Immersive dance experience ponders over memory and form, utilising space and projections to transform a space into a bastion of dreams.

The beauty of dance often lies in the way the performers move and adapt to their chosen space and soundtrack, transforming their bodies to elevate the space and turn mere atmosphere into a complete experience. In Sigma Contemporary Dance’s newest work, the contemporary dance company takes things one step further, and chooses the unusual, outdoor location of Raeburn Park, integrating the relationship and connection between urbanity and nature into their choreography, alongside the interplay of permanence and change, with Streams Where Deer Drink.

Choreographed by Hong Guofeng and Christina Chan, Streams Where Deer Drink is a roving site-specific performance that begins near the building’s steps. We are provided with an audio device where we listen to the music ourselves, while we follow the dancers as they lead us on a journey around the entire compound. The dancers begin climbing, before gathering at the reservoir. A spotlight shines down, moving alongside them, and they seem to be chasing and following it. Watching two dancers dressed in robes, the momentum begins to shift, and now we find ourselves on the third floor, as the dancers begin to talk about the lake, and the dance of the swans beneath the water. They begin to throw cloth down from the top, while one of the dancers goes up the illuminated stairs, pointing at the shallow part of the lake, bounded by the thoughts that consume her as she begins to perform a physically intense dance.

As we move in, two more dancers arrive, all clad in cloth, the lighting imaginative and shining down on them. They seem to have been preparing for their arrival, embracing, and we get the impression that they’re all born from the same cloth. But as they separate, they suddenly seem more detached, and as we follow them, approaching the end of the corridor we see two doors. We wonder if they are merely a memory, or in the present, as they move around. Their movements almost in a strange merry-go-round, we keep pace with the track and carefully follow them up the stairs, precariously.

Roving about in their own clothing, the dancers check on the smooth ceiling, displaying projections of them almost crawling around, a strong sense of atmosphere even in this enclosed space. As we get to the top, we are now exposed to the corridors, as the elements and the dancers go in between us, occupying both sides of the corridor, almost tracing their route to enter the classroom from the bus stop outside. 

As they recount their memories, there is a sense of nostalgia, recalling the reasons why they come to class. As the three female dancers hug, their costumes spill out and around the space. What is their motivation, one might ask – perhaps it is to simply leave one’s burdens and worries at the door, leaving only joy when they are left to dance with wild abandon. The dancers are comfortable in each other’s presence, showing trust in each other as the sci-fi-like sounds reverberate around us, immersing us in a dreamscape. We are following them to the end of this journey, watching as they carry the burdens and hopes of each other, collecting the sunsets as the water collects shadows in the reservoir.

We hear chimes, and they look at each other, their movements going faster and faster, forming a whirlwind that expels energy throughout. They hop into each other’s arms and they are safe and secure, smiles spreading across their faces. Amidst the chaos and challenges of life, the fast pace and speed of life itself, there is a moment of peace in the eye of the storm, they breathe in and out, and find solace in each other in this space.

Lonely as it may be, their worlds dramatically collide and collapse into each other, company in strangeness, sharing in the love of each other’s presence. In following these dancers around to different spaces, we are taken on a journey with those that have walked this path to the studio, understanding their trials and tribulations, and their eventual satisfaction and love for what they do and why they do it, a core part of the Sigma identity that has remained steadfast and exciting to watch.

Streams Where Deer Drink plays monthly till 6th September 2025 at 10 Raeburn Park, Singapore 088702. Tickets and more information available here

Production Credits:

Direction & Choreography Hong Guofeng & Christina Chan in collaboration with the performers Videography & Projection Hong Guofeng Music & Sound Design Redwan Hamzah Costume Design Audrey Ng Text Neo Hai Bin Performers Au Shu Qi, Bernice Liau, Cherilyn Chia, Chua Chiok Woon, Foo Qi En, Germaine Cheng, Kong Weijie, Leong Kit Yee, Mark Tay & Tajima Emiri