The third edition of the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s da:ns focus – Connect Asia Now (CAN) takes place over a weekend this September, presenting three works that push the boundaries of dance, and uniting the unique perspectives of artists from the Asia Pacific. Imagining the future through dance, watch as Antony Hamilton, Choy Ka Fai and Pichet Klunchun reimagine the limitations and potentials of physical bodies against a backdrop of rapid shifts in technological developments, as well as social political movements and choreographic landscapes.

Led by artistic director Antony Hamilton, Australian contemporary dance company Chunky Move presents its latest work U>N>I>T>E>D, at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade. Co-commissioned by Esplanade, the work is a major international collaboration involving Balinese experimental music group Gabber Modus Operandi, Bali-based streetwear label Future Loundry, and Australian global leaders in animatronic design, Creature Technology Co. The work is part of Chunky Move’s “speculative future” performance series and imagines a utopian world where humans and machines commune.

With thunderous fury, U>N>I>T>E>D offers audiences an epic vision of machine mysticism. A synthesis of body, machine and spirit is embodied by six masterful dancers who give life to lurking energies latent within the industrial environment of our world. Drawing from its artists’ individual artistic and cultural practices, U>N>I>T>E>D honours technologies and rituals both ancient and contemporary, imagining a world of mythic proportions in which earthly forms commune with the gods of the machine world.

SoftMachine: The Return by Choy Ka Fai is a reflection on the last 10 years of dance-making in Asia. A decade after Esplanade first commissioned SoftMachine for da:ns festival 2015, SoftMachine: The Return is a project that weaves together a decade of experiments in dance-making through the critical lens of five Asian artists: Rianto (Banyumas, Indonesia), Surjit Nongmeikapam (Manipur, India), Xiao Ke x Zihan (Shanghai, China), and Yuya Tsukahara (Osaka, Japan), presenting four solo performative experiences, each reflecting on the artist’s biography and practice.

As a whole, the SoftMachine project desires a return to the body, to think together about dance and beyond, while negotiating its own knowledge archive to generate relevant dialogues on contemporary dance in Asia. An excerpt of the 2020 docufilm SoftMachine Redux: Yuya POV Edition will also be available to watch for free on Esplanade Offstage, as part of Replay – Screenings from the Esplanade Archives, the digital component of 60 Connections.

Pichet Klunchun, another artist Esplanade has worked closely with over the years, returns with his latest solo work and an Esplanade commission. Bold yet contemplative Chapter 2 sees Pichet looking back on his artistic practice to understand the evolution of his methods and intellectual desires, through the challenges and limitations he has faced.

In Chapter 2, he returns to scrutinize his own physical dancing body, this time with the wisdom of asking how his sustained injury now negotiates with itself and with the standard that khon dance demands. He opens an affective conversation with AI on issues of embodiment and expressivity, and also of co-authoring a performance. The question “Can AI dance with feeling?” becomes a mirror that reflects back on Pichet himself: in what ways is he becoming mechanical, emotionally less human?

Beyond the main programmes in CAN, the Esplanade continues to partner with Dance Nucleus with VECTOR #6: The Sound of Intimacy, as it explores how solitude and collectivity shape artistic encounters today. Through interactive installations, improvisational scores, bodily sound and live sampling, the artists craft intimate exchanges that are at once personal and collective. Artefacts in varied media appear alongside a series of live performances, inviting audiences into a sensory field shaped by proximity, listening, and technological mediation.

In a time of fractured togetherness, The Sound of Intimacy asks how we attune to one another—and to ourselves—reminding us that the negotiation of intimacy between the individual and the collective is not only central to the performing arts, but also to the cultural politics of our time. The programme of VECTOR#6 will also include studio presentations by participants of da:ns LAB 2025.

Bringing together artists from Asia Pacific and beyond, Connect Asia Now (CAN) promises a weekend of movement, of speculation and reflection on futuristic ideas and transcultural dialogue, in a fractured world to offer a space of solidarity in artmaking and beyond.

da:ns focus – Connect Asia Now (CAN) taking place from 25th to 28th September 2025 at the Esplanade. Tickets and full programme available here