An uplifting, energising journey through dance to seek NirvanaRating
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For many cultures, blue is an auspicious colour. It can represent peace and positive energy, or be connected to new beginnings and safe journeys. In Searching Blue (寻蓝) at the Coronet Theatre, The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company, one of Singapore’s preeminent contemporary dance collectives, use this idea, inviting the audience to accompany them on a journey to seek oneness. Moving from within the building to the outdoors, the piece beautifully explores ideas of shared, changing space, individuality and unity, in a uniquely uplifting and energising experience that’s created together. This remarkable, hybrid production is conceived and directed by Kuik Swee Boon, with the work choreographed in collaboration with performers Carmelita Nuelle Buay, Priscilla Chan, Chang En, Klievert Jon Mendoza and Fiona Thng.
In the theatre’s auditorium, the dancers initially circle the stage, marking a blue boundary in chalk, beyond which the audience sit, including spectators on the stage itself. The cobalt outline becomes disrupted as they rub their hands through it, and it incrementally disperses across their bodies and the architecture as they move. There’s a sense of a space shared but shifting; and yet there’s a central area in isolation, where Mendoza opens the piece with a stunning performance that sees him viscerally embody ideas of confusion, distress and frustration. With meticulous, powerfully controlled movement, he becomes a monster in restraint, every inch of him tensed, turning and emotionally expressive. It’s breathtaking. Kent Lee’s extraordinary live soundscape combines percussion, jaw harp and voice to support him with thrilling effect, merging technological and bodily-generated soundmaking superbly.
Both direction and performance are flawless throughout. As the other dancers enter Mendoza’s space, moving in synchronicity, there’s a sensory and exhilarating shift that describes the possibility created by human connectedness. Their movement is considered, evocative and captivating – sometimes flowing, sometimes distorted and tense. Gentle approaches to the audience then see a dusty hand offered to manifest physical contact, or an enquiring gaze giving searing presence to invisible ties.
As the dance moves outside into parkland, we are invited to take the journey there as an ensemble, with anticipation and uncertainty a core part of the passage. Dancing en plein air, there’s a palpable awakening of the senses as nature interacts with us, and us with it. We hear the wind and feel it stroke our faces; leaves and stones crackle beneath our feet and those of the performers, who connect with the trees and then with participants in gentle, shared movement, all becoming one in dance. It’s hugely enjoyable to see the audience put their trust in the dancers. As the performance moves between areas, it becomes clear how, as humans, we are travelling the same paths together but differently, and the enthusiasm of the performers generates an uplifting playfulness that’s easy to embrace.
Thng closes the performance on her own, reaching to make contact beyond her own self and deciding whether to follow her fellow dancers: it’s a question for us all to consider on our journey through life. Searching Blue offers an exhilarating, unifying experience that sparks curiosity about how and where that dance might take us.
Concept & Direction: Kuik Swee Boon
Choreography: Kuik Swee Boon in collaboration with the performers
Music Composition, Sound Design & Performance: Kent Lee
Searching Blue runs at the Coronet Theatre until Sunday 12 July
