Photo credit: Merv Kwok
Premieres on 8 October 2021, Friday, 4pm
(Available online until 31 October 2021, 11.59pm)
Celebrate the talents and diversity of Singapore’s dance landscape in this dance film by pre-professional dance students from NAFA.
Drawing from Homi Bhabha’s theory on hybrid identities, the ‘third space’ is used metaphorically to describe Singapore’s increasingly complex cultural landscape. With his Thai heritage alongside Western performing arts training, choreographer Supatchai Lappakornkul is familiar with both Asian and Western cultures. He modulates between pluralistic modes of dance and music acumen, and translates physical experiences into virtual spaces. His creative work is positioned at the ‘inter’, defined by Bhabha as the cutting edge of translation and negotiation.
This live performance film, Nātaya, by Supatchai is a refreshing escape from today's world of digital experimentation and presents the choreographer's Thai heritage from a contemporary perspective. In Nātaya, Thai dance movement and children's games are married with ballet and contemporary dance; and a Thai folk song is transformed with an oboe, clarinet, flute, horn, bassoon quintet and piano. Supatchai embraces new technologies to further, but not replace, the physical celebration and expression of our human experience and imagination.
da:ns festival supports the next generation of dance artists through Next Generation, a longstanding platform that collaborates annually with dance education institutions. As dance on screen comes into focus with the rise of technology and the circumstances of the pandemic, the works in this edition reflect this development with new creations for dance on film.
Duration: Approximately 30 minutes