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Friday, November 17, 2006 The Search for Art in Singapore Singapore isn't a country known for its art, though the government is trying to make the city state a cultural giant. Let's be frank: it has a long way to go. The Esplanade is a US$500 million arts complex that signaled the government's official promotion of visual art, theatre, dance, and music. Singaporeans weren't happy about its design initially, referring to it derogatorily as "the Durians," but the criticism seems to have subsided. The complex hosts a variety of performances, from free outdoor events to expensive touring theatre groups, and it's the only venue/presenter of its kind in the country. So you'd expect that it would attract reasonably-sized audiences and quality performers. Apparently this is not always the case. Today Esplanade presented Malay music and dance in a free outdoor concert by Era Dance Theatre and Azpirasi, featuring performers from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Only 20-30 people who were not photographers and camera men showed up. And in some ways you can't blame them. While the overall effect wasn't terrible, it wasn't quite what you'd consider professional caliber. The musicians were generally ok (singers, drummers, accordion, violin), but the violinist was tentitive, uncertain as to what he was supposed to be playing. So he frequently played notes that weren't quite in line with the accordion, sometimes only because he was just behind the phrase. The real problem was with the dancers. In a couple of pieces, the women kept looking at each other as though they hadn't memorized the cheoreography and needed to make sure that they were doing the right moves. This problem was worse with one of the men in the final dance piece. When he was clearly supposed to be synchronized with the other male dancer, he started on the wrong hand, looking confused--it took a minute for him to recover and figure out which part of his body he was supposed to move when. At a point in the middle of the piece, the other man dropped to the ground in a spin, which the confused man missed entirely; he gave a look at plainly said, "Oops!" and jumped back in. I ended becoming a part of this performance though. One of the male dancers invited me to dance with him for part of a song and I spent a couple of minutes attempting to mimic his movements. It was good fun. Apparently the other dancers were not having as much success finding audience members to participate--no other people joined in, and I saw at three people politely refuse the offer. Such reluctance is rare in the States, but my cousin told me that this is very typical of Singaporeans--they don't like attracting public attention. Perhaps the most interesting part of the performance was the costumes. Malay traditional costumes are brightly colored, beautiful creations, though it seems strange that a tropical country would develop dress that seems rather heavy. If only the performers would have matched up to their attire. ^ Top | 11:16 AM | | | 
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