August 15, 2010 by yeemotion
Finally a brand new work from Artistic Director of T.H.E, Mr. Swee Boon Kuik, with the work entitled The Man In The Centre. In this work, he seeks to explore each individual’s centre in modern life, finding the essence of who we are and what we are.
Watching the last of the five shows T.H.E put up, it could possibly be like what dancer Mun Wai Lee said during the post-show dialogue, it allowed them to grow as this was one of the rare chances a contemporary dance company in Singapore actually gets to perform five shows. At most three shows, but seldom five. Yet, the work doesn’t quite do justice to each individual, because, in my opinion, they all looked the same. Each of the six dancers seem to be embodying (or trying to embody) a certain individual, rather than expressing their true selves as individuals, which supposedly was the aim of the work – “focusing on individuals who look inwards in the attempt to find their centre in modern life“.

The theme of the work seeks to find something so deep within each individual – how many of us truly know what and where our “centre” is? – and yet, it failed to deliver. In the multimedia section, each individual expresses to the audience what they would do beyond their dancers’ life, and that the things they did enabled them to feel centred. But I wonder, wouldn’t that be defining it too simplistically, especially for things as mundane as cleaning the house or staring blankly into space? How is one centred when staring blankly, letting go of all thoughts, allowing the mind to be a complete blank? In this case, I inferred it as the soul is not aware, as opposed to the awareness one gets through meditation – also letting go of all thoughts. And how is it through the simple act of consuming chocolates make one centred, and know who we are. (Oh.. I am a chocolate lover! That’s who I am!)

I personally felt that there was much more to be dealt with such a theme, and it would require the dancers to go much deeper into themselves, questioning themselves what makes them centred, and who they truly are individually.

On the other hand, the movements created were interesting and enticing to watch. The dancers managed to bring across the movement qualities which relied much on the breath (half the time we could hear them breathing to create the dynamism in their movements); but of course artistically, I felt it was lacking due to the theme. Especially of note was Yarra Ileto and Jessica Christina, with Ileto’s control and sense of flow, and Christina’s explosive and fiery energy, topping it off with their emotions towards the various sections; it was really nice watching them perform.

I must applaud T.H.E Dance Company’s dancers, for their technical virtuosity. Whereas artistically, as the theme itself was particularly self-indulgent, it fails to touch the audience, allowing us to also experience a moment of feeling centred.