Dance review: Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre celebrates 11th year with nostalgic show set in Telok Ayer
Strokes Upon A Faded Page is one of the segments in Impressions Of Telok Ayer (2025) by Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre.
Impressions Of Telok Ayer
Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre
SOTA Drama Theatre
Aug 1, 3pm
As Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre moves into its 11th year, the company's performance on August 1 is a nostalgic reflection on the history of Telok Ayer. A neighbourhood virtually synonymous with the immigrant Chinese community during colonial times, the cultures of the various dialect groups who lived there have left their imprint on the surrounding area. Such a theme certainly aligns with the current zeitgeist of SG60 celebrations.
Impressions Of Telok Ayer is presented in four distinct segments, each giving a treatment of a different aspect of life in old Telok Ayer. After a short prologue, the first segment, Strokes Upon A Faded Page, conjures up the challenging circumstances of Chinese immigrants in postwar Singapore, for whom home and family would have been distant yearnings.
The scene is presented against the backdrop of letter-writing. Calligrapher Koh Eng Tat performs the role of a letter-writer who helps illiterate clients write letters to their families back in China.
The audience hears a voiceover in Hokkien narrating phrases communicating that the sender has sent money home and misses their parents. Soon after, an image of a letter being written in Chinese is projected on a translucent screen in the foreground, while two dancers perform behind it, their bodies forming shapes and lines in beautiful juxtaposition against the Chinese characters.
This is especially meaningful considering that Chinese characters are ideograms, some of which are based on the human body itself.
The second segment, Gentle Combs, Silent Wishes, revolves around ma jie, Cantonese women who took vows of celibacy and usually worked as domestic helpers, forming close sisterhoods.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore Opening of Woodlands Health has eased load on KTPH, sets standard for future hospitals: Ong Ye Kung
Singapore New vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link to open on Aug 3
Singapore New S'pore jobs portal launched for North West District residents looking for work near home
Singapore HSA investigating teen who was observed to be allegedly vaping in MRT train
Asia KTM plans new passenger rail service in Johor Bahru to manage higher footfall expected from RTS
Singapore Tengah facility with over 40 animal shelters, businesses hit by ticks
Business Property 'decoupling' illegal if done solely to avoid taxes: High Court
Singapore 60 years of building Singapore
Gentle Combs, Silent Wishes is a segment in Impressions of Telok Ayer (2025) by Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre.
PHOTO: KUANG JINGKAI
Set against haunting music by Eri Sugai, the dancers are dressed in the typical white tops and black trousers of ma jie. The majority wear their hair in long pigtails, contrasting against the traditional 'hair-combing' ceremony re-enacted in the foreground. The young ma jie-to-be approaches the ceremony with trepidation yet resolution, highlighting the gravitas of the tradition.
The Lasting Brew is somewhat lighter hearted, telling the story of a young man from current times who time-travels to the 1970s and meets his grandfather during the latter's days as a young man running a coffee shop in Telok Ayer.
The Lasting Brew is one segment in Impressions Of Telok Ayer (2025) by Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre.
PHOTO: KUANG JINGKAI
This segment is bright and cheery, complete with polka-dot dresses and a charming duet between the young 'grandfather' and his sweetheart.
While these first three segments together paint a coherent picture of nostalgia for the Telok Ayer of days past, the last segment unfortunately disappoints. Titled Beneath The Beams, Beyond The Realms, this segment pays tribute to Thian Hock Keng Temple by conjuring up a fantasy scene of fairies holding balls of light, and several other mythical dragon-like creatures.
The temple is of course a key landmark in the neighbourhood, and undoubtedly one that holds profound memories and meanings for residents past and present. However, the abrupt leap from the everyday scenes in the first three segments into an entirely mythical context is bewildering.
Even within this segment, one struggles to make sense of the disparate sub-scenes – beginning with girls playing and dancing with red clogs, followed by a section evoking the construction of the temple with the collaboration of four guest Malay dancers, and then the mythical scenes.
Nevertheless, the company's endeavour to provide a performing opportunity for a large number of dancers, and of varying age groups, is recognised. Barring some instances where the movements and handling of props could be tighter, the performance was generally engaging, and a reflective way to start the nation's birthday month.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
15 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Keeping Chinese Opera in Singapore alive, and vibrant
Justice Bao warning about scams is just one costume change for an ancient art form drawing new audiences. Chinese opera, in all its vivid colours, is evolving and making its presence felt on multiple platforms – theatres, schools, community clubs, malls and online. The clang of cymbals signalled the start of a 'wayang' or Chinese street opera show. As the characters with painted faces and elaborate costumes took to the makeshift stage, members of the audience – often entire families from the neighbourhood – settled in their plastic chairs, rattan fans in hand, to enjoy an evening's entertainment under the stars. Nearby, hawkers on pushcarts enjoyed brisk business peddling snacks like satay or muah chee. This common scene in the 60s and 70s has faded into our collective memory today.
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Stella Rimington, Britain's first female spy chief, dies aged 90
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox LONDON - Stella Rimington, the first female director general of Britain's MI5 security and counter-intelligence service who ushered in an era of greater transparency at the agency, has died aged 90. Rimington, who ran the domestic security agency between 1992 and 1996, was its first head to be publicly named and later wrote a memoir "Open Secret" about her career at the formerly secretive organisation. She went on to write a series of espionage novels and is also widely thought to have inspired actor Judy Dench's tough but playful characterisation of the fictional spymaster 'M' in several James Bond movies. "She died surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath," a family statement quoted by local media said. Rimington was given one of the British state's highest honours when she was made a dame in 1996. She joined MI5 in 1969 and worked in roles including counter-subversion and counter-terrorism. Under her leadership MI5 took a more prominent role in Britain's fight against Irish republican militants, according to a profile on the MI5 website. "As the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world, Dame Stella broke through long-standing barriers and was a visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership," current MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said in a statement. She committed the agency to a more transparent approach to its work, softening its post-Cold War image. "We are, of course, obliged to keep information secret in order to be effective, this is not to say that we should necessarily be a wholly secret organisation," she said in a publicly broadcast 1994 lecture. "Secrecy is not imposed for its own sake. It is not an end in itself." Foreshadowing her later literary career, Rimington opened that same speech with a nod to the British spy novel tradition and the fascination with the security services it had inspired among the general public. "It is exciting stuff and has led to the creation of many myths - and some lurid speculation - about our work. I must admit that it is with some hesitation that I set out tonight to shed some daylight," she said. "I have a sneaking feeling that the fiction may turn out to be more fun than the reality." REUTERS
Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Straits Times
Singer Jessie J hospitalised with infection six weeks after breast cancer surgery
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Jessie J (left) shared a photo on Instagram Stories from her hospital bed with an IV canula in her arm. British pop star Jessie J is facing another health scare less than two months after undergoing surgery for breast cancer. The 37-year-old revealed on social media in June that she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and went for a procedure to treat the disease. But in a post titled 'How I spent the last 24 hours' on Instagram Stories on Aug 3, she revealed she returned to the same hospital ward six weeks post-surgery. She wrote the admission was 'not expected or planned', and she had and still has symptoms that point towards a blood clot in the lung. Clarifying that it is not a blood clot, the Flashlight (2015) singer shared a photo from her hospital bed with an IV canula in her arm. 'They ran a lot of tests, which ended up showing I have an infection (still trying to figure out what) and a little fluid (in) my lungs,' she said. 'Finding it hard to breathe in, but I discharged myself last night (I hate being in hospital) and will continue the investigation as an outpatient.' Jessie J, whose full name is Jessica Cornish, previously disclosed on social media in July 2024 she was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Govt forms 5 new committees to look at longer-term economic strategies; report due in mid-2026 Singapore Ong Beng Seng to be sentenced on Aug 15, prosecution does not object to fine due to his poor health Singapore All recruits at BMTC will be trained to fly drones and counter them: Chan Chun Sing Singapore Pritam Singh had hoped WP would 'tip one or two more constituencies' at GE2025 Singapore Eu Yan Sang warns of counterfeits of its health supplements being sold online Singapore Electric car-sharing firm BlueSG to wind down current operations on Aug 8 Singapore Woman, 26, hit by car after dashing across street near Orchard Road Singapore Car passenger dies after accident involving bus in Yishun She has a two-year-old son with her boyfriend, Danish-Israeli professional basketball player Chanan Colman, 41. In a second post on Instagram Stories on Aug 3, she wrote: 'For me, the true hard journey of this whole thing physically was the day I went into surgery'. She added that the physical recovery is 'far from quick or easy', and 'mentally it's been the most challenging time'. 'Especially as a mum with a toddler and being unable to be the mother I usually am. And having to change the plans for my career for this year has been frustrating after working so hard to get to the point and excited to do it all. But it's life. I know that. 'And don't get me wrong, getting the all clear was and is incredible, but that result didn't speed up or make the recovery from the surgery any easier physically,' she said. Jessie J wrote a third post on her health scare, saying that it was a reminder to herself to slow down even though she felt like she was at a 'tortoise' pace right now. 'This isn't a speedy recovery. And it isn't meant to be,' she wrote. 'That slow pace has been a hard reality to accept. I love moving and working and being up and active but I can't be right now, and that's what it is. 'And I am finding the strength in knowing that all can be adjusted to align with a slower pace and the support of my very small inner circle.'
