One of the many lucky things about work is that I get to complain about being forced to watch performances. Each time its Asian Contemporary Dance, I usually wish I'd brought a long a gun. With a silencer, since I don't want to be fired for disrupting one of my own shows.
But yesterday was different. I finally understood that it isn't Asian Contemporary dance I cannot stomach, its their chosen subject- silent suffering. Usually, this theme, a universal favorite amongst local artists here (or shall I say, world famous in Singapore), makes me cringe; I imagine that a slap on the wrist should fix all this whining - really, what are you complaining about? You should try the third world.
But after yesterday's performance, it struck me that for them, it is not a comparative experience. I always have something worse to measure this up against. For them, there is life here and then there is the rest of the world. And no matter where they go, their new lives will always be second to their formative experiences here. They cannot rub it out.
Its all very well to say that the people of this country have a higher standard of living than most of the world, but there is unhappiness here, a feeling of being stitched up and silenced, no matter what the GDP looks like. And the artists of this place, they are recording it in their work. How well or badly it is being recorded, is of course debatable. But later, when the art movements of this time and place are reflected upon, this sentiment of dissatisfaction amidst perfection is going to be resoundingly prominent and there is little to be done about it.
I do not like Asian contemporary dance, because I am not interested in the issue that it is often trying to mediate. I cannot relate to it.
And it is this disinterest in issues that are so real to them, that draws up wired fences. There becomes an Us and a Them. I will never become a naturalized citizen here, because I have never shared their private hell. Maybe that is true for all places and maybe that is why people hate immigrants, to different degrees.
The young choreographers of T.H.E's Second Dance Company, were exceptional, because they were successful in communicating the intensity of their experiences as Singaporeans, not only to compatriots, but also to aliens like myself.
When we started talking about this, Kuik Swee Boon, the director of T.H.E. smiled with his glowing face and his hermit-eyes and said,
'Ah yes, the stage...it is a special place.'
But yesterday was different. I finally understood that it isn't Asian Contemporary dance I cannot stomach, its their chosen subject- silent suffering. Usually, this theme, a universal favorite amongst local artists here (or shall I say, world famous in Singapore), makes me cringe; I imagine that a slap on the wrist should fix all this whining - really, what are you complaining about? You should try the third world.
But after yesterday's performance, it struck me that for them, it is not a comparative experience. I always have something worse to measure this up against. For them, there is life here and then there is the rest of the world. And no matter where they go, their new lives will always be second to their formative experiences here. They cannot rub it out.
Its all very well to say that the people of this country have a higher standard of living than most of the world, but there is unhappiness here, a feeling of being stitched up and silenced, no matter what the GDP looks like. And the artists of this place, they are recording it in their work. How well or badly it is being recorded, is of course debatable. But later, when the art movements of this time and place are reflected upon, this sentiment of dissatisfaction amidst perfection is going to be resoundingly prominent and there is little to be done about it.
I do not like Asian contemporary dance, because I am not interested in the issue that it is often trying to mediate. I cannot relate to it.
And it is this disinterest in issues that are so real to them, that draws up wired fences. There becomes an Us and a Them. I will never become a naturalized citizen here, because I have never shared their private hell. Maybe that is true for all places and maybe that is why people hate immigrants, to different degrees.
The young choreographers of T.H.E's Second Dance Company, were exceptional, because they were successful in communicating the intensity of their experiences as Singaporeans, not only to compatriots, but also to aliens like myself.
When we started talking about this, Kuik Swee Boon, the director of T.H.E. smiled with his glowing face and his hermit-eyes and said,
'Ah yes, the stage...it is a special place.'
I have started visiting your blog again. Thank the flurry white beast outside when its almost time for summer.
ReplyDeletei kind of of like your flurry white beast and imagine an adorable Yeti, that blusters around wildly and stupidly, but all it wants to do is bring you back to my nice blog. :P
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