Thursday 16 January 2014

SPROUTS 2014: Battle field for budding dance choreographers (5th Edition)


The School of the Arts Theatre was abuzz with excitement as the audience and supporters were getting ready for Sprouts, a platform cum competition for young choreographers.  The competition was organised by the National Arts Council and Frontier Danceland.

The competition opened with Jam (Malay word for 'Time') by Norhaizad Adam.  The concept of time was well articulated. The ticking of the clock sound made by the dancers was a bit weak though.

Koh Jia Ler's Interface "explores the interaction between the distinct entities of oil and water".  A simple piece of work, and a good effort from a young dancer.  For the contestants, all of them had the opportunity to work with a mentor to finetune their work.


Parkinson's disease was the theme for Germaine Cheng's piece titled Part-kinson's.  This work won Germaine the best dancer award from the judges.

I liked the choreography of Koustav Basu Mallick's Fifth, where each dancer would have different moves but all still blended well.  The lights and sound were well done too.  It is artistic and yet commercial at the same time.

Mohd Sufri Bin Juwahir's All in Line was another item favoured by the audience.  He was successful in blending the contemporary and ethnic dance moves in this piece.

Tania Goh's The Deafening Moment grabbed my attention with her choreography and good lighting design.  Kenneth Tan Ting Feng's Xi won audience choice's award.  The theme of mother and child was well executed, though I felt that the piece could do less with the spoken texts.

Daphne Huang closed the competition with Knots and the audience was impressed with her dancing.

Before the announcement of the results, past winners Christina Chan and Shahrin Johry presented Bufo Alvarius and Embrace respectively.  It was good that they were given platforms to present new works.

The results were not surprising: Mohd Sufri won the top prize, Koustav Basu Mallick came in second and Tania Goh won special mention prize.  And here's to 2015 edition.










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