ANNEX 1
FORWARD MOVES
I. Providence
Staging Concept & ChoreographyDanny Tan
Performer Danny Tan
Teochew Vocals Lee Sze Yau
Music Coming Home by Yungchen Lhamo
Chinese Movements Advisor Ong Choon Mui
Original Lighting Design Suven Chan
Production Manager Ann Tan
Production Assistant Goh Shou Yi
Danny Tan (2004 Young Artist Award), founder & artistic director of Odyssey Dance Theatre, presents his solo debut at the Singapore Arts Festival in his personal capacity as a performer. He traces his roots in Providence through the vocals of Teochew opera performed by Lee Sze You (2000 Young Artist Award, Theatre), bridging the Chinese tradition with contemporary sensibility.
II. Touch-Me-Not
Choreographer Elysa Wendi
Dancers Scarlet Yu, Bobbi Chen
Music If you go away, sung by Cyndi Lauper (played & processed through portable CD player by Roslina Bte Yusoff)
With special acknowledgement of The ARTS FISSION Company
A path we travel daily
Through time past and present,
Through days bright and dim,
No particular beginning, no particular end
Blank stares and familiar nods,
We walk each other’s steps,
We take each other’s moves.
One starts at this way, one stops at that end.
Only if we know, even just so briefly
We shall move together,
But start at no particular moment, and stop at no particular end.
Dedicated to Steffi and Oliver, this dance piece pays tribute to all the little incidental instances that make our routine existence bearable.
III. Somewhere…We hear
Choreographer Kuik Swee Boon
Assistant Choreographer Silvia Yong Chew Ee
DancersSilvia Yong Chew Ee, Cheah Mei Sing,
Ricky Sim, Albert Tiong
Lighting Designer Lee Bee Bee & Kuik Swee Boon
Set, Costume designer, and Kuik Swee Boon
Photographer
MusicWulu Mist from Mihumisa(n)g (David Daling)
Serra Pelada from Powaqqatsi (Philip Glass)
Opening, Piano Duo and Cello Duo from Century of Reform (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
“During my time in Spain, I have witnessed many migrants. These nameless multitudes and their fates have led me to think about the idea of an endless search – the cause, the pursuit, the things they seek and risk, the culture and people they have left behind. Some who have arrived have been unfortunate and have risked everything and lost even more. Even when one does not move physically, perhaps in one's heart, there is also a sense of restlessness, of wanting something more, of the desire to seek and find.”
---Kuik Swee Boon
IV. Standing In the Middle of Our See-Saw
ChoreographerAaron Khek Ah Hock
DancerIx Wong Thien Pau
Costume Designer Ix Wong Thien Pau
Sound DesignerAaron Khek Ah Hock
Music Arvo Part and Steve Reich
“The space - of a breath, a stare, a thought, a single gesture, a note, a sound, mind-maps, imagery, stories… Ix and myself never once stop choreographing. Witnessing authenticity turning into historic remnants drives us to seize every opportunity to dance with life.”
---Aaron Khek
ANNEX 2
FORWARD MOVES
Choreographers’ Profiles
Danny Tan
Danny, 2004 Young Artist Award for Dance, received his Master of Fine Arts in dance from the Queensland University of Technology in 1999. He is the founder and artistic director of Odyssey Dance Theatre (ODT) Ltd, a full-time professional contemporary dance company since 1999. Originally trained in Chinese classical and ethnic dance, he was trained in ballet and contemporary dance since 1993. As an accomplished dancer & choreographer, his works have graced theatres in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan. Danny’s works represented Singapore at the ASEAN Festival of Arts (Malaysia), Asian Dance Choreographers Festival (Korea), Seoul International Crossover Improvisation Dance Festival and Busan International Beach Dance Festival. His company made its European debut at the HIGH FEST Armenian International Theatre Festival in 2005. Recently, he was the first Singaporean to perform at Yokohama Dance Collection R, a foremost contemporary dance platform in Japan. As producer for two biennial dance festivals – Xposition ‘O’ Contemporary Dance Fiesta and DanzINC – International Dancers & Choreographers Residency Festival, Danny has created nine full-length works and more than 20 short works to date. With PROVIDENCE at Singapore Arts Festival 2006, Danny will present two more world premieres in 2006 – HOMELY; HEART at Summer DanceFit and GARDEN IN MY HEART at DanzINC.
Elysa Wendi
Elysa joined The ARTS FISSION Company in 1999 and became Assistant Artistic Director in 2003. She has a dance degree from Queensland University of Technology and a diploma from LASALLE-SIACollege of the Arts. Her first choreography, Subterrestrials, as part of the Late-Nite Series of the Singapore Arts Festival 2000, took place in a defunct Chinese restaurant and examined traditional family ties at a Chinese New Year reunion dinner. Her two full-length works are Siau Ling – Timeless Living in2003 which commented on the intercultural tension in Indonesia based on the novel of the same title and Intimate Letters in 2005, a dance installation that traced the evolution of letters in the age of mobile text and email. Her short creation of Mountain and a Flower reflected the disparity of old culture in a changing environment and was invited to perform at the Bangkok Fringe Festival 2004. She was awarded thrice the NAC’s Artist Training Grant with which she did intercultural dance study in Solo in Indonesia 2003, and attended the Tanz Im August – Internationales Tanzfest in Berlin 2004 and the Choreographic and Research Centre in Royaumont, France 2005.
Kuik Swee Boon
Swee Boon began training with Batu Pahat Dance Troupe in Malaysia as a part-time dancer before joining the Singapore PA Dance Company and receiving further training in various dance genres. He then joined the Singapore Dance Theatre in 1991 for 11 years and performed principal roles. He was a finalist at the 5th Asian Pacific Ballet Competition in 1995 and was nominated for the Benois De La Danse prize at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2003. In 2002, he joined Compania Nacional de Danza in Spain as a principal dancer under the direction of Nacho Duato. Dancing mainly in neo-classical and contemporary styles, he performed many pieces by major choreographers like Kylian, Forsythe, Ohad Naharin and Mats Ek. With the diverse experience he has gained, he now focuses on choreography and finding his own unique style.
Aaron Khek Ah Hock
Aaron graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in 2000 from the Hong KongAcademy for the Performing Arts, where he majored in choreography and dance pedagogy. He represented the academy with his choreography at the 1999 International Federation of Dance Academies in the United States and the Prague International Dance Festival 2000. Upon returning to Singapore in 2001, he joined The ARTS FISSION Company. A year later, Aaron joined the Singapore Dance Theatre as Outreach Partner and was one of the two finalists for the company’s Young Choreographer Platform. He also performed for the grand opening of The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in collaboration with Australian installation art group Bambuco. He was Singapore’s representative at the World Dance Alliance conference held in Dusseldorf in 2002. At the end of 2002, he co-founded the contemporary dance company, Ah Hock and Peng Yu (AHPY). Currently, he is a volunteer dance teacher with the Breast Cancer Foundation, sharing his dance experience through the programme, Arts for Therapy.
AHPY has received commissions from the Arts House at the Old Parliament for its grand opening with Big Daddy Says and the Singapore Arts Festival 2004 world premiere of Peng Yu. It was invited to the 2nd Asia-Europe Dance Forum in Berlin in 2004 and collaborated with international guest artists from the Taipei Cross Over Dance Company in Asunder 2005.
ANNEX 3
FORWARD MOVES
Dancers’ Profiles & Credits
Touch-Me-Not
Scarlet Yu Mei Wah
Scarlet joined The ARTS FISSION Company in 2000 soon after she graduated with Professional Certificate in Performing Arts (Dance) from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. She became Rehearsal Director in 2003. She has assumed many memorable solo roles in the company’s repertoire. She danced the mesmerizing whisper solo in the Company’s tour of Shadowhouses in 2003 to the Kampnagel in Hamburg, Germany. She partnered Korean choreographer and dancerPark Hobin in the key duet of 12 SMS Across the Mountains, a Seoul International Dance Festival and Singapore Arts Festival co-commission work in 2004/5.
Bobbi Chen Si Yun
Bobbi joined The ARTS FISSION Company as an apprentice in June 2004 soon after she graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with a diploma in dance, and danced for the Company’s 10th year retrospective in 2004 in Shadowhouses and Corridor of Another Time. She became full-time dancer in August 2004 and performed 12 SMS Across the Mountain, Scarlet’s Room – SingaporeCanada Co-production and the role of the chrysanthemum eater in Mountain and a Flower. Prior to her modern dance training in Singapore, Bobbi was one of the top graduates from the GuangdongDanceAcademy in 2001, majoring in classical Chinese dance.
Somewhere…We hear
Silvia Yong Chew Ee
Silvia received her initial training in Chinese and contemporary dance. She performed throughout Malaysia with the Batu Pahat Dance Troupe before joining Singapore People’s Association Dance Company in 1990. From 2000-2004, she was the principal dancer and assistant to artistic director at Odyssey Dance Theatre. She has participated severally in the Singapore Arts Festival, toured overseas, and actively performed with local dance companies like Ecnad and The ARTS FISSION Company. In 2005, she became a freelance artist and was recently invited to perform in Hong Kong.
Cheah Mei Sing
Mei Sing studied under Goh Soo Khim, Carol Ainsworth and Anthony Then at the SingaporeBalletAcademy. After being an apprentice at the Singapore Dance Theatre in 1991, she received the Shell Centenery Scholarship to study at the AustralianBalletSchool. She became a full member of the SDT in 1995. She was the rehearsal assistant for various full-length ballets in 1998, 2001 and 2005. She retired in December 2005 and is now teaching at the SingaporeBalletAcademy and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Ricky Sim
Ricky received his MFA in dance under the Shell-NAC Arts Scholarship, and has worked as a professional dancer for more than 10 years with dance and theatre companies, such as The ARTS FISSION Company; Ecnad Project Limited; Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble; Singapore Dance Theatre; Katsura Kan & Saltibanques (Japan), and as soloist dancer in Theatre Nordhausen (Germany). He has taught internationally and is currently working as an independent artist and is Associate Director of the dance education company - Moving Arts. He is a member of the Conseil International De La Danse – UNESCO and member of the World Dance Alliance (Singapore).
Albert Tiong
Albert graduated from the Hong KongAcademy for Performing Arts in 1996. He was a full-time professional dancer at Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan from 1996 to 1999. He was invited as a guest artist at the Hong Kong Dance Company in 2000 and was the Principal Dancer at Odyssey Dance Theatre from 2000-2003. His experience includes teaching contemporary dance in Hong Kong and Malaysia, and in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, LASALLE-SIA, and People’s Association in Singapore. He also teaches yoga on a freelance basis.
Standing In the Middle of Our See-Saw
Ix Wong Thien Pau
Ix Wong graduated with Advanced and Professional Diploma in contemporary dance from the Hong KongAcademy for Performing Arts. He has performed in the works of Lin Hwai-Min (Cloud Gate), Willy Tsao (CCDC) and Rosalind Newman (HKNY) in Hong Kong. Upon graduation, he started his professional career with the City Contemporary Dance Company in Hong Kong from 1998 to 2000 where he danced in major roles created by Yuri Ng, Helen Lai, Willy Tsao, and Zhang Xiao-Xiong, and toured extensively in Europe. In 2000, he joined The ARTS FISSION Company as rehearsal director, choreographer and dancer. At the end of 2002, he co-founded Ah Hock and Peng Yu (AHPY). He is now an independent artist and also holds the co-artistic directorship of AHPY. He is also the resident choreographer of St.JamesPrimary School in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Credits
Production Manager: Edwin Chee
Stage Manager:Shining Goh
Lighting Designer:Lee Bee Bee
Special thanks to LASALLE-SIACollege of the Arts for providing rehearsal space.
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