And Suddenly I Disappear: An Interview with Director Phillip Zarrilli and Writer Kaite O’Reilly

For years, Singaporeans have considered disability arts on a different scale from regular performing arts, often relegating it to the point of charity or pity, and considering its performers ‘second class citizens’. This May, though, UK-based veteran theatremakers Phillip Zarrilli and Kaite O’Reilly will be showing Singapore and the world what deaf and disabled arts is really all about with their new production And Suddenly I Disappear: … Continue reading And Suddenly I Disappear: An Interview with Director Phillip Zarrilli and Writer Kaite O’Reilly

Review: Sides 2018 by Frontier Danceland

A triple bill of original, contemporary choreographies.  Last weekend, local contemporary dance company Frontier Danceland presented their annual mid-year showcase of works, with a triple bill of new, original choreographies titled SIDES 2018. In SIDES 2018, audiences spectated upon the three vastly different styles by various international choreographers – English Richard Chappell and local company artist Faye Tan’s The colour of there seen from here, Israeli Shahar Binyamini’s PARADISO, and French … Continue reading Review: Sides 2018 by Frontier Danceland

SIFA 2018: Concluding Thoughts on A New Director and A New Festival

Nobody likes change. Humans are very much creatures of habit, and when things get shaken up, we naturally feel a little uncomfortable. So it comes as no surprise that when Gaurav Kripalani was first announced to take over as the new Festival Director of the Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA) from 2018-2020, many reflected upon his appointment with a little hesitation and some … Continue reading SIFA 2018: Concluding Thoughts on A New Director and A New Festival

Review: The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake (co-presented by Sliding Doors Entertainment and Theatre Tours International)

The Russians know best how to present a timeless classic.  There are few ballets that have as much staying power, infinite mystery and enchantment as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and it stands to reason that there must have been something magical in its original staging that’s captured the hearts of so many fans ever since it first opened in Russia in 1877. So it is that the St Petersburg … Continue reading Review: The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake (co-presented by Sliding Doors Entertainment and Theatre Tours International)

Preview: And Suddenly I Disappear – The Singapore ‘d’ Monologues

The word ‘disabled’ has never meant anything more than ‘differently abled’ and this May, a number of award-winning artists from Singapore and the UK will prove just that  as they present the world premiere of a brand new, unique theatrical performance: And Suddenly I Disappear. Described as ‘an international theatrical dialogue of difference, disability, and what it is to be human’, And Suddenly I Disappear is inspired by … Continue reading Preview: And Suddenly I Disappear – The Singapore ‘d’ Monologues

SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Review)

Tap meets blues in an unlikely but effective collaboration. Is tap dance merely all show and no soul? Or is it possible that given the right music, tap can be a genre catapulted far beyond its stereotypical impression, into a form that seethes with expression and aches with emotion? Furious, rhythmic tap and slowed down, soulful blues might appear to be strange bedfellows at first, … Continue reading SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Review)

SIFA 2018: OCD Love by L-E-V Dance Company (Review)

Mesmerising, muscular bodies tangle with the simultaneous pain and allure of the mental condition.  Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD for short, is characterised as a state by which a person’s mind is constantly occupied by cycles of intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. It’s an invisible condition that only really becomes evident when you know someone, and is often a lifelong state an afflicted person finds … Continue reading SIFA 2018: OCD Love by L-E-V Dance Company (Review)

SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Preview)

Created by an all-star creative team consisting of tap dance extraordinaire Michelle Dorrance, acclaimed choreographer Derick K. Grant, genre-busting musician Toshi Reagon, and tap dance maestress Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, The Blues Project sees tap dancing break into the modern world set to emotive blues in an explosive fusion of American themes and styles. A multi-genre, multi-medium style performance, The Blues Project unites original live music with raw emotion and dance … Continue reading SIFA 2018: The Blues Project by Dorrance Dance (Preview)

SIFA 2018: OCD Love by L-E-V Dance Company (Preview)

Enter the world of Israel based L-E-V Dance Company’s OCD Love. Based off Neil Hilborn’s famous viral spoken word poem about love lost to the speaker’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD Love interprets the poem with a fierce viscerality, as dancers move to DJ Ori Lichtik’s techno beats to present an epic struggle between the head and the heart. Stylistically abstract, watch as bodies move completely in sync with each other, orbiting and … Continue reading SIFA 2018: OCD Love by L-E-V Dance Company (Preview)

SIFA 2018: Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (Review)

  SIFA 2018 opens on a chilling note with this dystopian modern classic.  Considered by many to be George Orwell’s magnum opus, 1984 has become the go to model for a dystopian world, a culmination of everything we should avoid becoming at all costs. Yet this is a warning the world seems to have forgotten to heed, as the chilling reality of a society plagued by surveillance … Continue reading SIFA 2018: Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s 1984 (Review)