Making a Scene

Making A Scene: Adaptations in Theatre

Esplanade Offstage — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 15:52:00 +0800

What is the meaning or value of adapting an existing work rather than creating a new work? With so many great texts in the world, how does one decide which piece to revisit, and what are some considerations one should have in mind while doing so?

Making A Scene: Pathways for Chinese Language Theatre in Singapore

Esplanade Offstage — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 10:48:00 +0800

How do we understand and situate Chinese culture as well as Chinese language theatre in a multicultural society like Singapore?

In this episode of Making A Scene, three artistic directors of prominent theatre companies in Singapore reflect on both their companies’ and their own relationship with Chinese language theatre, with reference to their upcoming works at Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts 2024. Oliver Chong of The Finger Players (TFP), Koh Hui Ling of Drama Box (DB) and Nelson Chia of Nine Years Theatre (NYT) also sketch out the contours of future theatre pathways they are working on or hope for, in this wide-ranging podcast hosted by Chong Gua Khee, a Singapore director and dramaturg.

Making A Scene: Opera’s Contemporary Resonance

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 14:42:00 +0800

In this episode hosted by theatre-maker Edith Podesta, find out more about how opera is evolving with the times, through insights from Reuben Lai and Akiko Otao of L’Arietta Productions, Jeremy Chiew of New Opera Singapore, Jonathan Charles Tay and David Charles Tay of The Opera People, and Gena Ng of Singapore Lyric Opera.

Making A Scene: A Cappella

Esplanade Offstage — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 10:04:26 +0800

Narrated by performer and director Hossan Leong, this episode of Making a Scene features some key members of Singapore's a capella community. These artists talk about how the scene started, how it evolved, and what the future holds. You’ll hear about how early a capella groups such as In-A-Chord and Budak Pantai found their groove, how platforms such as the AKA A Capella Festival and The A Capella Society energised the scene and inspired new blood, and how more recent groups such as 1023 and MICapella are exploring new frontiers in multiculturalism and technology.

Making A Scene: The social life of dance

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 11:02:17 +0800

Dance is not only a spectacle performed by trained professionals. It can be a form of expression, discipline, and memory for anyone. So what happens when the performance of dance is based on the habitual movements of everyday life, and when dance is embodied by untrained bodies in everyday spaces? In this episode, choreographer and educator Dapheny Chen, and Torsten Michaelsen of the German media and performance collective LIGNA, discuss their explorations of these ideas with multidisciplinary artist Alecia Neo.

Making A Scene: Ballet, colour and diversity

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:41:26 +0800

Ballet is known for its long-held traditions that define its aesthetics and institutions. In some ways, these traditions have historically excluded and marginalised particular groups of people. In this episode hosted by multidisciplinary artist and educator Susan Sentler, Mohamed Noor Sarman, ballet master of Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT), and Georgina Pazcoguin, the first Asian-American female soloist of the New York City Ballet (NYCB) discuss how they view the issue of diversity and inclusion in ballet.

Making A Scene: Directing the National Day Parade

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 08:16:36 +0800

What does it take to direct a large-scale event like the National Day Parade (NDP) in Singapore? Performer and director Hossan Leong chats with performing arts veterans and former NDP creative directors Beatrice Chia-Richmond and Selena Tan to find out more about how their theatre background and network helped them to conceptualise and execute this annual celebration.

Making A Scene: Social media is changing ballet

Esplanade Offstage — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 07:48:12 +0800

In this episode hosted by diversity strategist Theresa Ruth Howard, ballet soloists Shelby Williams and Harper Watters, as well as dancewear entrepreneur and meme creator Min Tan, explain how the online space is creating new ways to have valuable conversations about inclusion, wellness and social justice in the ballet world.

Making A Scene: Brian Gothong Tan and Thong Kay Wee on the magic of cinema

Esplanade Offstage — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 04:21:55 +0800

The period spanning the 1950s to 1960s is known as the golden age of Singapore cinema. In this episode hosted by actress Munah Bagharib, artist Brian Gothong Tan and Asian Film Archive (AFA) programmer Thong Kay Wee chat about the movies and figures that shaped this era, including the influential 1957 blockbuster Pontianak and its director B.N. Rao, Cathay-Keris Studio co-founder Loke Wan Tho, and actor and film-maker P. Ramlee.

Making A Scene: Making music with Margaret Leng Tan and Huang Ruo

Esplanade Offstage — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 10:27:01 +0800

Cage “loved the way I prepared the piano”, Margaret Leng Tan, one of the foremost interpreters of his music, tells us in this episode of Making A Scene. In preparing the piano, she was influenced by the diverse music of her multicultural upbringing in Singapore. But for this Juilliard-trained pianist, it was also her encounter with Cage’s Asian-influenced artistic outlook that sparked a new engagement with her own cultural roots. That’s just one way the subject of diverse cultural influences comes up in this spirited conversation between Tan and composer Huang Ruo, moderated by Esplanade programmer Lynn Yang. For China-born Huang, who is also a Juilliard graduate and based in New York like Tan, musical genres from different cultures are just one dimension of sound that inform his expansive creative process.

Making A Scene: A Moveable Feast

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 08:36:31 +0800

Singaporeans often describe Singapore as a food-obsessed nation. In this episode, we take a closer look at this purported obsession, and what it reveals about how we engage with Singaporean society and culture.

Making A Scene: The Magic of Zakir Hussain's Music

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 10:07:00 +0800

Based in the United States, celebrated percussionist Zakir Hussain talks about the tabla and his career in music. Known for his work with the fusion band Shakti and sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, Hussain is also an Indian composer and music producer, who has brought the tabla to international prominence.

Making A Scene: Tracing the History of Indian Bands in Singapore

Esplanade Offstage — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:27:58 +0800

Discover Singapore’s Indian band scene from the 1940s to the 1980s when Mohamed Raffee’s band The Vasatham Boyz entered the scene. Hosted by Sheela Narayanan, this podcast also covers Md Raffee’s contributions to music scenes in Singapore and India, and what inspired him to become a full-time musician.

Making A Scene: Theatre and its Place in Society in Mumbai and Bangalore

Esplanade Offstage — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:25:56 +0800

What are the challenges they face in terms of future opportunities and audience development? Is theatre part of everyday life or is it exclusive to the affluent? Does theatre reflect the voices in the society it inhabits and can it continue to thrive amid a global pandemic?

Making A Scene: Bharatanatyam's Waves of Change

Esplanade Offstage — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:23:45 +0800

In this podcast, we look at how bharatanatyam has evolved within its traditional framework and examine how choreography has transformed to find relevance in a modern world. Diving into Leela Samson’s journey in dance including her work as a mentor, we find out what her practice means to her and shed light on how a dancer can make the transition to becoming a choreographer.

Making A Scene: The Devdutt Phenomenon

Esplanade Offstage — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:22:11 +0800

Devdutt Pattanaik writes on how mythology continues to be relevant to modern societies, especially in management, governance and leadership. In this podcast hosted by Himanshu Verma, we dive into Devdutt's success as an prolific author and mythologist, discussing challenges that he has overcome as a writer, as well as his new book Pilgrim Nation.

Making A (da:ns) Scene: The Flesh Made Word

Esplanade Offstage — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 12:10:23 +0800

In this episode, dancer and dance writer Chan Sze-Wei speaks with ballet-trained New York Times dance writer Roslyn Sulcas about the function of cultural criticism, and how their experiences as performers shape the way they approach writing about dance.

Making A (da:ns) Scene: Storytelling Across Borders

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 10:15:32 +0800

In this special episode of Making A Scene as part of da:ns festival 2020, the co-founder and executive producer of London-based Akram Khan Company talks to host Anita Kapoor about how his work strives to bridge different cultures and disciplines, and why he sees editing and an entrepreneurial spirit as vital to producing.

Making A (da:ns) Scene: Dance Dance Revolution

Esplanade Offstage — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 17:11:20 +0800

In this special edition of Making A Scene, we deep dive into the world of dance as part of da:ns festival 2020. Our host for this discussion is Daniel Kok, a choreographer, curator and artistic director of Dance Nucleus. From Singapore, he speaks to Switzerland-based interdisciplinary performing artist and producer Martin Schick about how art-making can interrogate capitalist logic and other norms and practices that are often taken for granted in artistic production.

Making a Scene Ep. 5: Arts Education, Interrupted

Esplanade Offstage — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 05:50:12 +0800

In this episode, we speak to School of the Arts principal Mary Seah and T. Sasitharan, the director of the Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI). Both institutions offer unique pedagogies. SOTA is Singapore’s first national pre-tertiary specialised arts school, with a six-year integrated arts and academic curriculum for students want to build a strong foundation in the arts to prepare for more diverse future aspirations. ITI trains students for professional careers in the performing arts, and it centres traditional Asian forms of theatre and also has a focus on social engagement and cultural awareness. We find out how these schools are responding to the challenges and opportunities induced by the pandemic.

Making A Scene Ep. 4: Arts NMPs Assemble! (Part 5/5)