Review: Puffing Bodies by Maya Dance Theatre and IPTanz

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 4/12/19) A collection of choreographies wrestling with our complex relationship with our bodies and the societal expectations lumped upon them. No matter how unattainable perfection is, it’s curious how much we beat ourselves up for not achieving it. This is a phenomena that applies especially so to the concept of the physical body, the most immediate visual representation of us, bearing the … Continue reading Review: Puffing Bodies by Maya Dance Theatre and IPTanz

Arts in Malaysia 2019/20: ILHAM Gallery and Singapore Art Museum Present The Body Politic and The Body (Preview)

KUALA LUMPUR – ILHAM Gallery and Singapore Art Museum (SAM) present ILHAM x SAM Project: The Body Politic and the Body from 8th December 2019 to 12th April 2020 at ILHAM Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. The first collaboration between ILHAM Gallery and SAM, it explores the many facets of contemporary art and its genealogies in Malaysia. The Body Politic and the Body is conceived as a … Continue reading Arts in Malaysia 2019/20: ILHAM Gallery and Singapore Art Museum Present The Body Politic and The Body (Preview)

Review: Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment, Presented by Singapore Repertory Theatre

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 28/11/19) Reimagined version of Sondheim’s macabre musical thriller a refreshing take on an oft-forgotten classic, with Broadway star Lea Salonga a highlight.   In the Victorian era, penny dreadfuls were some of the more popular forms of entertainment, a serialised form of literature that derives its name from how every issue would cost just one penny. As for the ‘dreadful’ portion, well, that … Continue reading Review: Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment, Presented by Singapore Repertory Theatre

God, That’s Good!: An Interview with Lea Salonga and Jett Pangan, Stars of Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, it’s a wonder that the Stephen Sondheim musical thriller has never before been brought to Singapore. Thankfully, Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group and the Singapore Repertory Theatre are here to resolve that, as Sweeney Todd hits the Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands for a two week run, fresh from a critically-acclaimed run in Manila. Beyond the fact that it’ll be making … Continue reading God, That’s Good!: An Interview with Lea Salonga and Jett Pangan, Stars of Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Preview: Legacy Music Festival 2019

The Legacy Festival is back this December for one weekend at Siloso Beach, Sentosa, set to deliver a world-class experience of dance music with the world’s greatest electronic music DJs and a first-of-its-kind stage structure, complete with includes lights and videos that sync with the live music. Structures of 50m by 50m X-trusses will be set up in the area in front of the main stage … Continue reading Preview: Legacy Music Festival 2019

Preview: Affections by The Assembly Point

What’s a holiday without a little dose of love? This December, new ensemble theatre collective The Assembly Point makes their debut with a brand new work to make you fall in (and out) of love in all its forms. Starring and self-directed by The Assembly Point founders Tia Andrea Guttensohn, Fatin Syahirah, Jeramy Lim and Jelaine Ng Sha-Men, Affections takes inspiration from Charles Mee’s Big Love and … Continue reading Preview: Affections by The Assembly Point

Review: Journey to a Dream by Emergency Stairs and Zuni Icosahedron (Southernmost 2019)

★★★☆☆ (Attended 8/11/19) Intercultural presentation driving home the fact that no dream is achieved without sacrifice, while commenting on the cultural violence of colonialism and orientalism.  What does it take to achieve a dream? And for that matter, what happens when that dream necessitates the destruction of someone else’s? As the culmination of the 2019 Southernmost Festival, Journey to a Dream asks all these questions and more, … Continue reading Review: Journey to a Dream by Emergency Stairs and Zuni Icosahedron (Southernmost 2019)

Review: The Hawker by The Second Breakfast Company

★★☆☆☆ (Attended 13/11/19) Good attempt to immerse audiences in this novel concept, but let down by a central lack of purpose. The humble hawker centre is nothing short of a national icon. Representing our multicultural society with its mix of just about every kind of cuisine, along with its affordability and convenience welcoming diners of all class and backgrounds, it truly becomes a microcosm of Singapore … Continue reading Review: The Hawker by The Second Breakfast Company

Review: The Gingerbread Man by SRT’s The Little Company

★★☆☆☆ (Performance attended 26/10/19) A children’s show that needed more time to rise in the oven. “Run run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man.” The iconic lines of everyone’s favourite anthropomorphic baked good has been taken quite literally in SRT’s The Little Company’s latest musical for kids, with the titular Gingerbread Man using his need for speed to … Continue reading Review: The Gingerbread Man by SRT’s The Little Company

Preview: Puffing Bodies by Maya Dance Theatre and Iptanz

  Following their series PANCHA last year about domestic violence and abuse, Maya Dance Theatre returns this December with a brand new collaboration with German company Iptanz. Centering around the idea of body shaming, Puffing Bodies is a dance-theatre production conceptualised by Ilona Pászthy (Artistic Director of Iptanz) and Kavitha Krishnan (Artistic Director of Maya Dance Theatre). When the two met at Tanzmesse, an international network for contemporary artists in Dusseldorf, … Continue reading Preview: Puffing Bodies by Maya Dance Theatre and Iptanz