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The Graey Festival: An On-going Conversation Exploring, researching and interrogating the notion of ‘hybridity’ in dance is a hot topic in the region. Singapore has been witnessing a quiet revolution in this field with the emergence of the Graey Festival. Conceived in 2007 by dance artists Raka Maitra and Jayanthi Sivaperuman it is a week-long event where local and international dance and theatre practitioners present and share ideas in workshops, discussions, video screenings and nightly performances. Currently in its third year with Maitra continuing as Artistic Director, the Graey Festival has made Singapore a platform for exploring notions of hybridity in Asian dance.
Specifically the Festival, which is a meeting place of choreographers, performers and scholars, focuses on exploring and interrogating the "Asianness" of the contemporary. Selected artists perform, demonstrate, collaborate, share, take part in exchanges, conduct workshops and join in discussions with students, scholars and critics. Some of the works presented are fragments from these experiments while others are previously performed works that are contextualised by the aims of the festival. Concepts and ideas, as well as accidents and coincidences, are expressed through dance and drama from articulate artists who work within and without cultural traditions. There is an atmosphere of caring and sharing and a deep respect for fellow performers with the emphasis on the process of creating. The performances ranged across many styles, intentions and influences. Noor Effendy Ibrahim and Elizabeth De Roza teetered on bandaged feet supported by a small wheel with painted finger and toe nails as they probed the stereotypes of female beauty and expectations. Incorporating distortion, exaggeration and the grotesque it worked with an almost Butoh-style use of clawed hands and contorted facial features. A collaboration devised during the festival by Scarlet Yu (dancer) and Philip Tan (composer) incorporated strong imagery as Yu tossed herself amongst ashes and debris around an ominous tower of light remained – it metaphorically pitted man against nature or an invincible force beyond our control. A structured improvisation and memorable performances from Navtej Singh Johar (India) and Zulkifle Mahmod (Singapore) led the dancer out of his comfort zone in an eccentric, and often comical way. Johar was pushed from his traditional Bharatanatyam vocabulary as he reacted to impulses created by new media artist Mahmod working with ‘sculptured sound’. The duo created a special collaboration that extended each artist into unfamiliar territory – it epitomised the artistic objectives of the Graey Festival. Most of the artists also showed excerpts of previously performed that provided an insightful contrast between their established patterns of work and the experimental collaborations.
Yvonne Ng (Singapore/Canada) explored the notion of memories that delved into her early upbringing in Singapore coupled with reflections on how other people perceive you and project their own meanings onto you. Pinchet Klunchun’s choreography was grounded in the traditions of Thai Khon dance and he exploited the dynamics, gestures and nuances of this elegant form in a work that revisited an episode from the Ramayana - “Nang Loi” (Floating Lady) story. Although it is often shown as a flirtatious dance, Klunchun probed beneath the surface to explore a darker, sinister side about violence against women. Eko Supriyanto (Indonesia), Tripura Kahsyap (India) and Raka Maitra all had something different to offer and represented training in different vocabularies. Tripura Kahsyap’s strongest piece was 120 Footsteps where she grappled with a length of rope with an Indian classical dance anklet of bells at the end of it and hurled the rope relentlessly around the stage and wrapped herself in it to denote various stages of repression and freedom. Dense with symbolism and metaphors, it ranged from the journey from classical to contemporary dance, walking a tightrope between tradition and change for instance. Similarly Eko Supriyanto addressed transformation – not only in terms of dance forms but also through donning a male mask. The change from a Javanese trained classical dancer to a free, fun loving performer moving to American blue-grass music was a special moment. Supriyanto later performed Return with Raka Maitra showing simple, but very powerful movement, where Maitra physically and psychologically supported him throughout as the duet examined the role of mothers and how they hold up the world. On another level it was about the birth of Ravanna from the Ramayana epic and his desire to return to the womb.
Ultimately the Graey festival is a forum for the talents, skills and wisdom of mature, independent dance artists– they create work that is intellectually grounded through ideas and an understanding of history and tradition. They have strong statements to make through the body about dance, themselves and the contemporary world. The festival has the courage to open a platform for risk- takers and share a window with the audience about the processes of making and creating dance–it is an on-going conversation that continues through this important annual event on the Singapore dance calendar.
The Graey Festival 2010: Vivisection, 25 to 27 Nov 2010 Dr Stephanie Burridge is a dance critic, lecturer and series editor of Routledge Celebrating Dance in Asia and the Pacific books. |
Copyright 2012 Asia Dance Channel