Dance in Singapore

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Dance in Singapore comprises traditional and contemporary forms^{[citation needed]}. It has a relatively short history of creative, artistic and professional dance. The range of dance reflects the cultural diversity of Singapore.^[1] There is a consistent struggle between the rejection and acceptance of western dance influences and the re-emphasis of ethnic cultures from time to time. The Singapore identity through dance is a challenging one often on a outward looking perception rather than the acceptance and recognition of indigenous/original creativity. Notable non-profit artistic dance legacy include ECNAD and Arts Fission Company.

Dance wisdom

Dance is the most versatile and difficult of all performing arts^{[citation needed]} and thus requires more effort, time and wisdom to in Singapore. It requires the various fields to work together, such as: fitness, creativity, science, medicine, system, artistic taste, music...etc. The development of dance in Singapore can be a showcase of the wisdom of the nation to put all these experts towards a common goal as well as the proper administration of respect and dignity for artistic practitioners to contributed.

Post-War history (in search of identity)

• After World War II, Singaporeans fought for self-government and in search for a new identity, a united anti-colonial movement multi-cultural activities were initiated.

1959-1969 (the pre-professional dance years)

• The economy was the main emphasis after self-government in 1959, however, a Ministry of Culture^[2] was formed to encourage the preservation and development of Chinese, Malay and Indian dances. Western Modern Dance had not yet been practised in Singapore then. Western influence was then deemed to be undesirable.

National Theatre built in 1963

• The Singapore government built its first National Theatre in 1963 to showcase local ethnic dance and its development. The 1st Southeast Asia Cultural Festival was held there.

1970s

• The growing Singapore economy in the 1970s see the formation of its full-time People's Association Dance Company.

National Dance Festival was organised in 1978.

Singapore Festival of Dance

• Singapore organised its first Singapore Festival of Dance (which became the Festival of Asian Performing Arts and now evolved in the present days Singapore Arts Festival). The Festival of Dance's has an objective of creating new local dance forms through the working together of ethnic dance choreographers but this Singaporean identity did not work out very well.

Traditional dance (1980s)& setup of National Arts Council

A student from the Bukit View Primary School in Singapore performs a cultural dance with classmates for U.S. President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush during their visit on November 16, 2006, to the city's Asian Civilisations Museum.

• In May 1980, the National Theatre Dance Company (NTDC) was formed by National Theatre Trust, upon the successful completion of the dance training programme conducted by prominent Hong Kong instructor, Mr Cheng Shu Jing. The training programme had culminated in a concert, "An Evening of Chinese Dances" being performed on 24th Nov 1979. NTDC had evolved to become Theatre Arts Troupe in 1992, after National Theatre Trust amalgamated into the National Arts Council.

Eversince, Arts Council of Singapore has developed into one of the biggest and most ambitious arts council in the world with adequate staff strength covering all aspects of the arts in Singapore. The only problem is that there seems to be less direct funding available for dance projects over the years and company directors for dance that not adequately supported to power their training, outreach and community efforts. All of which are areas that the council has taken charge themselves. So, private initiative seems to be dying off slowly but surely. Maybe it is best for NAC to concentrate in the fair and transparent standard of administering available money for arts instead of trying to take charge of overall artistic development? As artistic development is best left to the professional artistic directors with passion, integrity and sound philosophy of goodwill for the society at large.

Ballet (government initiated company)

• From the early years of rejection of western influences, the government decided to embrace western performing arts in a big way namely in the setting up of a national ballet company Singapore Dance Theatre and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
• Singapore Dance Theatre, a ballet company founded in 1988, took over NTDC as Singapore's national dance company acquiring works of foreign well known choreographers and housing mainly young foreign dance talents. It is mainly a repertory company showcasing mainly classical ballet and contemporary ballet works. The late Anthony Then (artistic co-founder) has strong creative influences in creating his own ballet pieces in the past, his ballet pieces are seldom seen in the company's repertoire nowadays.

Structured formal dance training (1990s)

In the 1990s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) started Singapore's first full-time Modern Dance programme. The programme was headed by Angela Liong and offered all-rounded dance theory and technique program including Martha Graham's technique and Dance Improvisation. Her programme was delivered with strong contemporary arts references and education on top of the regular dance training plus many workshops through an exchange programme whereby many American dance artists have worked with the students then. The existing pioneers of contemporary dance were students from this programme.

Over the years, Dance at NAFA has grown from a fledgling start into an established and reputable department with the help of better funding availability from the government. The Department of Dance has survived and thrived largely because of the capable direction as well as vision of several committed individuals. The initiatives of these individuals, who are respected in Singapore's dance community, have eventually contributed to today's distinctive Diploma in Dance program that combines contemporary Asian and Western performance and creative practices. LaSalle is another institution that offer dance diploma programme as well as the newly set up SOTA. However, there is a lot more room for synergy between Government, Institutions and Arts Companies to build a common vision for the local dance scene. Currently, new generation of trained dancers are moving more into commercial and school projects, less are really to contribute in the artistic arena.

Currently, most of the local institution trained dancers do not work with artistic companies. They tend to go into child care, teaching in schools and taking ad-hoc commercial projects. The lack of professional artistic dancers is further worsen by this trend.

The Singapore Dance Theatre also provides a training programme for dancers and choreographers just like any of the local dance groups too.

As per 2010, the role of the institution needs to be updated according to the needs of the dance scene in Singapore.

Creative contemporary dance identity in Singapore

• In general, the first generation of theatrical dance professionals have contributed mainly as dance teachers whereas the second generation produces more original choreography and performances in developing the scene.
• One such pioneering group that have created a unique creative Singaporean identity is ECNAD (then known as Dance Dimension Project, http://www.ecnad.org) was founded in 1996 contributed to the development of the theatrical dance scene through the consistent production of over 50 original works through 12 years. It was then formed to create innovative works by pioneer batches of NAFA trained dancers which also include some friends from the People's Association Dance Company. ECNAD was then a hard to classified "dance" group due to its original and indigenous approaches. With Contemporary Arts influences of the pioneering NAFA Modern Dance training, these new choreographers took the then "cultural desert" by surprise with their bold, innovative and strong aesthetics in their dance and often movement-based production. It became the first full-time contemporary dance company in Singapore in 1998 consisted of 8 full-time dancers with a focus on site-specific projects and strong visuals. In B-Cycle (1996)^[3], east and west cultural influences have taken a new definition. It started its unique outdoor outreach performances titled Ontogenesis ^[4] at different fountains in Singapore creating interesting ways of interacting with water and the site-specific nature of the performance serving to capture the attention of passers-by and rekindling their awareness of aesthetics around our living environment. Its outreach projects stretched over about 4 years together with aesthetically unique performances in the theatres which varies in dance dimensions from Surrealistic to Absurd to Conceptual to Cultural/Contextual-Influenced projects as well as collaborations with Indonesian, Japanese, Canadian and American dance and music artists. Its all-inclusive approach also saw many interesting works of unusual casting such as actresses, bodybuilder and singers. Quite a few present days' individual dance artists have started from generous support from ECNAD. The Company also runs an ECNAD Education Unit that provides all-rounded dance training for leisure participants as well as new talents. It fills the gap for providing non-commercial dance training for teens and young working adults. ECNAD has good proven results in the training of performers from beginner level onwards.

ECNAD's Artistic Co-Directors Lim Chin Huat and Tan How Choon are one of the pioneers in creative contemporary dance making in Singapore. They are also one of the multi talented choreographers in the world! Chin Huat is proficient in Dance-based Choreography, Fine Arts and Production Design while How Choon is proficient in Gymnastics, Technical Dance, Facilitation Choreography and Music/Song Creations.

Mother of contemporary dance in Singapore

Angela Liong is so far the most respectable of all dance pioneers in Singapore. She has significant contribution to the dance scene and was the teacher of Singapore's 2nd generation of Contemporary dancers/choreographers.

• The ARTS FISSION Company (http://www.artsfission.org) was founded in 1994, by Choreographer Angela Liong and Artist Chandrasekaran is one of the few full time dance companies in Singapore. The company has presented close to 30 full-length productions locally and internationally. Since its 1995 inaugural multimedia performance of "MAHABHRATA - A GRAIN OF RICE", the dance works of ARTS FISSION are best identified as contemporary dance with strong conceptual basis relating to a new Asian aesthetics with innovative staging that engages the audience. Many of ARTS FISSION's professional works are critical response to the new Asian urban environment with concerns to the emerging contemporary Asian identity. Artistically it aims to reinvent vernacular gestures and movements into a new genre of Asian dance theatre. This artistic direction marks ARTS FISSION out with a distinct dance profile. ARTS FISSION is also known to be the first dance company in Singapore to stage site-specific performance in public places since 1996. The most notable past site work was in December 2000 with the seminal production of "URBAN SANCTUARY", a soaring performance presented atop the 35th rooftop of the Centennial Tower located on the Singapore waterfront. ARTS FISSION has received regional and international invitations to stage site-specific works since 2001. Most recent site work "BORROWED SCENERY" was presented in the old town of Copenhagen Denmark in September 2002. ARTS FISSION achieved artistic milestone in August 2003 as the first Singapore dance company to open the Laokoon Festival with "SHADOWHOUSES" at the Kampnagel Hamburg (the biggest arts center in Europe), Germany. In 2004 ARTS FISSION spear-headed the first co-commission dance project under the auspices of Singapore Arts Festival and SIDance Festival (Seoul International Dance Festival). The collaboration project titled "12 SMS ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS" involving Korean choreographer Park Hobin and his dancers premiered in October 2004 at the Seoul Arts Centre, Korea. The company also actively engages in arts education programs and outreach events for schools and other cultural organizations and aims to enhance the quality and vibrancy of urban life. Angela Liong is awarded the Cultural Medallion Award in 2010.
• Other list of companies can be found at NAC Website^[5].

References

1. ^ Dance in Singapore at DanSing
2. ^ MICA Resonance
3. ^ [page 33, Choreographing Identities: Dance and Identity Formation In Singapore by Gan Hui Cheng]
4. ^ Dancing Bodies: Culture and Modernity
5. ^ NAC dance group directory

Singapore Street Dance

External links

• Information containing non official photo representation about dance in Singapore
• Argentine Tango portal in Singapore
• Learn more about the street dance scene in Singapore