#hantulogy

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

15 – 16 October 2021 da:ns festival 2021 Esplanade Theatre Hall, Singapore Chowk Productions’ raison d’etre is to develop an Asian contemporary dance expression that dissolves the dichotomy between tradition and modernity. In Variations on a Theme, odissi is approached in a similar fashion to how a Western classical music composer would when elaborating on a main theme. Experimenting with footwork, rhythm and tempo, the pared-down piece features three dancers and two musicians and is an invitation to relish in the intangible pleasures of a live performance.

Choreographer: Raka Maitra Dancers: Raka Maitra, Sandhya Suresh, Caroline Chin, Anushka Ghosh Musicians: NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra) Lighting Designer: Adrian Tan

NADA x Teater Ekamatra: Placid

The urban environment is often defined by the hustle and bustle of human activities within and surrounding it. When that is removed and everything is left undisturbed, it goes into a tranquil state where stains from yesteryear can be magnified and echoes from the past amplified, leaving us clues for the many stories to be reimagined. With Kampong Gelam as a canvas and playground, NADA goes out in search of these calm and quiet corners. In their exploration, they seek for relevant remnants to conjure their own versions of the past. Little did they know of their own trails that they will be leaving behind.

PALLAVI THROUGH ABSTRACTIONS

Fueled by a burning curiosity, Chowk Productions’ Pallavi Series (2016–2018) explored the possibilities of deconstructing classical dance to develop a contemporary language of movement, beginning with the basic stances of Odissi — the ‘chowk’ and ‘tribangh’ positions (Pallavi and Space; Pallavi in Time) and later accentuating the dimensions of the dancer’s torso and their gaze (Pallavi with Stillness). Pallavi Through Abstraction is the culmination of the Pallavi Series that seeks further abstraction towards its own unique idiom of dance, shedding new light on Raka Maitra’s original choreography. A mesmerising synthesis of softness and strength, Pallavi through Abstraction celebrates pure dance and form, seamlessly woven with live music by NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra).

Staged on 26-27 February 2021 at Drama Centre Black Box.

Choreographer: Raka Maitra Dancers: Raka Maitra, Sandhya Suresh, Caroline Chin, Anushka Ghosh Musicians: NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra) Lighting Designer: Daryl Norman Soh

NADA x Teater Ekamatra - Pelesit

NADA takes another allegorical form, this time of a pelesit, a shapeshifting spirit in Malay folklore that is known to move at warp speed. "Macam pelisit" (like a pelisit) as the common saying goes, implies something or someone has just vanished into thin air. What is often forgotten is its magical abilities to attain beauty and bring financial gain at its master's command. Like a pelesit, NADA shall be, too, a lost and wandering one without a master to serve and can only absorb beauty wherever it goes. In this meandering journey, NADA traverses various spots and locations around Kampong Gelam, enchanted by the stories to emit more hauntological sounds.

NYATA & MIMPI

Commissioned for Life In A Cloud - a digital playbook encapsulating artistic articulation in these unusual times of the pandemic - ‘Nyata & Mimpi’ unveils the creative manifestation of NADA’s dream idea.

“NADA is not one to square off this pandemic with barefaced insistence on their right to exist essentially as Performance Artists. Their way has been to remain in the arena in spite of the pandemic wont to take down the so called unessential. In this season of trouble, they state plainly that audience interaction is important to them. Yet even as they accept the conditions of the day, they gently display their grit by reminding us that the liminal space between tender dreams and harsh reality is where they have always chosen to exist.”

Natalie Hennedige, Curator, Life In A Cloud

To view digital playbook: www.lifeinacloud.co/chapter-three 

To listen to song: https://push.fm/fl/cp2xv1do

Between February to April 2020, BA in Arts Management students from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, embarked on an artist documentation project as part of their module History & Contextual Studies: materials, methods, history. The first-year students were tasked with interviewing an artist to better understand an aspect of their practice – their processes and influences, issues they were interested in exploring through their artmaking – and to produce the result of the interview in the form of a video.

Tigers in Tampines by nada

A contribution for “Tigers in Tampines” as part of the National Arts Council commission for the Arts in Your Neighbourhood platform. The project sent 7 music artists out to the area to compose original tracks inspired by the surroundings and the people.