NEWS & PERSPECTIVESEpoch TimEs augusT 8 – 21, 2014 5

Team Singapore at 2014 Commonwealth GamesBy Ang Xue Er

The 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scot-land, from Jul 23 to Aug 3 brought together thousands of athletes across 71 nations, com-peting in 18 different sports.

The Commonwealth Games started in 1930 out of a shared history and a shared language. Every athlete has to sign a dec-laration stating that “[they] will take part in the Common-wealth Games in the spirit of true sportsmanship, recog-nising the rules which govern them and desirous of partici-pating in them for the honour of our Commonwealth and for the glory of sport”. Ultimately, the main point of these inter-

national games is the relation-ships forged and the values learned.

And what a long way Team Singapore has come. She has been participating in the Com-monwealth games since 1958. From two medals in 1958, she won a noteworthy 31 medals in 2010.

How about 2014?Below are some of the major breakthroughs Team Singapore has achieved in this year’s Commonwealth Games:• The table tennis players

clinched six out of the seven table tennis golds.

• 25-year-old Derek Wong became Singapore’s first badminton player to win a medal in the Commonwealth

Games men’s singles event.• Joseph Schooling earned Sin-

gapore’s first-ever swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games.

• Our first-ever Men’s vault medal at the Commonwealth Games went to gymnast Hoe Wah Toon.

Here is Team Singapore’s medal tally:• Table Tennis – 6 gold, 2 silver

and 2 bronze• Shooting – 2 gold• Badminton – 2 silver, 1

bronze• Swimming – 1 silver• Gymnastics – 1 bronze

For all athletes who represented Singapore, congratulations and thank you for your hard work!

Daphne Theresa Chia of Singapore competes in the ribbon section of the Women’s Team Final and Individual quali-fication during Day One of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Ian Walton/Getty ImaGes

The Singapore team celebrate victory in the Mixed Teams Bronze medal

match over India during Day Five of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

RIchaRd heathcote/Getty ImaGes

andReJ IsaKoVIc/aFP/Getty ImaGes

Silver medalist Singapore’s Derek Wong (L) poses for a picture after the award ceremony following the men’s singles badminton finals.

Srimathi Neila Sathyalingam (L), founder of Apsaras Arts, and Aravinth Kumarasamy (R), Creative and Managing Director of Apsaras Arts.

FRed Fan/ePoch tImes

production, Angkor - An Untold Story.

Angkor - An Untold Story is a well-received and fascinating theatre dance work that premiered last November at the Esplanade.

A unique production that embraces two cultures in one show, audiences were bewitched by the female carvings of Angkor Wat coming to life through beautiful choreography created by Aravinth Kumarasamy. Aravinth is a multi-talented performer who has received a Young Artiste Award from the National Arts Council of Singapore and was honoured by the Mayor of Croydon, UK in 2011.

For Aravinth, his inspiration comes from life itself. However, in Angkor - An Untold Story, he is inspired by the ethereal architecture of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which is the largest place of worship in the world.

This magnificent monument built under the influence of Indian ideology and Indian artisans has sacred Khmer woman carvings surrounding the entire temple. These charming yet mystifying woman carvings are distinctly different; each of them has a different expression, pose, hand position, jewellery, costume, and hairstyle.

It was an Indian woman that inspired the construction of Angkor Wat. How did the Indians and the Khmers collaborate and build this divine place of worship in the 12th century?

This sparked Aravinth’s interest to unveil this mysterious yet enthralling story – and it took him five years of research and 14 trips to Cambodia to craft this production.

Internationally-acclaimed B h a r a t a n at y a m s o lo i s t Priyadarsini Govind joined this

production, alongside a strong cast of 70 dancers and numerous regionally-renowned dancers and musicians from Singapore, India, Sri lanka, Cambodia. The list includes non-Indian local choreographer Osman Abdul Hamid.

The FutureIndian classical dance has a very positive future; at present, it is well-liked in the United Kingdom, America, France and Germany, according to Aravinth.

Unlike Neila’s time, today’s youth are more willing to embrace dance as a serious career.

There is also support given by the National Arts Council.

Indian dance creates scenes in suspension, and audiences who watch the show are drawn into a make-believe world. Audiences need that relaxation, and today’s Singaporeans are willing to pay for a ticket to watch Indian dance, which is a good sign, according to Aravinth.

Apsaras Arts hopes to create more productions and intends to bring its Angkor production abroad. But it is difficult to survive without funding, hence they need support to sustain the company.

“The future is very good, but we need to act together,” conveyed Aravinth. “I have a dream project to do a production like Angkor, but run it for a long season like the Broadway theatre,” he added.

For Neila, the founder of Apsaras Arts has a vision of forming a professional performing company that employs full-time dancers.

“My mission is to pass this to the next generations of people,” she revealed.

For more information about Apsaras Arts, visit http://www.apsarasarts.com