Purⓔ《纯ⓔ》: How do we talk about Art Form X?
By Jocelyn Chng (1,800 words, 4-minute read) When I accepted the opportunity to write this piece on Purⓔ《纯ⓔ》, I did it feeling a bit like a shipwreck survivor re-approaching water for the first time. As someone who was already struggling…
M1 CONTACT: Dance artists talk mental health
Four artists, Ruby Jayaseelan, Irfan Kasban, Fabio Liberti and Xenres Kirishima Chi Ji Hong, get personal as they talk about mental health issues in relation to works they have been developing for M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival. Ruby and Irfan…
The working processes of artists: Kavitha Krishnan
Kavitha Krishnan, creative director and co-founder of Maya Dance Theatre, shares about her start in the traditional dance form Bharatanatyam, and how she also incorporates contemporary techniques and practices into the company’s work. This video is conceptualised and directed by…
The top ArtsEquator articles of 2019
Here’s a list of the top 10 ArtsEquator articles in 2019: Enter Stage Right: Tay Tong by ArtsEquator “It is amazing how one’s identity is so associated with one’s job. Especially for me – after 30 years, all of…
Podcast 71: ArtsEquator End-of-Year Dance Podcast 2019
Soultari Amin Farid, Chan Sze-Wei and Germaine Cheng discuss their top picks for dance in 2019, and discuss trends they’ve observed in the scene this year. Duration: 36 minutes Stream Podcast 71: Also available on Spotify. Download Podcast 71 here (right-click…
Progress at work: “Forward Shift” at da:ns festival
By Bernice Lee (1,507 words, 7-minute read) Forward Shift, a new platform for works-in-progress within Esplanade’s da:ns festival, begins with much fanfare. Members of the public were treated to three performance experiments featuring artists whose artistic and audience development have…
The Traditional Body, The Contemporary Mind and The (Dancing) Mother
By January Low (1,693 words, 7-minute read) A little over a year ago, I was invited to be a part of MI(X)G, Festival Tokyo’s 2018 opening production, and the cherry on the sundae was to work together with legendary Thai…
The working processes of artists: Raka Maitra from CHOWK
In this video, LASALLE students Ernie Martha and Raesmi Nambiar speak to Raka Maitra, founder and artistic director of CHOWK, on the practice of contemporary dance in Singapore, her roots as a classical Odissi dancer in India and the challenges…
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,…
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…
Podcast 48: Interview with Bilqis Hijjas
Duration: 32 min In this month’s dance podcast, host Amin Farid chats with Malaysian dance practitioner and writer Bilqis Hijjas on wide-ranging topics from her roles as president of MyDance Alliance and director of the dance programme Rimbun Dahan, to her thoughts on the…
“Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច)”: De-cyphering Conversation
By Nah Dominic (1080 words, five-minute read) A white circle 10 metres in diameter greets us on entering the flexible performance space in Loft 29. I stand next to B-boy Erak Mith of Tiny Toones (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). He is…
AExGTF Chats: “Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច)” at George Town Festival
Between Tiny Cities (រវាងទីក្រុងតូច), a two-hander dance performance dovetailing b-boy vocabulary with contemporary dance, was the result of a three-year cultural exchange between Tiny Toones in Cambodia and Darwin City Rockers in Australia. It was presented at George Town Festival…
Astrid Boons: Belgian Choreographer brings “Vestige” to Singapore
By Bernice Lee (974 words, 5 minute read) I caught Astrid Boons between rehearsals in Korzo for Vestige. She’s preparing to restage the work, rehearsing with a new cast member who had thankfully been part of the original creative process….
Podcast 43: Paradigm Shift; Contemporary and Street Dance
Duration: 30 mins In this month’s dance podcast Chan Sze-Wei chats with Hwa Wei-An and Luqman, two dancers who move between the worlds of contemporary dance and street dance. Wei-An is the organiser of Paradigm Shift, a contemporary-based dance platform…
“Garden Uprooted”: Fluctuations of Silence
By Chloe Chotrani (990 words, 4-minute read) Garden Uprooted is a performance work drawing from nature as the source, a collaboration with The Philharmonic Orchestra Singapore and The Arts Fission Company. Subtle tonalities slowly seep into the theatre, and contradicting…
“OCD Love” by L-E-V Dance Company: Mental Illness Plus Dance Equals Ballet and Horror
By Chan Sze-Wei (849 words, 5 minute read) L-E-V Dance company’s OCD Love is tightly choreographed and intense in its physicality, as might be expected from a choreographer issuing from years dancing, choreographing and directing for the iconic Batsheva Company…
Podcast 37: “Joget” and “Intersections: Traditionally Speaking”
Duration: 26 min ArtsEquator’s dance podcast series returns this year, after a short hiatus, with a lively and thoughtful discussion between Chan Sze-Wei, (dance-maker, performance-maker and sometime trouble-maker; Chloe Chotrani (movement artist, writer and gardener); and Soultari Amin Farid (choreographer,…
Notes from the Indonesian Dance Festival Workshop
Su-Wen Chi was one of four mentors at a week long workshop for young dancers at the Indonesian Dance Festival in Bobor, West Java in May this year. She recounts her experience working with contemporary Asian dancers and opening her…