Dance_Space_2008
18 October 2008, The Substation
While I was in Singapore for the da:ns festival, I took the opportunity to visit The Substation for the first time, and caught part of a day-long forum of local independent choreographers discussing their artistic practice. It was organised by independent dramaturge Tang Fukuen, who also produced the work Seen:Silent that I had seen the previous evening at the Esplanade.
Unfamiliar with the independent dance scene in Singapore, I was content to sit in the back and quietly observe the trends and dynamics. Most of the artists presenting at The Substation that day were male, which is not surprising – sadly, there are generally more male than female choreographers everywhere. A number of them had tertiary dance education, which is again reflective of the ‘thinking dancers’ scene in other places, particularly the US and Australia. On the whole, they were articulate and enthusiastic – no jaded laggards here! They were also charmingly, yet somewhat puzzlingly, self-deprecatory. This, I concluded, was a whole new dimension of the famous Singaporean kiasiu-ness – competing on how extremely self-consciously kiasiu they could be! Sample dialogue: “I know this is terribly kiasiu of me… *feigned blush*… but I’m going to go ahead and show my powerpoint presentation anyway!”
Aaron Khek presenting at The Substation.
Anthropological observations aside, the event was a showcase for quite a range of talent and styles. From the cross-section that I saw, the independent choreographers tend towards more conceptual work, sometimes driven by necessity, as facilities like studios and the ability to engage larger groups of dancers are often beyond their means. A someone observed, Joavien Ng’s work tends to have movement within small tightly circumscribed spaces. The reason, she said, was rather more practical than theoretical – she created all her work in her tiny living room! Some were choosing not to resort to physical space at all — Daniel K was exploring using cyberspace, instead. Thus the next generation of dance in tiny Singapore.
Textual works displayed on the Internet depart so far from traditional conceptions of dance that it is debatable whether they can be dance at all. Certainly the artists at the forum didn’t feel constrained by the need to remain within the conventions of dance. Joavien Ng, although her work is decidedly movement-based, stated that she didn’t consider some of her work dance at all. It seemed as if some of the group had adopted the term ‘choreographer’ as a convenient catch-all term for lack of a better word. When a choreographer feels the need, as did Lee Mun Wai, to point out to his audience, “My word revolves around two concepts – the body … and movement,” perhaps it is time for them to re-examine the company they keep, or perhaps to find new words to describe themselves.
Nevertheless, the most positive thing about the forum was the feel of camaraderie and mutual support that all the choreographers were offering. The lives of independent choreographers are, by nature, rather lonely – hours spent in the studio, or in contemplation of a new work, culminate in a brief performance experience, and then it’s back to the drawing board. The opportunity to come together and provide serious and attentive feedback on each other’s work is vital for the development of an independent scene, so this event must have been extremely welcome. Perhaps we could consider something similar in KL.
