The Human Expression Dance Company Leads Spring Performance Season in London with Triple Bill of Signature Short Works
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON 11 JANUARY 2024
SINGAPORE, 11 JANUARY 2024, THURSDAY — The new year kicks off with much zest as local leading contemporary dance company, The Human Expression (T.H.E), heads to The Coronet Theatre, London, United Kingdom come February to present a dynamically poignant triple bill.
Titled Rethinking Co-existence, the trio of works are Un-form and Pure by T.H.E’s Founding Artistic Director and Main Choreographer Kuik Swee Boon, and Present by Resident Choreographer Kim Jae Duk. This will be the UK premiere for all 3 works, and the Company’s 2nd time at The Coronet Theatre — they first performed there in February 2022 with Kuik’s full-length work, PheNoumenon, to rave reviews from London’s audiences.
Rethinking Co-existence looks at the individual against backdrops of societal commensurations and relations, contemplating facets of family, community, work, and the value of being to physicalise the whys and hows of our selfhood, and pose a reflection on society at large.
On bringing T.H.E to the UK, Kuik says, “T.H.E’s works have always been rooted in Asian cultures, life experiences, and aesthetics. These three pieces each dynamically reflect and explore different facets of life in contemporary Asia, interpreting universal values and aesthetics from an Asian perspective. I believe that the audiences in the UK will be able to appreciate these themes. This being the second time we’re invited to perform in the UK, I feel a sense of trust and satisfaction. While excited, I’m thinking about how to situate the significance and appeal of our works and performances in the current challenging global context.”
Whilst in London, the Company will also hold a 3-hour-long HollowBodyTM and Repertoire Workshop for professional dance artists and dance students there. HollowBodyTM is the methodology and movement philosophy advocated by Kuik that gives T.H.E its signature creation and performance voice, and unique, organic physicality.
T.H.E’s London stop will be the first of multiple tour destinations that the Company is slated to make this year; others include Estonia, Malaysia, and Taiwan. The recovery in touring schedule is highly anticipated for T.H.E as it looks to strengthen its global profile and place Singapore on the international contemporary dance landscape, an endeavour that was on a rising trajectory in 2019 but prematurely disrupted by the pandemic in 2020.
Rethinking Co-existence will be performed on 9 & 10 February as the opening programme of The Coronet Theatre’s Spring/Summer 2024 season. The HollowBodyTM and Repertoire Workshop will take place on 7 February. Ticketing details are available on The Coronet Theatre’s website. Local fans and followers of T.H.E unable to catch the Company on tour can look forward to its annual contemporary dance festival in June that includes a world premiere, and more performances in Singapore in the latter half of the year.