Shaozie asked me along to Ultimate Museum (R18) at the Esplanade.
Its been a long long time since I’ve attended a dance performance and after how he went on about how beautiful Swan Lake was … i was sort of looking foward to this performance even though I new it was supposed to be experimental.
Since it was free seating, we arrived early like kiasu Singaporeans and plonked ourselves in the centre of the row of seats … 4 rows from the front (there were only 8 rows so these were the “best” seats in the house). This is despite the fact that there was a scaffolding in the centre-stage directly in front of row 1 with a tungsten lamp directing facing us at eye-level. Shaozie said she wanted to get the best effect … I was thinking we’d be blind by the end of the performance if that lamp was gonna be on for anything more than 30 seconds but having mellowed with age, i agreed.
It started with a photographer aiming the lamp at us with a camera and taking several photographs. That was about the most interesting part of the performance.
What I sat through after that can only be described as one of the most PAINFUL performances I’ve ever experienced in my entire 34 yrs alive. And it only lasted 45 mins … THANK GOD!!!
The use of multi-media, the minimalistic set and the lighting design were ASTONISHING but I could have definitely done without watching the “movement” or listening to the performance music / silence. There were bits I was covering my ears as they hurt from deafening speaker feedback and industrial noices / sounds.
Even the piecing sounds / defeaning silence with female breasts bounce in front of my eyes were not enough to keep me awake as after 30 mins … i was making a valiant effort to keep my eyes from closing.
We were polite Singaporeans nonetheless and stayed till the end of the show. Several people walked in including someone from the NAC. We even gave the performaners a decent applause. There was conviction in their performance … its just that i really didn’t undestand it at all.
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From the Esplanade website about what the performance was supposed to be about:
The provocative Ultimate Museum takes a look the strength of the human body and its evolution. It explores the crises and mechanisms of modern living in a performance bursting with explosive energy, robust spirits and bodies. Definitely not for the faint-hearted!
oh i’m so not playing that anymore.. bah.
please lah, miss i-am-woman-in-love, you got time for me meh?!
i kinda suspected so… it did look interesting. eh next time this kind of thing call me too le!!!
“she was an ah-qua who didn’t work out much, snacked a lot and had breasts”
AH! HA! HA! HA! HA! FUNNY!
I loved it! The design aesthetic was very strong … very masculine … very butch … and the girl dancers were weird and kooky!
i wanted to go for this one!!!!!!!
that erm bad eh… did shao like it?
i’ve seen avant-garde la …. just this was more a multi-media performance rather than a dance performance
camera was the best thing in the show!!! … the gals titties became a blind spot after 5 mins …. there were almost flat enough for me to delude myself that she was an ah-qua who didn’t work out much, snacked a lot and had breasts
there was hardly any movement that i would have called dance …. like i told shao ann … the content was highly lacking or highly alienating.
the intensity of one of the clothed female dancers was amazing though. but i expect that from japanese performers.
that was really about it actually
i learnt a lot technically tho … for once i actually paid loads of attention to the set-up, angle of lights, projections, shadow effects. that’s all i could occupy myself
WEI!!! I did tell you that it was avant-garde wat! I rather enjoyed it … quite a mind fucking experience … I didn’t mind the camera so much … but I thought I was gonna go blind if I had to look at the Japanese girl’s titties any longer!
i think i would have loved it for the very fact that i am completely stumped and challenged to understand.
was it really that bad? : / a shame. the photo looks great, though, jerm