16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Interactive installation explores connections between dance and other art forms
Performers spent about five months rehearsing for this performance. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Performers warming up backstage before the full dress rehearsal on May 15. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Dancer Fu Guo Zhan is wearing a layer of plastic film beneath his clothing to make it easier for the calligrapher to write on and allow the ink to glide more smoothly. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Calligrapher Nancy Teo painting on dancer Fu Guo Zhan's body. The choreography is specially designed for movements to allow characters to be presented clearly. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
(From left) Actor Lim Hock Lai, representing drama, dancer Deng Chengjia and artist See Too Hoi Siang, both representing opera, at a full dress rehearsal. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
'Intersections' is a sensory installation that explores the connections between dance and various art forms. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
SINGAPORE – Imagine a game of tic-tac-toe brought to life, with each of the nine squares pulsing with movement, rhythm, narrative and creative energy.
'Intersections' is a sensory installation staged on a nine-square grid that explores the connections between dance and other art forms – opera, music, theatre, multimedia art, Peranakan fashion, photography, wayang kulit ( shadow puppetry) , and calligraphy.
Produced by Dance Ensemble Singapore (DES), the performance marks the first time the dance troupe is combining the nine art forms in this unique format.
Dancers performing 'Dancing Puppets' - their movements represent wayang kulit or shadow puppetry.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
For some of the performers – such as the practitioners of photography, wayang kulit and Cantonese opera – it is also their first time integrating their craft with dance.
The sensory installation is part of the 8th edition of Cultural Extravaganza, an annual event organised by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) since 2017.
Photographer Amos Poh and dancer Gong Wenxuan performing Shadow and Dance. The photographer is constantly moving around the grids to take photographs and the images are projected in the performing area during the performance.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The performance unfolds in three segments.
In the first one , members of the audience can enter a given grid and immerse themselves in the performance. Some grids allow for a more interactive experience, such as those showcasing music and hosting multimedia projections: those grids respond to the way the performers move in real time, creating a dynamic exchange between sounds, visuals and dance. Visitors can dance and create music, while talking with the performers .
Audience members can participate and immerse themselves in the artistic experience.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
In the second segment, the dancers attempt to create a different form of artistic expression, blending movement and the art form in the grid. Their fluid movement from grid to grid connects them in a line of meaning drawn in space, like playing a game of tic-tac-toe, but one that is made possible by performing cohesive artistic actions within each grid .
The last segment is Dance: Awakenings, in which dancers interact with an installation art piece called Whispers from the Woods. The performance tells us we should learn to let go if we want our consciousness to evolve and our lives to change, and that we can rise from chaos in society like a phoenix rises from its ashes.
In Dance: Awakenings, dancers interact with an installation art piece called Whispers from the Woods.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The event runs from May 16 to May 18 at SCCC's multi-purpose hall.
For ticketing details, visit
There will also be a free dance performance by young dancers from DES Performing Arts Academy at SCCC's concourse on May 17 (12pm and 5pm) and May 18 (11am and 3pm).
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