As It Fades《從消逝出发》
Synopsis
A place where memory and reality blur into each other, a place where silhouettes shift ceaselessly. In this constant flux, a breath, thin and delicate, is perhaps the only thing that is concrete.
Through an intense workshop process with his dancers, T.H.E Dance Company's artistic director, Kuik Swee Boon, creates a work that continues to explore the nature of the relationship between the body and dance, a very special relationship often indescribable in words.
Titled As It Fades《從消逝出发》, Kuik delves again into contemporary local life and reflects the many experiences its people go through; their lives, pasts and emotions - love, anxiety, happiness, loss, anger, fear. He draws inspiration from a local context with his use of Hainanese folk songs as well as the memories of his dancers to create a dance that is sublime and speaks directly to our hearts.
As It Fades《從消逝出发》was commissioned by Singapore Arts Festival 2011
World Premiere: May 2011, Singapore Arts Festival, Theatre, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore
Malaysia Premiere: September 2011, Mydance Festival, Kuala Lumpur
France Premiere: March 2012, Les Hivernales, Festival de Danse, Avignon
China Premiere: July 2012, Beijing Modern Dance Festival, Beijing
Italy Premiere: September 2012, Oriente Occidente Dance Festival, Rovereto
Denmark Premiere: November 2012, Denmark Mancopy Dance Festival, Aarhus & Copenhagen
India Premiere: September 2014, INTERFACE Festival, Kolkata
South Korea Premiere: September 2016, Daegu International Dance Festival, Daegu
Thailand Premiere: November 2016, Bangkok International Dance Festival, Bangkok
Japan Premiere: October 2017, Niigata International Dance Festival, Niigata
Latest Local Performance: February 2021, Reawakening Cultural Memories, Our Tampines Hub, Singapore
Credits
Artistic Direction & Choreography
Kuik Swee Boon
Original Music Composition/Arrangement
Bani Haykal
Music Contributor (Chinese zither)
Natalie Tse
Hainanese Folk Songs Recorded by
Mdm Han Tok Ngan
Existing Music
海燕 (Hai Yen) by 李香兰 (Li Xiang Lan), Spray by Alva Noto
Set Design
Kuik Swee Boon
Original Lighting Design
Anna Rouhu
Original Performer/Singer
Silvia Yong
Original Cast
Alice Tan, Argaza Cristopher, Christina Chan, Goh Shou Yi, Hazel Tng, Jackie Ong, Jessica Christina, Koh Xiu Li, Lee Mun Wai, Liu Xiao Mi, Liz Fong, Wu Mi, Yarra Ileto, Zhuo Zihao
Original Guest Performers
韩苏颜 (singer)
Yong Tiam Sin
Media/Audience Quotes
“The kinetic energy of the dancers touched a chord with the audience in an immediate, visceral way with the duality of movement and story interconnected and reinforced by lucid interactions between them…Every moment of dance… told a story in a narrative that weaves between abstraction and literal translation that confronted our senses and demanded reflection.”
– Stephanie Burridge, CriticalDance UK 2014
“Kuik’s signature movement vocabulary is writ large in As It Fades. The choreography is minute yet expansive, pointed yet luscious and undeniably demanding.”
– Germaine Cheng, The Straits Times 2014
“Swee Boon’s movement style devotes enormous attention to detail… Every movement phrase in As It Fades is weighed and balanced like a sentence, and can be savoured like poetry.”
– Bilqis Hijjas, KL Dance Watch 2014
