Every time
I watch the NUS Dance Ensemble, I struggle to find new words to verbalise
what its dancers do onstage: their repertory, their energy, and their
enthusiasm. It's tough. And I haven't been watching them for that long.
Not that they've been around for ages; other dance groups managed by
the National University of Singapore's Centre for the Arts are twice
as old. But, while Chinese Dance and Dance Synergy have gone through
several tutors over the past two decades, Dance Ensemble's founder/tutor
and in-house choreographer, Zaini Mohd Tahir, has been leading the troupe
since he started it 12 years ago.
The continuity it enjoys shows in the consistently high standard of
dancing that it presents, even when the material isn't so hot. And it
helps that Dance Ensemble has very loyal alumni, who frequently return
to perform with and choreograph for the group.
For The Next Wave 2004, Dance Ensemble premiered new works
by three locally-based choreographers - Albert Tiong, Xu Jie,
and Ryan Tan - who were new to working with the group. SDT resident
choreographer Jeffrey Tan, alumnus Shahbirul Zaki Ahmad, and Zaini (of
course) also contributed to the programme.
A former member of Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Odyssey Dance
Theatre, Tiong joins a long list of dancemakers who have tried to reinterpret
Stravinsky's monumental ballet, The Rite of Spring. In this
abbreviated and pared-down version, the dancers' usual flamboyance was
restrained in favour of angular, distraught shapes and ground-digging
flow. It'd be interesting to see what how they would fare with the complete
score.
A voiceover told us about the "dichotomy of the human condition"
in Xu's Storming Rose, which swung between Spanish-tinged yearning
and thumping techno grooving. The cast ably essayed these two extremes
in mood, but otherwise, it lost me after a while. Ryan Tan's In
the Park was an affable jazz-styled romp, thinly disguised as a
spontaneous encounter. Anonymous characters dance by the street light,
with some body percussion thrown in, as others watch and cheer. A definite
crowd-winner.
In Jeffrey Tan's gloomy Sojournic Serenade, luggage-carrying
peasant women (were they immigrants or victims of slave peddling?) visualised
their doubts and fears while travelling by sea. Caught between home
and an unknown destination, one desperate escapee was promptly shot
dead. What an ending, and what a sharp contrast in tone to Shahbirul
Zaki's Dream-like State. Neon-bright girls with grinning masks
slipped onstage from under a bed, frisking the night away before a ringing
alarm clock spelled the end of their games.
Vocalese was another of Zaini's group pieces that featured
him in a solo. This time, pianist Toh Tze Chin and erhu player Dai Da
were at his disposal, but he didn't make full use of them. Instead of
having them accompany the entire dance, their meltingly beautiful score
was rudely woven into an assortment of taped music. Whatever the reasons
for this move, Vocalese felt like a case of squandered opportunities. |
"The continuity the troupe enjoys shows in the consistently high
standard of dancing that it presents, even when the material isn't so
hot"
Previous Productions by NUS Dance Ensemble
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