: “ST/LL” at SIFA 2019
Seamlessly blending the digital image, live dance and a richly evocative music score, ST/LL is startlingly beautiful treat for the eyes and the ears. This production celebrates the performance collaboration of composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and visual and multimedia artist Shiro Takatani. (Sakamoto’s concert Fragments, with visuals…
“Miss British”: Embodying the Post-Colonial Complaint
By Aparna Nambiar (1440 words, six-minute read) “How has colonialism affected you?” This question flashes upon the giant screens that span the studio walls of The Esplanade Theatre Studio. Miss British, directed by Felipe Cervera and devised by The Art of Strangers…
Open Calls and Opportunities: April 2019 (Singapore)
Auditions for The Second Breakfast Company’s The Hawker We are casting for our upcoming production this coming November! Interested participants can email us your CV and headshot by 26 April. Auditions* will be held 3 – 5 May. *Only shortlisted…
Frontier Danceland’s “LEAP 2019”: Showcasing the Scholars of PULSE 2018/19
By Jocelyn Chng (930 words, four-minute read) LEAP is an annual platform from contemporary dance company Frontier Danceland, showcasing the young trainee dancers of the M1-Frontier Danceland PULSE Programme. The PULSE Programme is now in its ninth year, and since…
Book Review: “The State and The Arts in Singapore: Policies and Institutions”
By Chin Ailin (734 words, four-minute read) Commissioned by the Institute of Policy Studies of Singapore (IPS) to trace the course of cultural policy in Singapore from the 1950s to the present, The State and the Arts in Singapore: Policies and…
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan: Between East and West, Heaven and Earth
By Stephanie Burridge (800 words, four-minute read) Sustainability, remaining fresh and engaging is challenging in the present day, content-saturated global world. Lin Hwai-min and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan are among a handful of contemporary dance companies that have…
“Gold Rain and Hailstones”: There and Back Again
By Carmen Nge (1593 words, six-minute read) It was a Wednesday night and DPAC was packed. It’s just as well the staging of Gold Rain and Hailstones experienced a 10-minute delay because theatregoers kept streaming in well past 8:30 PM….