PROGRAMME

WELCOME2DECA

With everything that’s going on in the world right now, it feels a little too on the head presenting this show. Navigating through the creative process opens us up to a strange, tranquil sensitivity to the idea of loss, permanence and the unknown.

Imagining death is like trying to buy a gift for someone you’ve never met. You may get an idea of it from hearsay, but everyone has a slightly different perspective that you feel confident and confused at the same time.

Now that we are here talking about death, we have to talk about life.

So let’s talk about life.

SYNOPSIS

‘The 11th Hour’is a dark dance comedy that dives into the topic of death and ageless speculation of what comes after, in a satirical manner. In the Chinese culture, we accumulate good karma in this life, preparing for a reincarnation that would send us towards a better life. In the Jewish faith, there is no afterlife, just an end.

In many ways, this work is about endings and our inability to accept them. Instead, we make up stories of good places, bad places, vampires, ghouls, ghosts and zombies to fictionalise the idea that, after death we may still exist in some capacity. It’s a dark subject and one that bonds humanity and sometimes the only way to deal with the dark, is with the light.
The thematic double bill will feature the works of Decadance Co’s Resident Choreographer, Rachel Lum, and world renowned British Choreographer, Sam Coren, together with an impressive ensemble of dancers.

'The 11th Hour', ölüm konusunu ve sonrasında ne olacağına dair eskimeyen spekülasyonları hicivli bir şekilde ele alan karanlık bir dans komedisi. Çin kültüründe, bu hayatta iyi bir karma biriktirerek, bizi daha iyi bir hayata gönderecek bir reenkarnasyona hazırlanırız. Yahudi inancında ise ölümden sonra yaşam yoktur, sadece bir son vardır.

Bu çalışma birçok yönden sonlar ve onları kabul edemeyişimizle ilgilidir. Bunun yerine iyi yerler, kötü yerler, vampirler, hortlaklar, hayaletler ve zombilerle ilgili hikayeler uydurarak ölümden sonra da bir şekilde var olabileceğimiz fikrini kurguluyoruz. Bu karanlık bir konu ve insanlığı birbirine bağlayan bir konu ve bazen karanlıkla başa çıkmanın tek yolu ışıktır.” Bu tematik çift fatura, Decadance Co'nun Yerleşik Koreografı Rachel Lum ve dünyaca ünlü İngiliz Koreograf Sam Coren'in eserlerini etkileyici bir dansçı topluluğu ile birlikte sunacak.

MUSIC

“四”

NOCTURNES, OP.55: NO.1 IN F MINOR - FEDERIC CHOPIN, ARTHUR RUBINSTEIN
ESTHER - TZUSING
THE LAST FOUNDRY - RAIME
REAL PEOPLE NOT ACTORS - RAIME
LUJON - HENRY MANCINI

“DEATH TO DUETS”

THAT’S LIFE - FRANK SINATRA
ORIGINAL MUSIC - LOUIS FRERE-HARVEY
THE BURNING MAN - AFTER THEY LEFT
NOCTURNE NO. 11 IN G MINOR, OP. 37 NO. 1 - FREDERIC CHOPIN, YUNDI
THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM - FRANK SINATRA

SPOKEN TEXT

“四是四，十是死，十四是十四，四十是四死，莫把死字说成十，休将死字说成四”

CHINESE TONGUE TWISTER LOOSELY TRANSLATED TO:

“FOUR IS FOUR, TEN IS DEATH, FOURTEEN IS FOURTEEN, FOURTY IS FOUR DEATHS, DON’T MISTAKE DEATH AS TEN, DON’T MISTAKE DEATH AS FOUR”

CREATIVE TEAM

PRODUCEREDWIN WEE
CHOREOGRAPHERSAM COREN
CHOREOGRAPHERRACHEL LUM
ASSISTANT CHOREOGRAPHERGEORGIA VAN GILS
ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNERGABRIEL CHAN
TOUR LIGHTING DESIGNERDARYL NORMAN SOH
SET DESIGNEREDWIN WEE

CAST FOR “四”

DANCERRACHEL LUM
DANCERNG ZU YOU
DANCERPAOPA-NGA KARUNNARAPORN
DANCERJOANNE SEOW

CAST FOR “DEATH TO DUETS”

DANCEREDWIN WEE
DANCERRACHEL LUM
DANCERPAOPA-NGA KARUNNARAPORN
DANCERJOANNE SEOW
DANCERNG PEI YAO
DANCEROH JIA HAO

PRODUCTION TEAM

STAGE MANAGERDARYL NORMAN SOH

SUPPORT US

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Edwin graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 2008 with a Diploma in Dance. Upon graduation, he was invited to present his graduating choreography, The Shaman's Cat, at the da:ns Festival 2008 at Esplanade. He was part of Generations Spotlight: Moscow (2008) directed by Ivan Heng, where he performed for the President of Russia, Dmitriy Medvedev, and Singapore's Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong. He later performed for His Excellency President of Singapore SR Nathan at the Singapore Design Awards 2008. 

He joined Arts Fission in 2008 ad has been actively choreographing and performing since. He was appointed Rehearsal Director in 2011 and Artistic Director for the company’s annual young people environmental dance-theatre productions since 2012. He has directed, curated, designed and choreographed more than 20 staged and site specific original productions.

With Arts Fission, he was involved in all productions and community projects. Some notable performances include, and not limited to, The Rite of Spring: A People’s Stravinsky (2013), Temple Reimagined (2013): a dance film, Future Feed (2014): a collaboration with Irene K Compagnie and presented in Belgium, In the Name of Red (2015): a site specific performance commissioned by National Gallery Singapore, Fire Monkey: a site specific performance under the arts festival of Mapping Melbourne (2016), and again at Northcote Townhall, Melbourne (2018).

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Sam Coren is an award winning dancer and choreographer who has made a name for himself in the dance world with a distinctive style recently revolving around Science fiction, fantasy and absurdity. Sam considers practice as ever evolving, meaning his work can manifest as a multitude of formats and genres.

His interest in clowning has led him to explore the intersections between humour and movement, often incorporating elements of physical comedy into his choreography to create worlds that are satirical, bizarre and occasionally insightful.

Born in South London to immigrant parents, Coren discovered his love of dance at an early age attending community dance classes where he mastered the corner stone of every self respecting dance practice, being a tree.

He then went on to study at London Contemporary Dance School, obtaining BA and MA degrees In performance and choreography. He honed his skills as a performer working with world renowned companies such as Jasmin Vardimon, Clod Ensemble and was a senior member of Hofesh Shechter company for over 5 years. He has also worked extensively on screen performing and movement directing for brands/artists such as Uber, Myer, FKA Twigs, Chemical Brothers, Jon Hopkins and NBC amongst others.

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Rachel Lum graduated with a Diploma in Dance from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in year 2011. Upon graduation, she joined Frontier Danceland as an apprentice. Rachel then joined Re:Dance Theatre (RDT) as a founding member where she actively performed in all of her core and external productions such as M1 Contact Dance Festival, M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, Singapore Night Festival and NUS Arts Festival. Rachel was also the training mistress for Re:Dance Theatre 2. In 2017, she joined The Arts Fission Company as a movement artist. In addition, she has created numerous dance works and one of them, No Corners, was invited to perform at Lift Off Dance Festival in Bracknell, United Kingdom. As a freelance artist, she has performed in M1 Contact Dance Festival, CDE Springboard Dance Festival Macau and DANCESTAGES Shanghai.

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Joanne started her dance journey under the Royal Academy of Dance ballet program at the early age of five in Malaysia. At 16, she discovered her interest in contemporary dance, fascinated by the endless possibilities in body movements. She recently graduated from the Diploma in Dance Program at LASALLE College of the Arts with Distinction.

While furthering her dance studies at LASALLE College of the Arts, she expanded her repertoire to include genres such as jazz and street dance. During her training at LASALLE, she worked with several local and international artists such as Rachel Lopez de la Nieta (UK), Leah Morrison (UK), Ery Mefri (Indonesia), Eisa Jocson (Philippines), Susan Sentler (UK/Singapore) and Jenny Neo (Singapore), as well as collaborated across disciplines such as fine arts, fashion, film and animation, which widened her perspectives of dance. She is currently a full-time dancer with Decadance Co.

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Pao born and raised in Chiangmai, Thailand. Her journey in dance began at young age in Thailand. Pao's dedication to dance led her to numerous classes, workshops, and competitions in Thailand, as well as international stages in Macao, Manila, and Singapore.

At age of 18, she decided to pursue in dance career and join diploma in dance at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Pao's dedication to excellence earned her the Dean's List Award from the School of Dance at NAFA. Beyond school performances, Pao's talents graced the stage at Emergence presented by Singapore Chinese Dance Theater, Singapore Night Festival ,and University of Arts Singapore Symposium. She is currently joining decadance as apprentice

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Zu You started dance at the age of 13, gaining exposure to various genres of dance such as Chinese dance, contemporary dance and ballet. To further pursue his passion, he enrolled in LASALLE College of Arts, graduating with a Diploma in Dance in 2010. He performed in the 2011 edition of Sprouts, organised by the National Art Council and Frontier Danceland, and received the Best Dancer award.

Zu You went on to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Dance at Taipei University of Arts. Upon graduation in 2017, he was a dance artist with T.H.E Dance Company till 2022, working with international choreographers including Kim Jae Duk, Rudi Cole and Julia Robert Pares (HUMANHOOD), Dimo Kirilov, and Jos Baker.

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Pei Yao began dancing under the guidance of Benedict Soh in 2008. During his time in university, he joined NUS Dance Synergy and worked with Albert Tiong and Yarra Ileto. Most recently, he performed in Creased (2023) as well as Knotted (2024) by Decadance Co.

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Oh Jia Hao began his dance journey with Breaking (BBOY) at the age of 13 years old. Starting out with Breaking as a passion, he won several local competitions and represented Singapore overseas. He then pursued professional training at LASALLE College of the Arts, where he explored Ballet, Contemporary, and Jazz for the first time. He decided to transfer to Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and eventually graduated with a Diploma in Dance in 2020. Jiahao has collaborated with both local and international artists, including Ezekiel Olivera, Richard Chappell, Charlotte Christensen Boye, Aditep Buanoi, Hwa Wei An, Kuik Swee Boon, and Albert Tiong. Additionally, he worked with The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company as a project artist for their end of year production in 2022. Currently, Jiahao serves as an adjunct lecturer at Singapore Raffles Music College, where he teaches both Hip Hop and Contemporary dance.

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Recipient of the NAC Overseas Bursary, Gabriel graduated from Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with First Class Honours in Lighting Design. He was also awarded the Strand Lighting Scholarship, funding his training at the Metropolitan Opera, New York (’09 Winter Opera Season). He was conferred the Young Artist Award in 2019 for his artistic excellence and contribution to Singapore's performing arts scene. A chameleon of a designer, Gabriel is well versed in lighting for the theatre, dance, music concerts and live events.

In the dance scene, Gabriel has designed for Frontier Danceland’s main seasons since 2012, featuring an array of international choreographers. Other notable dance productions: Festival Lighting Designer for M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2016 (T.H.E. Dance Company) and Swan Lake 2015 (Singapore Dance Theatre). Gabriel also opened two European dance commissions in summer 2019 - Ballroom for Festspielhaus in St Pölten, Austria, and Dancing Mahler in the 21st Century, a double bill for Opéra National du Rhin, France. Signature theatre designs include Lifespan of a Fact, Constellations, Rising Son, Shakespeare in the Park: Julius Caesar, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest (Singapore Repertory Theatre), The LKY Musical (Metropolitan Productions), First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre), A Dream Under the Southern Bough: Existence (SIFA 2021), Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Sometime Moon, (Toy Factory Productions) and Fluid (The Theatre Practice). Lighting design credits for music include Pipa virtuoso, Wu Man, in Borderlands (SIFA 2016), SCO 25th Anniversary Virtuoso Series I, II, III (Singapore Chinese Orchestra), Nine Songs, Soul Journey Ten Years, (Siong Leng Musical Association), Eight, Heirlooms, (The Teng Ensemble) and Sound of Wisdom - Heal (IMMPAC).

Other design ventures include Symphony of Life, the Gardens By The Bay opening festival anchor, Marina Bay Countdown 2015: Drum Gaia, Halloween Horror Nights 2018 and 2019 theatre performances and last but not least, Singapore’s National Day Parade 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021. Gabriel also goes by the moniker Linesmith (www.linesmith.net) authorised directly by Vectorworks Headquarters based in Washington for conducting training of the Vectorworks software, the leading drafting solution for Entertainment and Performing Arts technical design.

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More than a Lighting Designer, Daryl Norman Soh sees himself as a Storyteller - in which lighting is his medium of expression, in conveying moods, messages and stories. He also sees himself as a Collaborator, strongly believing that in the theatre, one of the most valuable attributes of a designer is their ability to collaborate and communicate openly and effectively with all involved - this being the best way to bring any vision to fruition. Daryl is also a graduate from the Diploma in Technical and Production Management programme at LASALLE College of The Arts. Online portfolio available to view www.darylnormansoh.com.