Dance at Dusk :: 'Silence'

It was a lovely 45 minutes watching dancers from T.H.E Second Company perform excerpts from Kuik Swee Boon’s ever-evolving ‘Silence’ (2007 and 2009) at Esplanade Outdoor Theatre. I've not watched 'Silence' as a full-length show, so I really enjoyed the excerpts in this performance. Tonight's show was part of the 10th edition of M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival's ‘Dance at Dusk’ program.

Split into four vignettes, the contemporary movements in "the timeless piece" were supposed to portray "the concept of communication breakdown, and investigates the depths of one’s connection to the surroundings in this age of information overload." I couldn't manage to view how that happens, unless we talk about angst and stress and whatever along those lines. Hahahahaha. I didn't see it like that. Well, to me, the beauty of contemporary dance lies in how I choose to interpret it. While the music (Radiohead, Sigur Ros and pieces from Philip Glass) was familiar, I didn't find the beat or rhythm easy to follow, much less remember many dance steps to it. The dancers must be exhausted by this performance. It was the final one of the weekend; two shows a night would be tiring, especially in this crazy heat and humidity. They still put on a good show. All that practice showed.

Beyond introducing 'Dance at Dusk' and the dancers and its performance, the program had emcees do a short explanation between vignettes of what the performance was about. Three-quarter way through, they even led the audience to do breathing exercises. Kinda fun, I thought. Made for great audience interaction and literally breathed some life into the performances.