step out and wonder · singapore, 2 february 2016 – nus arts festival, the flagship arts season...
TRANSCRIPT
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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Media Release
Step Out and Wonder
NUS Arts Festival 2016 aims to expand audience’s minds with a science and technological twist
Singapore, 2 February 2016 – NUS Arts Festival, the flagship arts season of the National University of
Singapore, returns in 2016 with bold presentations and fresh performances. Running from 11 to 26 March
2016, the Festival will present over 30 shows at various locations in the University and NUS Baba House.
This edition of NUS Arts Festival partners with the Centre for Quantum Technologies to explore the
intersection of quantum theories and performing arts, underlining research, learning and process as cruxes of
the Festival. Centred on the theme of ‘Wonder’, the Festival aims to challenge one’s notions of reality and
relationships in the current technologically-driven society.
“NUS Arts Festival has always been a valuable platform for our students and alumni to work with industry
professionals, bringing together their creative and intellectual energies to present quality performances and
unique collaborations. The Festival in 2016 continues to underscore the Centre’s role in nurturing NUS
students, not only complementing academia but also cultivating a deeper appreciation of the arts amongst the
community, even beyond the University,” says Sharon Tan, Director of NUS Centre For the Arts.
NUS Arts Festival 2016 Highlights
Opening the 11th edition of NUS Arts Festival is space. time. mind., a bold presentation that pushes the
frontiers of traditional Chinese dance. Taking inspiration from physics, this collaboration between NUS
Chinese Dance and Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company – an internationally renowned and
esteemed Chinese dance company – will premiere five critically acclaimed works in the Beijing Dance
Academy repertoire, as well as two original works by Ding Hong, Artistic Director and Resident
Choreographer of NUS Chinese Dance.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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NUS Indian Dance showcases a part-presentation part-performance Sambhavna, featuring an original
choreography that depicts the behavior of quantum-scale particles through lithe and delicate movements.
Choreographed by the group’s Artistic Director Santha Bhaskar who worked intimately with the scientists of
Centre for Quantum Technologies, the innovative piece brilliantly weaves quantum theories with the
classical Bharatanatyam to explore the quantum nature of reality.
From the grand soaring notes of Brahm’s Academic Festive Overtune Op. 80 to the experimental and surreal
works of Belioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Music For Curious Minds will illustrate the startling parallels in
the development of science and music, and the interplay of influences on each other’s area of knowledge and
expression. Helmed by maestro Lim Soon Lee and performed by NUS Symphony Orchestra, the concert will
also feature soloists Lim Chun (violin) and Kimberly Lo (violin) in Bruch’s Double Concerto for Violin and
Viola Op. 88.
In celebration of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts’ (EMCC) 30th anniversary, First Sparks: 30 Years of Arts on
Campus brings together alumni of the (EMCC) series in a nostalgic reunion concert. Featuring Jack & Rai,
Karen Tan, Pam Oei, Rani Singam, Rosita Ng, Selena Tan and ShiLi & Adi, with a script by Wang Liang
Sheng, this concert celebrates EMCC as a launch pad for arts practitioners – onstage or behind-the-scenes –
who have since established themselves as professionals in the industry. This concert is also part of
ExxonMobil Campus Concerts and will close the January to March 2016 season.
Melding virtuosic dance and hilarious physical theatre, Australian performing artist Joseph Simons will
explore the art of ‘getting used to it’ in First Things First, showcasing his signature wit, intricate
choreography and musicality. Performance artist Brian Lobel explores how the society emotionally and
socially interacts with digital media in an interactive performance-lecture Purge. He will also conduct an
intimate workshop Let Me Hear Your Body Talk where participants are urged to examine their relationship
with their bodies and how it is informed by politics, culture, history and more.
The Festival will close with a youthful and energetic double bill by NUS Dancers, led by choreographic
powerhouses Ricky Hu and KENTARO!!. With Ricky Hu – together with Mai Jingwen as assistant
choreographer, award-winning director Edith Podesta and composer Low Xu Hao – presenting contemporary
dance piece Look Up, and KENTARO!! employing hip hop-based techniques to showcase a reinterpretation
of his delicate work Island Shelf, Overdrive III: The Final Chapter will narrate the stories of young driven
people living in fast-paced Asian cities.
(Festival Highlights attached in Annex A)
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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Fringe Programmes
The forthcoming instalment of NUS Arts Festival will bring unconventional and exhilarating fringe
performances to add excitement to the Festival. Artists include Kelvin ‘Smokey’ Ng, the soulful master of
blues harmonica; Serena and Dinie with their cajon and accordion; Flame of the Forest, a band of Chinese
brothers who incorporate styles from other genres with their understanding of Indian Classical and Folk
music; and youths from Sekolah Indonesia Singapura with their musical performances and an all-girls dikir
barat item.
Running parallel to NUS Art Festival are annual shows by NUS Wind Symphony, The NUSChoir, NUS
Piano Ensemble, NUS Chinese Orchestra and NUS Harmonica Orchestra, at various locations across the
island.
Stay in touch with the latest news and updates via nusartsfestival.com.
About NUS CENTRE FOR THE ARTS
Established in 1993, NUS Centre For the Arts (CFA) is a vibrant space for the appreciation of the arts and
nurturing of the creative and inquiring spirit. It supports student engagement with the arts and the integration
of the arts into the life of the University.
NUS CFA encompasses the NUS Museum, NUS Baba House and a Talent and Development arm that
oversees 22 student arts excellence groups. Through its myriad of programmes, practices, exhibitions,
workshops and outreach, such as NUS Arts Festival and the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, the Centre
enhances and augments the university experience and contributes to the building of knowledge and
transformation of students.
CFA also manages facilities such as the University Cultural Centre, with its 1600-seat Hall and 450-seat
Theatre, and rehearsal spaces in Runme Shaw CFA Studios and University Town. For more information,
visit www.cfa.nus.edu.sg.
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NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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For more information, please contact:
Melody BOH (Ms) Cindy ONG (Ms)
Marketing Communications (Media) Marketing Communications
NUS Centre For the Arts NUS Centre For the Arts
T: (65) 6516 8797 T: (65) 6516 1223
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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ANNEX A
NUS Arts Festival 2016 Highlights
Opening Show
《空间・时间・心灵》space. time. mind
NUS Chinese Dance with Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company
Fri 11 Mar | 8pm | UCC Hall | $29, $25, $22
In a bold presentation that pushes the frontiers of traditional Chinese dance, NUS Chinese Dance teams up
with Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company – an internationally renowned and esteemed Chinese
dance company – in a quest to bring back the sense of wonder inspired by nature and human connections to a
technologically-driven society.
Taking inspiration from physics, space. time. mind will premiere five critically-acclaimed works in the
Beijing Dance Academy repertoire, including an original reinterpretation of The Rite of Spring, as well as
two original works by Ding Hong, Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of NUS Chinese Dance.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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Closing Show
Overdrive III: The Final Chapter
NUS Dancers with Ricky Hu (China/Hong Kong) and KENTARO!! (Japan)
Fri & Sat 25 & 26 Mar | 8pm | UCC Theatre | $29, $25
Post-show dialogue following the 25 Mar, 8pm performance
Overdrive III: The Final Chapter brings together two choreographic powerhouses to tell the stories of young
driven people living in fast-paced asian cities.
Which becomes more real, our life as seen through the 8-inch screen or life itself?
Ricky Hu Songwei (China/Hong Kong), winner of the 2012 Hong Kong Arts Development Award for
Young Artist (Dance) – together with Mai Jingwen as assistant choreographer, award-winning director Edith
Podesta (Australia) and composer Low Xu Hao (Singapore) -- present Look Up, a textured work about man’s
obsession with social media.
Places may seem empty; but no.
There are always things to be found there
The gods are watching us all the same way, neither more nor less.
Nevertheless we believe in something, even if it is not god.
Working primarily with hip hop techniques and his own music and sounds, KENTARO!! (Japan), winner of
the 2010 Japan Dance Forum Award, has been lauded for his hip hop-based datsuryoku-kei (ennui style)
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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dance creations. Don’t miss this reinterpretation of his work Island Shelf, a delicate meaningful piece
interwoven with narrative and sound.
First Sparks: 30 Years of Arts on Campus
Part of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts
Jack & Rai, Karen Tan, Pam Oei, Rani Singam, Rosita Ng, Selena Tan and ShiLi & Adi
Script by Wang Liang Sheng
Sun 13 Mar | 8 pm | UCC Hall | $27
Celebrate 30 years of the arts on campus with us as we bring together talents who have shone on the
ExxonMobil Campus Concert stage through the different seasons of Singapore’s longest-running arts
outreach programme.
Inaugurated in 1986, ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, or better known as EMCC, has been a platform to
present a rich and varied palette of performances by local and international performers in dance, music,
theatre and film. It also promotes budding talents on campus, many of whom have gone on to establish
themselves as professional artists. Members of the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts Crew, the production
support team of EMCC, have also become experienced arts managers and leaders, contributing to the
development of the local arts scene today.
Be part of this wonderful reunion as we bring back fond memories of the past to fuel the passion for the next
generation of artists.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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Sambhavna (Probability)
NUS Indian Dance
Fri & Sat 18 & 19 Mar | 8pm | UCC Dance Studio
Free admission with registration at www.nusartsfestival.com
Albert Einstein once wrote that, "It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes
the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two
contradictory pictures of reality; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but
together they do." In the same way, the behaviour of quantum-scale particles cannot be explained by classical
concepts of ‘particle’ or ‘wave’ but is somehow both: a quantum phenomenon which continues to fill the
human mind with wonder.
NUS Indian Dance, with original choreography from Artistic Director Santha Bhaskar in part-presentation,
part-performance, works with the processes of mind and movement to explore the quantum nature of reality
through the language of Bharatanatyam.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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First Things First
Joseph Simons (Australia)
Fri & Sat 18 & 19 Mar | 8pm | UCC Theatre | $29
Sat 19 Mar | 3 pm Matinee
Post-show dialogue following the 18 Mar, 8pm performance
From one of Australia’s most innovative performing artists comes First Things First - a one-man show of
virtuosic dance and hilarious physical theatre.
There’s a first time for everything: catching public transport, speaking in public, changing a nappy….
Join Joseph Simons as he explores the art of ‘getting used to it’ with his signature wit, intricate choreography
and astounding musicality.
First Things First was developed in Berlin in 2013 and premiered in New York in 2014 to overwhelmingly
positive responses and critical acclaim. Touring extensively throughout USA, UK, Asia and Australia,
Simons has worked for major dance companies including Chunky Moves (Connected, I Like This), Lucy
Guerin Inc. (Structure and Sadness, Untrained) and as a soloist with the West Australian Ballet.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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Purge
Brian Lobel (US/UK)
Thu & Fri 24 & 25 Mar | 8pm | Yale-NUS Performing Hall | $25
In 2011, Brian Lobel played a brutal game of friendship maintenance: over 5 days in cafés in both London
(United Kingdom) and Kuopio (Finland), Brian gave strangers one minute to decide which of his 1300
Facebook friends to keep or delete. The deleting was real, the pace was maniacal, the results were final.
Following 50 hours of performance, 800 emails from angry, amused and intrigued friends and over 2500
comments from people watching via live stream, Purge the stage show was created – an interactive
performance-lecture exploring how we emotionally and socially interact with digital media.
Let Me Hear Your Body Talk
A Workshop with Brian Lobel
Sat 26 Mar | 1pm – 5pm | Dance Atelier 2, Stephen Riady Centre, UTown | $40
For the past ten years, Brian Lobel has been creating work about his body - when it works, when it doesn't
work, when it's achy, when it's breaky, when it's lonely and when it needs a little extra love. Drawing on
examples from his own arts practice which straddles the worlds of live art, monologue and installation,
participants will explore their own relationship with their bodies in this workshop, and how this is informed
by politics, culture, history and more. Through free-writing, list-making, individual reflection and group
discussions, Let Me Hear Your Body Talk aims to remove the barriers that exist between our body and
making work about it.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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Music For Curious Minds
NUS Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Lim Soon Lee
Sat 26 Mar | 8pm | UCC Hall | $$25 & $20
Science and Music share similar processes of thought, experimentation and discovery, and a sense of
curiosity and wonder at the root of it all. In Music for Curious Minds, NUS Symphony Orchestra presents the
startling parallels in the development of science and music and the interplay of influences on each other’s
area of knowledge and expression.
From grand soaring notes of Brahms’s Academic Festive Overture Op. 80, which was composed on the
occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate of music, to Bruch’s Double Concerto for Violin and Viola Op.
88, performed by soloists Lim Chun (viola) and Kimberly Lo (violin), Music for Curious Minds guides you
through the transformation of classical music written in traditional approach to experimental and surreal
works of like Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
NUS Centre For the Arts
50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279
Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002
Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
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ANNEX B
Ticketing
Tickets are available at www.nusartsfestival.com or www.eventclique.com and its authorised agents,
unless otherwise stated.
Concessions
10% discount – Full-time students, NUS staff, AlumNUS and NUSS members, NSFs and Senior Citizens.
20% discount – Group bookings of 20 tickets or more.
Corporate and school group discounts are available through NUS Centre For the Arts. For enquiries, please
email [email protected] or call (65) 6601 2305.
*Festival concessions not applicable to Wonderous Measure, Digital Dondang Sayang, XPerienz: ‘In C’ and
In Conjunction shows.