• Archive of previous events

May 2008

The Substation's Performance Lab, Law Soo Leng & Richard Philip Present :
PRAY

• Dates: 3 May 2008
• Times: 4pm
• Venue: The Substation Theatre
• Admission: Free

A movement theatre piece and a work-in-progress showing.

First performed in 2007, final version to be shown at The Substation's SeptFest 2008.

Children as young as 8 years old are told to perform oral sex and have sexual intercourse with men old enough to be their fathers. These pimps use simple childlike terms to teach the ideas of oral sex and intercourse to these children. “Boom boom” means intercourse; “yum yum” means oral sex. These and other horrendous real-life accounts were what the directors discovered when researching material for this movement theatre piece. Please visit this youtube site: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4SxNsSkkem8 and see for yourself (note from the editor: this is a confronting video that shows young children who are being “offered” in brothels) If this link does not work, just enter a search for: “child prostitution in Cambodia” and you will find a series of documentaries that will change the way you look at this world. According to a recent global estimate by the International Labour Organization, around 50 percent of the 1.39 million people involved in the forced sex trade are children.

Someone once said that we can tell how civilised a community is by the way it treats its children and its old folks. If we go by this rule, then looking at today’s world, where child prostitution is a burgeoning business and where thousands of children are forced into subjecting their bodies to the grossest form of commercial sex abuse, we must concede that our world is in an utterly depraved state. This crime against our children is a dark stain upon the fabric that we call human progress.

PRAY presents a group of people who use artistic expressions to gain and understanding of the contexts and situations that contribute to child prostitution. PRAY is a non-linear story made up of movements, images and sounds that will provide an artistic perspective to the deeply entrenched moral, sociological and cultural problem of child prostitution.

Directed by Law Soo Leng and Richard Philip

Music by Philip Tan and Richard Philip

Performed by Susan Yeung, Chermaine Soon, Kon Su Sam, Paulina Castillo, Esteban Chaparro, Ng Peiru, Ng Peiyi, Law Soo Leng and Richard Philip

Stage managed by Yap Seok Hui

Text by Richard Philip

Choreography by Law Soo Leng

APRIL 2008

The Substation, Raka Maitra & Jayanthi Siva Present :
GREY Festival 2008: A Celebration of Indian Contemporary Dance

• Dates: 24 - 27 April
• Times: Various times, see below
• Venue: The Substation Theatre
• Admission: Performances: $28 and $18 (students) Workshops: $30 and $15 (students) Festival Pass: $80 and $50 (students)

This is a four-day festival where local and international dance and theatre practitioners will present and share ideas in workshops, discussions, video screenings and nightly performances.
Features international guests, Navtej S. Johar, Ramli Ibrahim, Maya Rao and Madhu Nataraj, as well as many local artists. For more info on festival passes and discounts, please contact Jayanthi on 8172 6800 or jayanthi@hotmail.com or Raka on 9129 5110 or rakamaitra@hotmail.com. For enquiries on workshops, please contact Raka.

Thursday 24 April: 8pm: Performance: "Smoking Incense " - re-worked by Haymini Muthusamy (India) & "Sheer Fall" - Navtej S. Johar (India)

Friday 25 April: 8pm: Performance: "Traces" - Elizabeth De Roza, Lewis Jamie Marie & Khairiyah Bte Ramli (Singapore) & "Khol Do" - Maya K. Rao (India)

Saturday 26 April: 11am to 1pm: Workshop on Indian dance from Contemporary to Modernity.

Saturday 26 April: 2pm: Screening of "Nachni – The Dancing Women of Rural Bengal” which is about music and dance folk performers who have kept alive many of India’s traditional dance traditions, followed by a post screening talk by Dr Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (India)

Saturday 26 April: 8pm: Performance: "Habitat" - Meera Gurumurthy & a contemporary approach to Odissi by Ramli Ibrahim and his troupe (Malaysia)

Sunday 27 April: 11am: Workshop on the Element of Motion in Dance by Raka Maitra

Sunday 27 April: 11am: Two Workshops: Bharatnatyam and Movement by Navtej S Johar & Kathak as a Springboard for Choreography by Madhu Nataraj

Sunday 27 April: 3pm: Forum on Contemporary Asian Dance, Negotiating the Past, free admission

Sunday 27 April: 8pm: Performance: "Parallel" - Kiran Kumar, Archana Kumar and Neisha Sundram (India), "Yashodhara" - Madhu Nataraj (India) & "Vajra" - Madhu Nataraj (India)

 

About the artists:

• Madhu Nataraj is a Kathak and contemporary dancer from Bangalore, and the Artistic Director of STEM Dance Kampini, Bangalore, who was named one of India’s “young achievers” by the India Today.
• Maya K. Rao is a performer and teacher whose work ranges from stand up comedy to multimedia rock concerts to dance, and is known for the dynamism of her performances which straddle between dance and theatre. She hails from India. http://www.narthaki.com/hplinks/tofu3mr.html
• Navtej S. Johar is an acclaimed Bharatanatyam-trained dancer, choreographer and yoga practitioner from India, who has won accolades for his cutting-edge choreography. He has worked internationally with companies and artists like Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Co, The Chandralekha Group, Keith Khan and the New York City Opera. www.navtejjohar.com
• Ramli Ibrahim needs no introduction to Indian dance enthusiasts in Singapore. A pioneer in Malaysian dance and one of Malaysia’s most internationally acclaimed dancers and choreographers, he was a founding member of the Sydney Dance Company in Australia and today is known as a classical Indian dance guru who has groomed some of Malaysia’s finest young dancers. He formed the SUTRA Dance Theatre in 1983, which trains young Malaysian dancers and promotes awareness of traditional, classical and contemporary dance. http://www.vimoksha.com/content/view/210/238/

• Elizabeth de Roza is a theatre director, performer and educator who specialises in movement-based performances, drawing from traditional Asian theatrical training/performing methods and contemporary theatre ideas. She has trained in yoga and kalarripayattu (an ancient South Indian martial arts) and since 2001 has focused on creating solo performances that have been presented locally and overseas, most recently at a theatre festival in Cuba. She is an Associate Artist of The Substation. http://www.substation.org/associate_artists/performance/

• Jayanthi Siva trained in Indian classical dance (Bharatanatyam and Odissi) and moved into theatre and contemporary dance, obtaining a Masters of Fine Arts (Dance) from the University of Queensland. A performer, educator, producer, and pilates practitioner, Jayanthi is known for her contemporary dance theatre collaborations with writers, musicians, actors and movement artists such as Michael Corbidge, Cyril Wong, Philip Tan, and Bhagya Murthy.

 

 

October 2007

Buds Theatre Company presents:
Essential Framing

• Dates: 18-21 October
• Times: 8pm
• Venue: The Substation Theatre
• Admission: $25/$20, Available at The Substation Box Office

Buds Theatre Company presents two plays by budding NUS writers. This double bill promises to be a night of unforgettable bittersweet musings about the absurd confines of relationships. With a dynamic cast including award-winning actress Claire Devine, and popular actor Andy Tear, the entertainment intends to tickle the sides of sanity and take reality by the reins.