EMERGENCE 2022: Genesis of Life
10 December 2022
3pm & 7:30pm
Goodman Arts Centre Black Box
Singapore Chinese Dance Theatre (SCDT) is pleased to be presenting its 8th series of EMERGENCE, an initiative by SCDT to provide an avenue for aspiring choreographers to be mentored by industry professionals and present their works in a full-length, ticketed dance production. Over the past 7 iterations of Emergence, SCDT has witnessed 49 unique and diverse new works and has provided many budding dance artists with the opportunity to present their works to an audience.
Happening on 10th December 2022, the theme for this year’s EMERGENCE is “Genesis of Life”.
“Genesis of Life” seeks to explore dance creation through a “profound” way in order to express the indescribable life experiences. It hopes to spark individuals to search deeper within themselves while living in the continuous evolution of human society and culture.
Apart from crafting their piece in accordance with the given theme, the new works are required to be of a Chinese dance style. For some of these young choreographers who are new to Chinese dance, this further challenges them as emerging creators. To better equip them with the skills and vocabulary to create their works, participants will undergo Dance Composition and Chinese Dance “Shen Yun” workshops, led by SCDT’s Creative Director, Mr Benedict Soh and Founder and Artistic Advisor Mdm Lim Moi Kim, respectively.
Mr Benedict Soh has also taken on the role of EMERGENCE’s mentor for a second time, and he is glad to be able to guide young choreographers to experience the meaning and values of Chinese culture through choreography once again.
OUR CREATIVE TEAM
Artistic Director: Creative Director:
& Mentor
Lighting Designer:
Stage Manager:
Choreographers:
Neo Jenny
Benedict Soh
Darren Lee
Tan Ching Ting
Charmaine Tan Yu Ling
Xenres Kirishima Jonah Chi Ji-Hong
Yeo Hana Ningtias Putri
Gabriella Gleichenia Gautama
Wong Wen Ru
Chloe Zhuo
Winnie Choo
Lenzo Lim
Jash Foong
Jozef Chua
Marketing & Publicity:
Joe Ong Jie Yi
Charmaine Tan Yu Ling
Xenres Kirishima Jonah Chi Ji-Hong
Yeo Hana Ningtias Putri
Jozef Chua
Chloe Zhuo
Winnie Choo
Lenzo Lim
Jash Foong
Gabriella Gleichenia Gautama
Wong Wen Ru
Participating Choreographers of EMERGENCE 2022
The young choreographers this year include returning choreographers Charmaine Tan Yu Ling, Xenres Kirishima Jonah Chi Ji-Hong, Yeo Hana Ningtias Putri, Gabriella Gleichenia Gautama, and Wong Wen Ru, as well as Chloe Zhuo, Winnie Choo, Lenzo Lim, Jash Foong, and Jozef Chua who are joining EMERGENCE for the first time.
Charmaine Tan Yu Ling
A member of Wu Yue Dance Studio Arts Troupe, Charmaine has been choreographing Chinese dance works since 2015, of which one of her works, “Memories of Spring”, attained the Silver Award at the Wonju Dynamic Dancing Carnival 2018. This EMERGENCE, Charmaine will be bringing us “A Flower’s Feeling”, a piece that seeks to explore the life of a flower, of its feelings associated with its fleeting bloom.
Xenres Kirishima Jonah Chi Ji-Hong
Director of Kirishima Dance Corps, Xenres, is an emerging artist who concentrates on devising an inter-culture contemporary dance style that is heavily rooted in the philosophies of Taiji, Yoga, Chinese Dance, Aikido, and Capoeira. True to the direction of his creative development, Xenres’ work in EMERGENCE 2022, “和 明 Hwa-Myeong”, centres on the concept of Taiji, where he aims to unearth the Yin-Yang continuum of a dancer’s inner being through post-modern dance while retaining the core essence of Taiji.
Yeo Hana Ningtias Putri
Graduated with a Diploma in Dance from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Hana has had past choreography experiences, where her works were showcased on platforms such as NAFA’s annual show “Crossings” in 2021 and last year’s EMERGENCE. This year, through her piece “The Lone White Lotus”, Hana seeks to explore human’s idiosyncratic search for purpose and meaning, given the mystery that life is.
Gabriella Gleichenia Gautama
SCDT’s Junior Dance Artiste Gabriella gains inspiration for her piece, titled “Checkmate”, from the concept of how humans react to and learn with play. Using Chinese chess as a medium, Gabriella hopes to evoke the feelings of excitement and suspense through the exploration of how the chess pieces would be “brought to life” as they tackle and defend during a match.
Wong Wen Ru
Wen Ru, who is also SCDT’s Junior Dance Artiste, will be exploring a kind of relationship that many of us will experience and learn to navigate through in our lives – friends turned passers-by. There are many people whom we are bound to cross paths with in life, but as fate would have it, we are also bound to part ways someday. However, it is always a sweet feeling filled with gratitude when reminiscing the good old days spent with them, a concept that Wen Ru will be illustrating in her piece, titled “In Time”.
Chloe Zhuo
A member of SCDT’s Youth Performance Troupe, Chloe embarks on her choreography debut this EMERGENCE. Her first dance piece “Mqetin Bale” (A term used to refer to a real Seediq woman), is inspired by her part-roots, the Seediq aboriginal of Taiwan. With an aim to research deeper into the traditions that are at risk of being lost in an increasingly contemporized world, Chloe hopes to take this opportunity to trace back to her ancestral roots. She will be focusing her craft on illustrating how a Seediq girl coming of age is required to learn the traditional art of weaving that has been passed down through generations in order to be considered a Mqetin Bale.
Winnie Choo
As a current student of the Diploma in Dance at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Winnie has gained multiple performances and choreography experiences. Inspired by a Chinese idiom “落叶归根“ (luo ye gui gen; directly translated into “fallen leaves return to their root”), her work, titled “Roots”, focuses on the selfless, supporting role of the roots of a tree in allowing nutrients to reach and nourish the leaves, while not asking for anything in return.
Lim Lenzo
A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) Diploma in Dance and a member of the Kirishima Dance Corps, Lenzo has had multiple choreography experiences leading up to EMERGENCE 2022. This EMERGENCE, he will be presenting “Allelopathy”, inspired by the relationship of kills and grows between the known and unknown elements/energy.
Jash Foong
Founder of dance collective bodiesinspaceco, Jash is a contemporary dance artiste who specializes in improvisational work. At EMERGENCE 2022, Jash will be tapping on a concept that is familiar to many of us - nua (Singlish for lazing around). He believes that apparent laziness based on other’s judgements does not represent one’s ability and one’s actual level of activity.
Jozef Chua
A 17-year-old young performance-maker interested in interdisciplinary creation, Jozef is constantly seeking new technologies and dance forms to broaden his craft, with the aim to create striking experiences for his audiences. This EMERGENCE, he will be presenting “Happy Hunting!”, a work about the Chinese mythical fox spirit. Inspired by Ken Liu’s short story “Good Hunting”, Jozef will be experimenting with the playful sensuality of the young fox spirit in this work, and exploring how that enters into a physical maturity.