Step Out and Wonder · Singapore, 2 February 2016 – NUS Arts Festival, the flagship arts season of the National University of Singapore, returns in 2016 with bold presentations

NUS Centre For the Arts

50 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119279

Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002

Website: www.nus.edu.sg/cfa

- 1 -

Media Release

Step Out and Wonder

NUS Arts Festival 2016 aims to expand audience’s minds with a science and technological twist

Singapore, 2 February 2016 – NUS Arts Festival, the flagship arts season of the National University of

Singapore, returns in 2016 with bold presentations and fresh performances. Running from 11 to 26 March

2016, the Festival will present over 30 shows at various locations in the University and NUS Baba House.

This edition of NUS Arts Festival partners with the Centre for Quantum Technologies to explore the

intersection of quantum theories and performing arts, underlining research, learning and process as cruxes of

the Festival. Centred on the theme of ‘Wonder’, the Festival aims to challenge one’s notions of reality and

relationships in the current technologically-driven society.

“NUS Arts Festival has always been a valuable platform for our students and alumni to work with industry

professionals, bringing together their creative and intellectual energies to present quality performances and

unique collaborations. The Festival in 2016 continues to underscore the Centre’s role in nurturing NUS

students, not only complementing academia but also cultivating a deeper appreciation of the arts amongst the

community, even beyond the University,” says Sharon Tan, Director of NUS Centre For the Arts.

NUS Arts Festival 2016 Highlights

Opening the 11th edition of NUS Arts Festival is space. time. mind., a bold presentation that pushes the

frontiers of traditional Chinese dance. Taking inspiration from physics, this collaboration between NUS

Chinese Dance and Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company – an internationally renowned and

esteemed Chinese dance company – will premiere five critically acclaimed works in the Beijing Dance

Academy repertoire, as well as two original works by Ding Hong, Artistic Director and Resident

Choreographer of NUS Chinese Dance.

http://www.nus.edu.sg/cfa



Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 2 -

NUS Indian Dance showcases a part-presentation part-performance Sambhavna, featuring an original

choreography that depicts the behavior of quantum-scale particles through lithe and delicate movements.

Choreographed by the group’s Artistic Director Santha Bhaskar who worked intimately with the scientists of

Centre for Quantum Technologies, the innovative piece brilliantly weaves quantum theories with the

classical Bharatanatyam to explore the quantum nature of reality.

From the grand soaring notes of Brahm’s Academic Festive Overtune Op. 80 to the experimental and surreal

works of Belioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Music For Curious Minds will illustrate the startling parallels in

the development of science and music, and the interplay of influences on each other’s area of knowledge and

expression. Helmed by maestro Lim Soon Lee and performed by NUS Symphony Orchestra, the concert will

also feature soloists Lim Chun (violin) and Kimberly Lo (violin) in Bruch’s Double Concerto for Violin and

Viola Op. 88.

In celebration of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts’ (EMCC) 30th anniversary, First Sparks: 30 Years of Arts on

Campus brings together alumni of the (EMCC) series in a nostalgic reunion concert. Featuring Jack & Rai,

Karen Tan, Pam Oei, Rani Singam, Rosita Ng, Selena Tan and ShiLi & Adi, with a script by Wang Liang

Sheng, this concert celebrates EMCC as a launch pad for arts practitioners – onstage or behind-the-scenes –

who have since established themselves as professionals in the industry. This concert is also part of

ExxonMobil Campus Concerts and will close the January to March 2016 season.

Melding virtuosic dance and hilarious physical theatre, Australian performing artist Joseph Simons will

explore the art of ‘getting used to it’ in First Things First, showcasing his signature wit, intricate

choreography and musicality. Performance artist Brian Lobel explores how the society emotionally and

socially interacts with digital media in an interactive performance-lecture Purge. He will also conduct an

intimate workshop Let Me Hear Your Body Talk where participants are urged to examine their relationship

with their bodies and how it is informed by politics, culture, history and more.

The Festival will close with a youthful and energetic double bill by NUS Dancers, led by choreographic

powerhouses Ricky Hu and KENTARO!!. With Ricky Hu – together with Mai Jingwen as assistant

choreographer, award-winning director Edith Podesta and composer Low Xu Hao – presenting contemporary

dance piece Look Up, and KENTARO!! employing hip hop-based techniques to showcase a reinterpretation

of his delicate work Island Shelf, Overdrive III: The Final Chapter will narrate the stories of young driven

people living in fast-paced Asian cities.

(Festival Highlights attached in Annex A)




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 3 -

Fringe Programmes

The forthcoming instalment of NUS Arts Festival will bring unconventional and exhilarating fringe

performances to add excitement to the Festival. Artists include Kelvin ‘Smokey’ Ng, the soulful master of

blues harmonica; Serena and Dinie with their cajon and accordion; Flame of the Forest, a band of Chinese

brothers who incorporate styles from other genres with their understanding of Indian Classical and Folk

music; and youths from Sekolah Indonesia Singapura with their musical performances and an all-girls dikir

barat item.

Running parallel to NUS Art Festival are annual shows by NUS Wind Symphony, The NUSChoir, NUS

Piano Ensemble, NUS Chinese Orchestra and NUS Harmonica Orchestra, at various locations across the

island.

Stay in touch with the latest news and updates via nusartsfestival.com.

About NUS CENTRE FOR THE ARTS

Established in 1993, NUS Centre For the Arts (CFA) is a vibrant space for the appreciation of the arts and

nurturing of the creative and inquiring spirit. It supports student engagement with the arts and the integration

of the arts into the life of the University.

NUS CFA encompasses the NUS Museum, NUS Baba House and a Talent and Development arm that

oversees 22 student arts excellence groups. Through its myriad of programmes, practices, exhibitions,

workshops and outreach, such as NUS Arts Festival and the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, the Centre

enhances and augments the university experience and contributes to the building of knowledge and

transformation of students.

CFA also manages facilities such as the University Cultural Centre, with its 1600-seat Hall and 450-seat

Theatre, and rehearsal spaces in Runme Shaw CFA Studios and University Town. For more information,

visit www.cfa.nus.edu.sg.

###




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 4 -

For more information, please contact:

Melody BOH (Ms) Cindy ONG (Ms)

Marketing Communications (Media) Marketing Communications

NUS Centre For the Arts NUS Centre For the Arts

T: (65) 6516 8797 T: (65) 6516 1223

E: [email protected] E: [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 5 -

ANNEX A

NUS Arts Festival 2016 Highlights

Opening Show

《空间・时间・心灵》space. time. mind

NUS Chinese Dance with Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company

Fri 11 Mar | 8pm | UCC Hall | $29, $25, $22

In a bold presentation that pushes the frontiers of traditional Chinese dance, NUS Chinese Dance teams up

with Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company – an internationally renowned and esteemed Chinese

dance company – in a quest to bring back the sense of wonder inspired by nature and human connections to a

technologically-driven society.

Taking inspiration from physics, space. time. mind will premiere five critically-acclaimed works in the

Beijing Dance Academy repertoire, including an original reinterpretation of The Rite of Spring, as well as

two original works by Ding Hong, Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of NUS Chinese Dance.




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 6 -

Closing Show

Overdrive III: The Final Chapter

NUS Dancers with Ricky Hu (China/Hong Kong) and KENTARO!! (Japan)

Fri & Sat 25 & 26 Mar | 8pm | UCC Theatre | $29, $25

Post-show dialogue following the 25 Mar, 8pm performance

Overdrive III: The Final Chapter brings together two choreographic powerhouses to tell the stories of young

driven people living in fast-paced asian cities.

Which becomes more real, our life as seen through the 8-inch screen or life itself?

Ricky Hu Songwei (China/Hong Kong), winner of the 2012 Hong Kong Arts Development Award for

Young Artist (Dance) – together with Mai Jingwen as assistant choreographer, award-winning director Edith

Podesta (Australia) and composer Low Xu Hao (Singapore) -- present Look Up, a textured work about man’s

obsession with social media.

Places may seem empty; but no.

There are always things to be found there

The gods are watching us all the same way, neither more nor less.

Nevertheless we believe in something, even if it is not god.

Working primarily with hip hop techniques and his own music and sounds, KENTARO!! (Japan), winner of

the 2010 Japan Dance Forum Award, has been lauded for his hip hop-based datsuryoku-kei (ennui style)




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 7 -

dance creations. Don’t miss this reinterpretation of his work Island Shelf, a delicate meaningful piece

interwoven with narrative and sound.

First Sparks: 30 Years of Arts on Campus

Part of ExxonMobil Campus Concerts

Jack & Rai, Karen Tan, Pam Oei, Rani Singam, Rosita Ng, Selena Tan and ShiLi & Adi

Script by Wang Liang Sheng

Sun 13 Mar | 8 pm | UCC Hall | $27

Celebrate 30 years of the arts on campus with us as we bring together talents who have shone on the

ExxonMobil Campus Concert stage through the different seasons of Singapore’s longest-running arts

outreach programme.

Inaugurated in 1986, ExxonMobil Campus Concerts, or better known as EMCC, has been a platform to

present a rich and varied palette of performances by local and international performers in dance, music,

theatre and film. It also promotes budding talents on campus, many of whom have gone on to establish

themselves as professional artists. Members of the ExxonMobil Campus Concerts Crew, the production

support team of EMCC, have also become experienced arts managers and leaders, contributing to the

development of the local arts scene today.

Be part of this wonderful reunion as we bring back fond memories of the past to fuel the passion for the next

generation of artists.




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 8 -

Sambhavna (Probability)

NUS Indian Dance

Fri & Sat 18 & 19 Mar | 8pm | UCC Dance Studio

Free admission with registration at www.nusartsfestival.com

Albert Einstein once wrote that, "It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes

the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two

contradictory pictures of reality; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but

together they do." In the same way, the behaviour of quantum-scale particles cannot be explained by classical

concepts of ‘particle’ or ‘wave’ but is somehow both: a quantum phenomenon which continues to fill the

human mind with wonder.

NUS Indian Dance, with original choreography from Artistic Director Santha Bhaskar in part-presentation,

part-performance, works with the processes of mind and movement to explore the quantum nature of reality

through the language of Bharatanatyam.




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 9 -

First Things First

Joseph Simons (Australia)

Fri & Sat 18 & 19 Mar | 8pm | UCC Theatre | $29

Sat 19 Mar | 3 pm Matinee

Post-show dialogue following the 18 Mar, 8pm performance

From one of Australia’s most innovative performing artists comes First Things First - a one-man show of

virtuosic dance and hilarious physical theatre.

There’s a first time for everything: catching public transport, speaking in public, changing a nappy….

Join Joseph Simons as he explores the art of ‘getting used to it’ with his signature wit, intricate choreography

and astounding musicality.

First Things First was developed in Berlin in 2013 and premiered in New York in 2014 to overwhelmingly

positive responses and critical acclaim. Touring extensively throughout USA, UK, Asia and Australia,

Simons has worked for major dance companies including Chunky Moves (Connected, I Like This), Lucy

Guerin Inc. (Structure and Sadness, Untrained) and as a soloist with the West Australian Ballet.




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 10 -

Purge

Brian Lobel (US/UK)

Thu & Fri 24 & 25 Mar | 8pm | Yale-NUS Performing Hall | $25

In 2011, Brian Lobel played a brutal game of friendship maintenance: over 5 days in cafés in both London

(United Kingdom) and Kuopio (Finland), Brian gave strangers one minute to decide which of his 1300

Facebook friends to keep or delete. The deleting was real, the pace was maniacal, the results were final.

Following 50 hours of performance, 800 emails from angry, amused and intrigued friends and over 2500

comments from people watching via live stream, Purge the stage show was created – an interactive

performance-lecture exploring how we emotionally and socially interact with digital media.

Let Me Hear Your Body Talk

A Workshop with Brian Lobel

Sat 26 Mar | 1pm – 5pm | Dance Atelier 2, Stephen Riady Centre, UTown | $40

For the past ten years, Brian Lobel has been creating work about his body - when it works, when it doesn't

work, when it's achy, when it's breaky, when it's lonely and when it needs a little extra love. Drawing on

examples from his own arts practice which straddles the worlds of live art, monologue and installation,

participants will explore their own relationship with their bodies in this workshop, and how this is informed

by politics, culture, history and more. Through free-writing, list-making, individual reflection and group

discussions, Let Me Hear Your Body Talk aims to remove the barriers that exist between our body and

making work about it.




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 11 -

Music For Curious Minds

NUS Symphony Orchestra. Conducted by Lim Soon Lee

Sat 26 Mar | 8pm | UCC Hall | $$25 & $20

Science and Music share similar processes of thought, experimentation and discovery, and a sense of

curiosity and wonder at the root of it all. In Music for Curious Minds, NUS Symphony Orchestra presents the

startling parallels in the development of science and music and the interplay of influences on each other’s

area of knowledge and expression.

From grand soaring notes of Brahms’s Academic Festive Overture Op. 80, which was composed on the

occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate of music, to Bruch’s Double Concerto for Violin and Viola Op.

88, performed by soloists Lim Chun (viola) and Kimberly Lo (violin), Music for Curious Minds guides you

through the transformation of classical music written in traditional approach to experimental and surreal

works of like Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.




Tel: (65) 6516 2492 Fax: (65) 6874 1002


- 12 -

ANNEX B

Ticketing

Tickets are available at www.nusartsfestival.com or www.eventclique.com and its authorised agents,

unless otherwise stated.

Concessions

10% discount – Full-time students, NUS staff, AlumNUS and NUSS members, NSFs and Senior Citizens.

20% discount – Group bookings of 20 tickets or more.

Corporate and school group discounts are available through NUS Centre For the Arts. For enquiries, please

email [email protected] or call (65) 6601 2305.

*Festival concessions not applicable to Wonderous Measure, Digital Dondang Sayang, XPerienz: ‘In C’ and

In Conjunction shows.


Documents

Step Out and Wonder · Singapore, 2 February 2016 – NUS Arts Festival, the flagship arts season of the National University of Singapore, returns in 2016 with bold presentations