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About the event
Traditional Thai music and contemporary dance practice intertwine to examine the body as a political site and the sociopolitical power of dance.
Stuck in the state-enforced past and unable to see the future of his own country, director Thanapol Virulhakul proposes Thai postmodern dance as a method to navigate Thailand’s socio-political power structure that infiltrates all areas of a citizen’s life. A single dancing body portrays how political power relates to each individual.
In collaboration with the Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM) and George Town Festival (GTF), veteran Thai folk musician Champa Saenprom is reunited with the contemporary dancer Vidura Amranand in a mystical postmodern. Dancer Vidura draws on contemporary dance vocabulary and her practice in dance movement psychotherapy, while Champa uses traditional song to invoke “Kwan”, the protective guardian spirit of the human soul. Music and dance come together to dig deep and assert the potential of art as resistance against the powers that be.
A co-production between BIPAM, SIFA and GTF.
About the organizer
SIFA 2023: THE ANATOMY OF PERFORMANCE - SOME PEOPLE
This year's title engages with the idea that the human experience exists on a spectrum. We are the sum of all the narratives that chapter and alter our lives; each trial and transformation, what our ancestors and communities have had to struggle through, our experiences as children and adults, things inherited and circumstances imposed on our lives shape how we move through life and experience the world.
When we encounter performance, we witness perspectives we can relate to, or that differ from our own, maybe even challenge our held beliefs, yet when we agree to remain in the performance space together, our personal worldview expands as we take in another’s.
Each SIFA edition features three tracks of curated offerings: CREATION, Life Profusion and SIFA X.
Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) returns from 19 May to 4 June 2023 with the theme The Anatomy of Performance - Some People. The festival will feature many exciting Singapore and International productions such as Pompeii by Edith Podesta (AU/SG) and K. Rajagopal (SG), Materia by Andrea Salustri (IT), Angel Island by Huang Ruo (US) and Brian Gothong Tan (SG) and many more.
Tickets start from $25. For full festival line-up or to book tickets, visit sifa.sg!