SIFA 2026: Makan Culture – An interview with playwright Jo Tan and director Krish Natarajan on makan, mayhem and making meaning

What happens when theatre stops asking audiences to sit still and instead invites them to eat, speak, and play? At the festival village of the 2026 Singapore International Festival of Arts, new experience Makan Culture unfolds as a lively, unpredictable encounter that sits somewhere between performance and gathering. Created by Jo Tan and directed by Krish Natarajan, the work brings together music, puppetry, and audience … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Makan Culture – An interview with playwright Jo Tan and director Krish Natarajan on makan, mayhem and making meaning

SIFA 2026: Tempo – An interview with choreographer Fernando Melo on twisting and turning time through dance and illusion

Time slips, stretches, and occasionally seems to stand still in Tempo, a dreamlike work presented at the Singapore International Festival of Arts. In this collaboration between director Kalle Nio and choreographer Fernando Melo, falling bodies hover mid-air, actions reverse, and the ordinary becomes quietly uncanny. Rather than treating illusion as spectacle, Melo approaches it as a byproduct of attention, of bodies, space, and time aligning … Continue reading SIFA 2026: Tempo – An interview with choreographer Fernando Melo on twisting and turning time through dance and illusion

SIFA 2026: The Lighthouse – An interview with Patch Theatre artistic director Geoff Cobham on light and children’s theatre

In The Lighthouse, light isn’t something you simply watch, but something you step into. Created by Geoff Cobham for Patch Theatre, the work invites audiences, both young and the young-at-heart, to move through a glowing landscape of shifting rooms, reflections, and surprises, where curiosity leads the way. Presented as part of the 2026 Singapore International Festival of Arts, this immersive experience rethinks what theatre for … Continue reading SIFA 2026: The Lighthouse – An interview with Patch Theatre artistic director Geoff Cobham on light and children’s theatre

Preview: cont·act Dance Festival 2026 (16th edition)

This June, Singapore’s dance calendar welcomes back one of its most transformative festivals, with the 16th edition of cont·act Dance Festival, now with a refreshed identity, a bold international lineup, and an invitation to experience dance beyond categories. Running from 8 to 28 June 2026, the festival unfolds across the iconic Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and other creative spaces, bringing together artists from … Continue reading Preview: cont·act Dance Festival 2026 (16th edition)

Preview: da:ns focus – Ballet by the Bay 2026

This June, da:ns focus – Ballet by the Bay marks a long-awaited homecoming as Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay welcomes The Royal Ballet back to Singapore for the first time in over two decades. Following the company’s last visit in 2005, this return is both a celebration and a renewal—an encounter with one of the world’s most revered ballet institutions, whose legacy continues to … Continue reading Preview: da:ns focus – Ballet by the Bay 2026

Singaporean Aaron Tan Crowned Red Bull Dance Your Style Regional Champion

By weekday, Aaron Tan Jian Yong works in financial wealth management. But under stage lights and pounding beats, the 32-year-old Singaporean transforms into a commanding street dancer, and now, the newly crowned Red Bull Dance Your Style Southeast Asia Regional Champion. On 25th April , Aaron made history as the competition’s first-ever regional winner, capping off a journey defined by instinct, resilience, and a willingness … Continue reading Singaporean Aaron Tan Crowned Red Bull Dance Your Style Regional Champion

★★★★☆ Dance Review: Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Somewhere between trance and precision, Fase keeps turning. Watching Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich, the signature work of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, feels less like attending a performance and more like submitting to a condition. It is not something that easily invites a rating. It asks instead for time, attention, and a willingness to sit inside repetition—something that feels … Continue reading ★★★★☆ Dance Review: Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Randai Macbeth by ASWARA

Shakespeare meets the Nusantara in a bold, visceral Macbeth reborn through randai. It’s no small feat to make a 400-year-old play feel fresh, but Randai Macbeth achieves exactly that, and then some. Presented by Malaysia’s ASWARA and directed by Dr Norzizi Zulkifli, this bold adaptation reimagines Macbeth through the cultural lens of the Nusantara, transforming Shakespeare’s tale of ambition and moral decay into something visceral, … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Randai Macbeth by ASWARA

★★★★★ Theatre Review: Handle with Care by Ontroerend Goed (HKAF 2026)

A tiny theatrical miracle is experienced as you forge memories with complete strangers under an hour. HONG KONG – Belgian avant-garde theatre company Ontroerend Goed has long built a reputation for dismantling what theatre is supposed to be. With Handle with Care, they take that idea to its most radical extreme: there are no actors, no technicians, just a box, a stage, and an audience. … Continue reading ★★★★★ Theatre Review: Handle with Care by Ontroerend Goed (HKAF 2026)

A Little Piece of Eternity: An Interview with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker on repetition and return in Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich

When Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich in the spring of 1982, she was starting, quite deliberately, at the beginning. “I wanted to develop my own choreographic writing,” she recalls. Trained in classical ballet (“a very strictly codified language”), she chose instead “to go step by step, literally one movement at a time,” trusting an emerging intuition … Continue reading A Little Piece of Eternity: An Interview with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker on repetition and return in Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich