Riverdance

I forgot how much I liked Irish music.

I've never felt so exhilarated watching a dance performance.

These were the thoughts that flashed in my mind as I watched the opening sequence of Riverdance, the 1st show to be staged at Sands Theater, MBS. It totally lifted my spirits after a soggy journey due to the rain.

I've heard so much about Riverdance and Michael Flatley, and indeed, this opening sequence, "Reel Around the Sun", originally choreographed by him, was definitely superb. I probably can never watch him 'live' at his full glory in my lifetime though.
The music and dance taps were like a symphony as they complemented each other, the taps being the beats, but yet also a melody on its own and the music enchanting.

As I didn't know how the show would be like, I found it interesting that there were scenes dedicated to songs, which were like breaks between the dance scenes. Maybe that's why Sistic classified it as a "musical", which was really, not appropriate in any case. Anyway, the performance was broken into 2 acts with a no. of scenes, although there wasn't much connection between the scenes, except to mainly depict the aspects of Irish culture through the choreography. The songs sung were mainly, I believe, Celtic in nature, adding a mystique to atmosphere.
It was an eye-opener watching them dance, especially the male lead Padraic Moyles. His legs were almost like "jelly" (for want of a better description), so flexible and fast, as if they had no bones! Of course, he was also pretty suave when he worked his magic.

My favourite segments were:

1. the opening sequence, "Reel Around the Sun".
2. "Trading Taps" in the 2nd act where it was a "battle" of Irish tappers against American tappers (think Fred Astaire style). It was pretty fun and at parts, we would laugh as each party from opposite sides pitted themselves against each other, including the musicians (fiddle vs saxophone)! But finally, they learnt from each other and became friends. Talk about 不打不相识.
3. The finale.

By the time it neared the end (actually mainly from the "Trading Taps" part onwards), I believe the audience were already getting high or very relaxed and started clapping along, which was welcomed, if not prompted by the dancers.

There was also a segment I loved just before the intermission when the fiddler (Niamh Fahy) was given a solo and she strode on the stage, effortlessly playing her fiddle. I love the sound of the fiddle too, next to the violin. The drummer was fantastic as he did his work with the different sets and types of drums, as well as other percussions. Oh, I also discovered a rather interesting piece of instrument which was given a solo scene (you learn new things everyday). It's the uilleann pipes (or elbow pipes) which is the national bagpipe of Ireland. What was interesting was that it isn't a blown pipe (like those Highland ones we are familiar with), but was controlled by a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm.

Well, found a youtube video of the "Reel Around the Sun". Enjoy.

BUTS

I attended my first ever Ballet Under The Stars (BUTS) yesterday evening and woah! the venue was packed. However, despite the "warmth" (good thing it rained earlier, so it was cooler) and humidity, it was pretty good, even though we were sitting quite far back. We could see the performance quite well.

The first performance (Concerto Barocco) wasn't as well-executed as it should have been, but the dancers looked like the younger dancers of the troupe.

My favourite was the 2nd dance Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 102 choreographed by Edmund Stripe. The first movement's choreography didn't match the dramatics of the music, but when it came to the second movement, where it was the female & male duo, it was movingly beautiful and romantic. All I can say it personified the music. The dance movements exactly fitted the music and they dancers were so fluid and it was amazing especially this part where the female lead just rolled up the male lead and they formed a "T". The 3rd movement which was a group dance was also well-done.

The 3rd piece Don Quixote pas de deux was in a more classical style but the best parts were the no. of pirouettes they did. Don't they get giddy?

The final dance of the night was Evening at the Ritz which was a silver screen inspired piece (Fred & Ginger) and the dancers danced to a medley of music from the likes of Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern. The highlight of this were the parts where 1 of the female dancers was "tossed" in the air to her male counterparts. You really have to trust your partners.

It was an enjoyable evening at Fort Canning Park.

Bun & Stone by ECNAD

I must confess that I'm usually baffled by contemporary dance, so I'll do my best to give my own interpretation of the performance.

The performance started off with an "excursion" where the audience stood round the Front Lawn of the Arts House to watch the special prelude of the performance, before proceeding to the Play Den for the main act. The former was actually performed on a stone installation (Stone Awakening) specially created for the performance by 1 of the artistic director, Lim Chin Huat. The latter saw the interplay of segments of different themes, with some video feeds in between. It was quite humorous at some parts.

As I thought about the show, the speech (there was some) and segments after the show, my interpretation is that the buns are like dreams and stones like reality (I tend to try to relate the title to what's going on). You know, buns are soft, white (pure?) and "fluffy" and at times warm, while reality is like pretty hard, solid and cold, like stones. And maybe that's why the prelude was Stone Awakening. That segment saw a "bun" (well, the dancer in white) being slowly woken up by a "stone" (dancer dressed in brown) that sounds a small gong (the Chinese type which used to be used to 敲三更 type). So there is an interplay and blending of dreams and reality, which was aptly described in the synopsis: "...reflections of our pragmatic society and the need to search for breathing spaces".

A Song AND Dance

Looks like there's no escape.

I recently signed up for musical theatre school with a friend, of which today was the 1st class. My initial thought was that the singing part would be the 1st half of the course, by which I signed up for only 5 classes first, just to look see, hoping to skip the dancing part. I was wrong. It turns out each lesson will entail both singing and dancing so there's no way I can run from learning to dance!

I'm a clumsy soul, and rather poor in hand-foot coordination, hence I cannot do aerobics much, not to mention dancing. I'll probably trip over my limbs sooner or later. My last recollection of more "serious" dancing was in primary school when I had to put up some dance item for some event (my form teacher taught dancing in school), Ok, maybe mass dance in JC and my short attempt to learn waltz can count too (dropped out at the end). One thing too is that I can never remember the full sequence of steps.

But I must say the class was quite fun/interesting as we sang "Ascot Gavotte" from My Fair Lady (at the race), and danced to "One" from Chorus Line. Think I'll probably be able to lose some weight judging from the workout from the dancing, plus not having proper dinner (am actually still feeling hungry but didn't want to eat too much just now after lesson). Some other interesting parts of the course include a brief history of musical theatre, where we watched some videos and I learnt about black-out acting for musicals, which was a result of social divide (think I ever heard of the term before, but didn't really know what it was about).

Well, look forward to next week!

Da:ns Festival 2008 - Russian Ballet Gala

Just caught the Russian Ballet Gala at the Esplanade and I enjoyed it. It was almost fully packed and why not? When it's with the famous Bolshoi Ballet and also other stars of Russian ballet from other groups.

It featured excerpts from 12 ballets and it was really amazing. Their moves were so precise and slick yet fluid and graceful. I especially liked the Duet from the Romeo & Juliet and Pas de deux from Don Quixote performed by Marianna Ryzhkina & Dmitry Belogolovtsev, who were the prima ballerina and premier of the Bolshoi Ballet (yes, they were the main stars for the night). In Romeo & Juliet there were some parts that I felt were quite challenging with the pace they were performing certain sections and you knew that a slight discrepancy in timing or a wrong move would result in disaster & injury. But it was executed perfectly and I breathed a sigh of relief.
And there were also some really amazing parts where the the ballerina leaped and the ballerino could catch her perfectly without a "shiver", supporting her with only 1 hand under her waist/rip cage. And those times when they could stretch out perfectly controlled & straight, whether horizontally, upright and even upside down! Their sense of equilibrium was fantastic.

Some other performances I liked were Duet from Spartacus (again Ryzhkina & Belogolovtsev) and Duet from In the Night.

Unfortunately, the ballerina for Giselle didn't perform it. I believed she could have injured her foot coz when she performed Swan Lake earlier, she fumbled a little near the end. Hence, the ballerino for Giselle could only do his solo part, which wasn't very long.