Business Times 19th August 2008

The sound of movement to multimedia
By Cheah Ui-Hoon

Movement meshed beautifully with the multimedia in Old Sounds, the debut performance of newly formed T.H.E Dance Company. In the national theatre last week, choreographers Kuik Swee Boon demonstrated how collaboration of two different art forms can be done seamlessly and poetically.

Old Sounds might have been inspired by things old such as derelict buildings and dialects that are slowly being lost here, but the execution of it was ultra contemporary with modern dance and sophisticated geography techniques.

Its a good thing that the video work stood up to the standards set by the recent Olympic feat which was the opening ceremony in Beijing that gave us stunning computer visuals which were immaculately choreographers with movement.

In Old Sounds, videographic images danced hauntingly on the vertical and horizontal scrolls on the wall and floor, with a film of the sanders taking centrestage. Around the images shot beautifully by Brazilian video artist Gabriela Tropia Gomes, Kuik had crafted a dance that was both fluid and fast paced, with intricate pairings and engaging ensemble work.

Live movement on stage segued well into the movement on screen, as the middle section of the dance saw dancers filmed in a derelict building.

Another notable segment was the digital effect of the dancers free-falling on screen. Here, the visual, filmic poetry worked well on the overall work, which was largely sombre, as it provided a moment where one can simply appreciate the multimedia effects and emphasis on movement.

Vernacular speech and old folk songs were stitched and looped together by Darren Ng, along with electronic static, so that there was a drone-like soundscape. It was the monotonous soundscape that proved to be too overwhelming, in fact, dragging down the whole production which should have seem different intensities of emotion and rhythm.

If there was a narrative, and there seemed like there should be one, it could have been sharpened. And the work would have benefited from more light-hearted segments as well. Generally, Old Sounds was too serious a work, bordering on melodrama towards the end and one had a sense that Kuik had trouble with the ending.

But it’s a promising work, and one that heralds more new dimensions of dance to come from this one choreographer.