The show opens with what looks like large pieces of broken glass strewn across five black mobile structures on the stage. A dancer walks out on stage and turns on a gramophone hoisted on a chair behind the structures; a recording of Madam Han Tok Ngan singing The Four Seasons, a Hainanese folk song, plays in the background.
First commissioned for the Singapore Arts Festival in 2011, As it Fades has its theme, ‘I Want To Remember’. It explores the nature of memory and nostalgia, reminiscing over the gradual loss of heritage and tradition in Singapore. This restaging also marks dancer Jessica Christina’s last performance with T.H.E. as she leaves for marriage. The powerhouse, who will certainly be dearly missed, seemed to be at the peak of her game, holding the audience captive throughout the entire night; her sharpness and commitment to each step coupled with her trust in her fellow dancers were simply breath-taking.
T.H.E Dance Company, one of the leading contemporary dance companies in Singapore, never fails to impress with their powerful, articulate and fluid movement quality—one movement flows effortlessly into another. Following the folk song, soft ambient music plays over the speakers. Breathing, an essential part of their movement is not only seen but also heard and is very much part of the dance as the ambient music.
The dancers begin dressed in black, with hints of Asian influence such as the Chinese mandarin collar—in stark contrast to the brightly coloured, more Western clothes in the later part of the dance. The black outfits mourn over the loss of heritage and tradition. The dancers held on tightly to the movable structures, unwilling to let go of what fragments of past tradition that was left. All while the ambient music gradually became jarring, unbearable even.
During a section that called for introspection, some dancers were scattered in the background, each adopting a pensive stance, while in the foreground, others crawled slowly, as if searching for answers to this problem.
We are also brought to a situation where our historicality fades into oblivion – perhaps this is what is or what is to be. In a scene, dancers gather around the vinyl record, watching it as if all that’s left of heritage and tradition is just that, a museum piece, to be observed, no longer alive or embodied in one’s existence.
And when they are truly lost – even the fragments of what remained have disappeared and even the voices of those who embodied tradition, we have difficulty recalling. All that is left are mere memories, and these are fading as well. The grief over the loss hits us hard and we become caught a in helpless and frantic scurry, running on the spot but getting nowhere. Later, however, the next generation, dressed in celebratory bright colors, is ignorant of the loss and lives only in the present: they are caught in a playful dance.
Speaking to our world of increasing globalisation, westernisation and with the blend of cultures in Singapore, it forces us to confront the question of how are we to deal with the mixture of cultures that makes up who we are. In his Cantonese monologue, dancer Lee Mun Wai brings up the issue of language: how although ethnically Chinese, many Singaporeans are in fact more comfortable speaking in English. A poignant reminder of our fading heritage and culture that resonates deeply with our society today; how do we choose to continue existing without making sense of our historicality? What do we do as it fades?
To catch works by T.H.E second company, liTHE 2014 is an upcoming production that will take place 27 – 29 June.