Published by Nabilah Said in the THE STRAIGHTS TIMES - SINGAPORE
Contemporary dance company Raw Moves is plumbing emotional and physical depths with its new show, R.e.P - an abbreviation for Repertory Platform.
The hour-long show is a double- bill by New York City-based Singaporean choreographer Jo-anne Lee and Singapore choreographer Foo Yun Ying.
Both underwent a six-week residency with the company's dancers to create these works.
In Lee's piece, Bound, a simple rope made of rubber bands becomes an effective tool for exploring the theme of physical limits.
It is used by the six dancers in her piece to play the childhood jump rope game of "zero-point" and is transformed into a boxing ring in which the dancers spar against one another.
"I jumped from a plane in New York last year and it was terrifying as well as exhilarating. This work is a playful way of testing boundaries," says Lee, 40.
She moved to New York in 2000 to do her masters in dance at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has been there since - working as a choreographer, actor, and yoga and pilates instructor.
For Foo, Act II - The Messy Middle explores the emotional struggles that one goes through, which are often swept under the carpet.
The work was inspired by a Ted talk and writings by American author and scholar Brene Brown, which discussed the power of vulnerability and how it can be seen as a strength.
Foo, 30, encouraged her four dancers to explore their personal struggles by asking them questions about themselves and encouraging them to write down their responses, which she later read.
The final dance piece is an abstract representation of the dancers' reflections.
"It's more of the experience, the feelings that they are trying to explore, rather than about laying out their stories in a narrative form," says Foo, an independent dance artist who also manages dance space Dance Nucleus at Goodman Arts Centre, an initiative of the National Arts Council.
In working with Foo and Lee, Raw Moves' artistic director Ricky Sim, 46, is reuniting with past collaborators.
He was in a duet with Lee in the 1990s and worked with Foo in a previous edition of R.e.P, in 2013.
This iteration of R.e.P marks a new focus for the company to work thematically each year.
This year, the theme is SG51 and Raw Moves will work exclusively with Singapore artists "near and far" throughout the year.
Sim says: "It is about the next 50 years of contemporary dance - how we reflect, look at our own people and how they can raise the level of artistry for the local audience."
- A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 08, 2016, with the headline 'Testing boundaries with a rubber band rope'.
Polaris, from the Inside
By Donald Shorter
Polaris wasn’t just what you saw on stage, it was a way of life. It was a group collective that informed my artistic practice in ways that I never knew were possible. One of the many things I will walk away with is having a new understanding of how to investigate the idea of inner conflict within the body. This idea is a core concept for Crystal Pite’s movement. I like being able to ask myself how can certain parts of the body move in ways that aren’t congruent? I can create a conversation within certain parts of the body that are or aren’t agreeing with the rest of it, and that’s what’s interesting! For instance, I can move my head, pelvis, and feet while exploring conversations in three different levels of space. I can also add elements of simplicity, complexity, stillness, space, and tension. This tool allows me to create movement in ways I would never have imagined before.
I was grateful for the chance to be a sponge and absorb all of Crystal’s insight. She has a unique way of thinking about dance and dance making. Her generosity is something I admire and is what made me willing to work harder and smarter. She gave us everything she had and more. I don’t know how she’s able to be so many things to so many people while being so kind, thoughtful, clear, and humble. Before the opening night performance she was backstage fixing our costumes and giving out hugs. Each night before our performance all 76 members of the cast, including Crystal, would circle up as one unit to hold hands and time our ability to pass the squeeze to the next person. Today we made our fastest time of 8.2 seconds!
I will never forget being in the green room watching the show on the monitor and she came in and started talking to me. I was like, this is pretty cool! I asked her questions about maintaining artistic integrity and how she’s able to manage the demands of her life. It was as if I was talking with a friend. She later thanked me personally for being in her piece and being so giving and for setting a prime example to the students at the university. I couldn’t believe I heard those words come out of her mouth. She went around the circle opening night and hugged each and everyone one of us. She even made a statement about her work investing in humanity and how important that is for her right now being a mother in a time when it seems humanity is falling apart. She led us in a warm up on Saturday evening at 7:20pm before our performance. It was just unreal!
I’m completely inspired and fulfilled from this experience! This was my third time dancing on the stage at City Center. My first time coming to City Center was in 1999 to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was my first year dancing in college and after that performance I told my mother I wanted to be a professional dancer. She said ok and told me to work hard, and to finish my undergraduate degree (B.A. Liberal Studies). My second time back at City Center was in 2002 when I took the train from Philadelphia to NYC for my very first NYC audition. The audition was for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. I went to see how I could compare to the rest of the dancers in New York City and to my surprise I walked out of the audition getting the job as an apprentice. The next couple of years I would be in that very studio (Studio 4) for rehearsals with the company. I went from apprenticing to becoming an actual company member in that very studio. I would later dance on stage at City Center in two "Fall For Dance" concerts. I danced onstage, naked, with Sean Curran in Bill T. Jones’ Continuous Replay and again in an excerpt from his Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Working with Crystal provided me the chance to have a completely new experience at City Center. It was by far the most serene, organized, pleasant, and professional time I’ve spent on stage there. Her ability to maintain stability with 66 dancers and a full orchestra is beyond my understanding.
Today we spent our time speaking with Crystal before the performance. She allowed us to ask her and her dancers anything. Once again she displayed so much generosity and humility. This experience was a lot of things for me, to say the least. It reaffirmed why I’m in graduate school. I’ve had my time in the sun. I’ve danced with one of the world’s best dance companies and have been on posters and tee shirts. I’m at a place where I want to give back what I’ve been given by others in a non-selfish way. I battle with the idea that dancing can be extremely selfish and I wonder, What good does that do the world? I want to use my gift of dance to help young dancers find who they are as people and dancers. I don’t want to impose or discourage, but I want to give them encouragement. I’m just a kid who saw a dance concert and wanted to dance. I wasn’t able to attend a dance conservatory or major in dance. I worked my ass off to get to where I am now and I’m ready to return the favor.
Being in Polaris allowed me to feel a sense of connection to a larger community. We worked together to create something that was beyond all of us. We weren’t BFA’S or MFA’S, good dancers or bad dancers, soloists or principals. We were just one unit.