The Third Space explores Asian identity through contemporary dance by artists influenced by their cultural heritage, sojourns and exposure.

Raka Maitra’s Boundaries…Dreams…Beyond… delves into imagination, reality and the pursuit of dreams, using a dance language that draws from her Odissi and Chhau background, and features music by award-winning Philip Tan. In The Point of Tao, a contemporary ballet by Jamaludin Jalil, the dynamics of Yin and Yang are used to manifest the opposing forces that exist all around us. Every action creates a counter-action as a natural, unavoidable movement within the Tao. Audrey Ng experiments with movement based on the eight-strokes theory in Chinese calligraphy in Beyond Brushstrokes, performed in tandem with the studied movements of live calligraphy. Filter by alumnus Max Chen Guo Hui explores the use of weight and breath in a work that touches on the concept of Dharma, the endless reincarnation of truth, when in the end, there is no residue, just a tingling sensation of release.

These works are performed by students of NAFA’s Department of Dance, showcasing the curriculum’s distinctive East-West posture that emphasises contemporary Western and Asian performance as well as creation practices. Through rigorous practical technique training and performance, creative and contextual studies, together with the opportunity to choose Performance, Choreography or Teaching as an emphasis, NAFA develops dance artists equipped to enter the competitive dance world and make a mark with their budding talent through an Asian lens.

House Programme: Download programme notes here.

Biography