Call for Dancers

Do you enjoy slow/social/couple dancing? 

Would you like to participate in a site-specific performance at Stamford Green on Dec 3rd?

Team Aural (atelier | small, Tang Ling-Nah & Zai Tang) who created ||| Movement (pls see www.lllmovement.blogspot.com) at Stamford Green, is inviting interested individuals or couples to participate in a group slow/social/couple dance as part of a larger performance. ||| Movement is a public art installation located at the previous site of the Old National Library, where there now is a quiet clearing that is suitable for an intimate dance.

Interested individuals or couples have to be available on most of these dates:

Introductory session: Sat, Nov 19th, 6pm
Run-through with the full cast: Sat, Nov 26th, 6pm
Dry run: Sat, Dec 3rd, 5.30pm
Performance: 7pm

If you are interested in participating, please contact Faye Lim at FMINLIM[at]GMAIL.COM, or Ling Nah at ACTIVATEDCSTUDIO[at]GMAIL.COM. THANKS!!

A Synopsis of ||| Movement (Shuffle)

What impression will ||| Movement leave behind for its host site? What if ||| Movement decides to stay indefinitely? Will it outstay its welcome? While it’s still here, how does ||| Movement want to dance with its surrounding site―with its curves, its emotions, its (missed) opportunities? For lack of imagination, ||| Movement takes its host site by the hand, and then by the waist, and gives it a twirl for old times’ sake!

||| Movement (Shuffle), conceived as the second part of ||| Movement, imagines this dance through the ||| Movement installation and soundscape’s zones for remembering, contemplating and transforming―all this against the fragmentation of past relics, the romantic backdrop of Fort Canning Park and the youthful aspirations of the neighbouring collegiate. 

||| Movement (Shuffle) begins with couples of various pairings enjoying recognisable slow dance steps and an emerging pattern of twirls and spirals. The image of a ballroom is conjured from this transitory space between the Singapore that never sleeps and the Singapore that sits still.  Perhaps in a rocking embrace, the non-stop movement and the stillness can co-exist. Viewers and passers-by are invited to join in this embrace with two-left feet, two-right feet, and everything in between. 

Abruptly, spritely and sticky young individuals take interest in the space and the highs and lows of its installations. The individuals coalesce into a blob for added support and travel through the space― curving around, going under and climbing over anything/one that is in their way. When the journey is easy, they do a fast and playful dance. They can only manage a slow dance when the journey is tough. There is no end to their travels. Someone needs to tell them to stop! Though, occasionally, they find themselves in a tight, forgotten corner at the self-help section, and someone steals a kiss. 

What does the host site think or feel about all this? Does it need some time to respond? Would it help if there were a rest in the movement at this very moment; a pause for breath? Perhaps everyone―blob, dancing couples, viewers―lost their ability to move anything but their expressive diaphragms. At this point, soft cricket sounds escape from behind clenched teeth and fill the space. Somehow, the cricket sounds make contemplating that much easier.

The Contemplating Seat

The Transforming Wall

The Remembering Walls

Various Scenes (Overview)

Welcome!

This blog has been set up by atelier | small, Tang Ling Nah and Zai Tang, as an online platform documenting the development of our collaborative public art installation, titled ||| Movement. Our work will be shown from 14th October – 4th November as part of Hub-to-Hub and Archifest 2011.

The chosen site for our work is the transitory space between the National Museum of Singapore and escalators leading to Stamford Green and Fort Canning, where the old National Library once stood.

 

The work itself is a site‐specific installation exploring the cycle of construction, deconstruction and renewal within the city. It comprises three zones―remembering, contemplating and transforming―reminiscent of three movements in a single musical composition. Sound recordings from the urban environment are transformed and fused with architectural elements made from construction waste to create a distinct aural‐spatial experience. The work encourages the public to slow down, stop and contemplate on the perpetual cycle of urban transformation through the act of listening.

Thank you

We'd like to extend our gratitude to the following people, who helped make our installation possible.


Contractors / Supporters


1. Everise Awnings & Iron Works - steel works & construction works
2. J & C Services - cabling works
3. Hong Gam Industries Pte Ltd - supply of reclaimed timber strips
4. Uncle Moh Interior Design & Renovation - supply of salvaged plywood strips
5. Hoong Thye Furniture & Renovations Pte Ltd - supply of plywood boards


Sponsorship


Acclaim Lighting
ATLAS Experience: http://www.atlas-sv.com/


Documentation


Olivia Kwok (for photo-documentation of setting up): www.jooksh.com


Tang Ling Nah (for photo-documentation of final work): www.activatedcstudio.blogspot.com

Sherman See-Tho & Wong Liyun (for photo-documentation of performance of ||| Movement (Shuffle):
www.mr-seetho.blogspot.com

Benjamin Low (for video-documentation of Shuffle's rehearsal 26 Nov 2011)

Mentorship / General Awesomeness


Xinyan Wu
Yunn Ee Chee


http://www.unbox.com.sg/

Willie Koh
Selwyn Low

Work-in-Progress 8 Oct 2011: The Steel Structures were moved to Stamford Green Site

Soundscape: Background

Like our original proposal for Plaza by the Park, we all felt it was crucial to retain a site-specific response within our proposal for the new space we acquired. The seeds of our new concept began to germinate when we considered the history of the site; this transitory space was where the Old National Library Building once stood. Much lamenting and heart-felt criticism has been expressed since its demolition in March 2004, so we felt we didn't want to dwell on the past too much and repeat what others have (rightly) said previously.

image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_National_Library-Singapore.jpg 

Instead we began to conceive of the Old NLB's demise as a starting point to reflect upon the endless cycle of transformation within the city; this national icon's unfortunate end being a single chapter within a book about Singapore's development, as it spirals further into urbanity. As well as highlighting the theme of disappearance of local heritage, we wanted to tell other stories surrounding urbanisation too; the gradual decline of nature within the city, the loss of clarity within the urban soundscape, and the wider need to find sustainable approaches to our modern way of living.


Our team wanted to create an aural space for the audience to experience these themes, so we decided to create three zones within the final work - remembering, contemplating and transforming - which link together with notions of past, present and future respectively.