Preview: 慢慢走 – Walk Slowly by RAW Moves

What is our everyday? This is the overarching question posed in the second iteration of interdisciplinary collaborators Ebelle Chong, Neo Hong Chin and Pat Toh’s 慢慢走 – Walk Slowly.

As part of RAW Moves’ Run Another Way programme, Walk Slowly is an experiment in movement that reflects upon the rhythms and motions of everyday life. Walk Slowly takes advantage of the accessibility of the domestic, creating whole swaths of expression by trimming down the lives of its performers into easily identifiable gestures. Given the personal histories (of performer and audience member), some of these gestures inevitably seem more special than others. This, in turn, raises some interesting questions: why are daily routines so absurd? Why do we want to watch what others do (and not what we ourselves do)?

Walk Slowly’s focus on non-dance stylisation is also evident in the ensemble choice – Chong has put together a team mixing dance practitioners with theatre-based performers, mimicking the wider non-dance audience Raw Moves is interested in attracting. Since the performance’s first iteration in July, several of its finer elements have been refashioned – particularly with the addition of two performers (Jeryl Lee and Matthew Goh) and the stories they brought.

During the preview session, the five performers acknowledged each other as distinct influences on their own methods of acting and perhaps, more importantly, the gestures they chose to perform. These discursive rehearsals show – Walk Slowly is at heart deeply therapeutic in process and in performance.

By Edward Eng for Bakchormeeboy

慢慢走 – Walk Slowly will be performed at the Goodman Arts Centre Multi-purpose Studios 1 and 2 from 5th – 7th October. Tickets available via Peatix

慢慢走 – Walk Slowly
When: 5th – 7th October, 8pm (all dates), 3pm (6th and 7th Oct)
Where: Goodman Arts Centre, Multi-purpose Studio 1 & 2 (Containers)