O Sounds, originally titled Old Sounds, is a rich composite of modern city sounds, endangered dialects, folksongs and dance-on-screen. This hour-long multimedia dance work explores the tensions and complexities arising from the erosion of tradition in the bid to be increasingly progressive and modern. How much of our tradition can we afford to lose? How much have we already lost and will we be able to reclaim it?

Through extensive research, choreographer Swee Boon Kuik has interviewed and collected material from various Chinese dialect groups around Singapore. These dialects and their history are on the verge of extinction. The collected materials – in the form of spoken memoirs, folksongs and stories – are incorporated into music composed by Darren Ng, a prominent Singaporean musician and sound artist. Kuik has also invited Brazilian video artist Gabriela Tropia to incorporate video art and film projection into the dance. With the collaboration of Ng and Tropia, Old Sounds emerges as a work that engages the senses entirely. Other collaborators include photographer Ngiap Heng Tan and lighting designer Tommy Wong.

O Sounds comes at an appropriate time where globalisation, progress and mass consumerism are rapidly changing the way people live. It throws the spotlight on our struggle in trying to maintain the fragile balance between retaining the essence of who we are and our insatiable desire to move endlessly forward.

Choreography:
Swee Boon KUIK



Praise for O Sounds
‘Wowed the audience with their high level of performance and… technique’
Melissa Quek, Straits Times.

Premier: 11 to 13 September 2008, National Museum of Singapore Gallery Theatre, Singapore.
A Commission by the National Museum of Singapore.