Theater group adds muse to Asian traditional arts

By Oei Eng Goan

SINGAPORE (JP): Just like the Muses in Greek mythology, who glorified the arts and learning, the Muses in present-day Singapore are examining how the region's rich traditional arts can withstand the progress of modernity.

But unlike the Greek Muses, the nine daughters of the king of gods Zeus, Singapore's Muses are ordinary people from different walks of life sharing a common interest in developing the country's performing arts, organized by an independent theater company called TheatreWorks.

For TheatreWorks, Muse is the company's new program -- "that gives people benefits in return for their support" -- and a reference to its members and supporters. Muse stands for Magic, Understanding, Self-discovery and Enchantment, and is also a catchword by which the company tries to present its programs to theater aficionados not only in Singapore but beyond the city- state.

Encouraged by successful performances in Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Britain, and Egypt, TheatreWorks is now launching a three-year program called The Flying Circus. The program, involving theater, dance, music, and comprising a series of workshops and training programs for handpicked participants, is designed to bring Asian traditional arts into the next millennium.

"This is a good strategy to mold and promote the region's various cultural elements into an identity that is typically Asian," up-and-coming Indonesian choreographer Boi Sakti told The Jakarta Post recently.

Boi, one of the four Indonesian artists invited to attend the first six-week-long workshop, which ended last month, presented participants with a contemporary dance style inherent in the Minang tradition of West Sumatra.

He said the attendance of a handful of regional artists of traditional performance and contemporary dancers -- Japan's Noh master Naohiko Umewaka, China's Beijing Opera actor Jiang Qihu, and Thailand's renowned court dancer Sathaporn Sonthong -- was a good opportunity for the artists and participants of the workshop to exchange views and to learn each other's skills.

TheatreWorks artistic director, Ong Keng Sen, said the presence of master artists at the workshop was to encourage Singapore's thespians to deepen their understanding of the beauty of other cultures and "to explore how contemporary arts can benefit through a juxtaposition with traditional culture in fruitful and powerful ways".

"I think differences between tradition and modernity should be allowed to coexist," said Ong, leader of Singapore's only English-speaking theatrical group known for its experimental drama.

Gamelan

Aside from discussions and theatrical demonstrations, there were also sessions for participants to experience the various art forms included in the workshop. They included playing in a gamelan, a set of Malay traditional bronze percussion instruments, standing on tiptoe in silence for half an hour to embody the centuries old Noh characteristics and leaning graciously from one side to the other, imitating the body movements of Thai court dancers.

Participants were also encouraged to explicate poems of different themes, not through verbal expressions but with mime and body movements that should reflect the poets' ideas and moods.

All this, not to mention the inclusion of other artistic elements from Korea, India, Myanmar, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, whose artists will participate in the next workshops, seems to be the ultimate answer for Singapore's ambition of becoming the region's cultural hub by the turn of the century.

TheatreWorks could have not conducted such a costly seminar if it had not been sponsored by Singapore's business community and with the assistance from the Japan Foundation Asia Center, one of the Muses told the Post, without mentioning the exact figures.

"For a country like Singapore, whose ethnic groups create a variety of cultures comprising Chinese operas, Malay dramas and Indian dances, the project is indeed going in the right direction," said Indra Utama, another Indonesian participant from the Academy of Traditional Dances in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra.

Indra said that Indonesia, which has more ethnic groups and a myriad of cultural characteristics, should hold similar, if not better workshops. He suggested that Indonesian thespians be more innovative, so that they could have more say in theatrical performances at the international level.