LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) share the stage once again with da:ns festival in The Next Generation.
From the 20th to the 22nd of October, audiences in Singapore can see the new wave of contemporary dancers taking over the stage at Esplanade with determination and confidence. My job as dance writer and choreographer cross paths for the first time, in this article as I write about my own work, as well as others.
NAFA has commissioned two new dance works for the stage alongside the re-staging of an alumnus dance piece.
The program showcases the versatility of the dance faculty and students at NAFA, lending its voice to independent choreographers in Singapore. Opening the evening, Lee Wan Yu brings a group of sharp female dancers to take-charge in an empowering an arresting dance piece with Her Voice.
Jereh Leong presents a quintet; Flux. Establishing the work as ” a state of perpetual motion both physically and emotionally.” Defying the dancers to excel in their movement research and choreography.
I am delighted to have been invited to create a new dance piece for the dance faculty at NAFA. In the last couple of months, I created Punch Me. My approach to this work is to harness the fugacious, platonic and fleeting moments of pleasure in dance. The arresting sound compositions of Nicolas Jaar kick off this party and celebration of joy. I am working to prolong the juncture when choreography becomes sensual – exploring dance as pleasure, dance as a selfish cathartic action, crucial in this day and age of fleeting connections amongst one another.
LASALLE College of the Arts presents three different choreographies. An excerpt from Silences We Are Familiar With by Kuik Swee Boon, as well as a new piece by Lee Jae-young. Martin Schick returns to Singapore to present a new work in progress. You might remember his extraordinary performance last year with HALFBREADTECHNIQUE.