PROGRAMME
WELCOMETO DECA
In these times of global pandemic and toilet paper buying, we must force ourselves to reconsider our habits, its implications and how we can work together to stay strong and outlast the threats the odds keep throwing at us. Which brings me to the concept of No Corners: the discomfort we are facing now, as one world, one nation, one individual, cannot be more relevant and immediate. How quickly and well we adapt to it determines how we will survive this. In a way, it’s a challenge to all mankind, to throw us off our balance and see how well we get back up on our feet. How do we position comfort in discomforting times? How do we put ourselves in discomforting situations to redeem comfort?
We all here at Decadance Co would like to sincerely thank you for sharing this experience with us, to open your hearts and take in our art, to still choose to see beauty (whatever that means to you) amidst these trying times. We have taken every measure we could to ensure your safety and while that is our utmost priority, we refuse to let the arts be the first to get cut off when the going gets tough.
A dedicated shoutout to the AMAZING team of No Corners: every single one of you went above and beyond, contributed on so many levels and such a pleasure to work with. Without you, this could never be a reality. So thank you.
Yours Sincerely,
Edwin Wee
Co-founder of Decadance Co
Creative Producer for No Corners
P.S. if you could spend 2 minutes and fill out a short survey, it would help us (and our funders) understand our audiences (you!) so much better. Please?
SYNOPSIS
No Corners re-examines the boundaries of comfort, where it sits with us, how uncomfortable are we willing get, and all the in-betweens. How long can we rest on our laurels until it gets unbearably discomforting, and how that translates into other aspects of our lives?
Rachel & Khairulhakim huddled up, dug deep into their conscious, and translated their philosophies, curiosities and absurdities, into this highly reflective work of art, in their respective disciplines.
TEAM (click to jump to profile)
RACHEL LUMCHOREOGRAPHER
Rachel Lum graduated with a Diploma in Dance from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in year 2011. Upon graduation, she joined Frontier Danceland as an apprentice. Rachel then joined Re:Dance Theatre (RDT) as a founding member where she actively performed in all of her core and external productions such as M1 Contact Dance Festival, M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, Singapore Night Festival and NUS Arts Festival.
Rachel was also the training mistress for Re:Dance Theatre 2. In 2017, she joined The Arts Fission Company as a movement artist. In addition, she has created numerous dance works and one of them, No Corners, was invited to perform at Lift Off Dance Festival in Bracknell, United Kingdom. As a freelance artist, she has performed in M1 Contact Dance Festival, CDE Springboard Dance Festival Macau and DANCESTAGES Shanghai.
Rachel is a co-founder of Decadance Co.
KHAIRULHAKIMFILM ARTIST
Khairulhakim (Khai) is a Director of Photography/Camera Operator based in Singapore. He graduated from Film, Sound, and Video in Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2009. Since then, his experiences revolve in the field of camera and lighting department. As a Director of Photography / Camera Operator, his goal involves achieving internationally recognized awards in the fields of cinematography and filmmaking.
In 2016, Khairulhakim was selected, with two other Singaporeans among the 200 over entries around Asia region, for a regionally prestigious school/course, “Asian Film Academy”. During the course of his period, he lensed a portion of “Hello Uncle!”, a South Korean short film which was directed by four Asian
Directors with four Asian Cinematographers including himself.
Khairulhakim’s crafts revolve around the world of documentaries, narratives and commercials. He has travelled to different parts of the world to document various topics/subjects and issues as part of his documentary works, even down in North Korea.
His works are prominent in local television channels (CNA, Channel 5, Channel U, Okto), festivals, online, and international broadcasts (Discovery Asia, Davinci Kids).
His directorial debut “Kara” was screened in 2018 Glendale International Film Festival, Semi Finalist in Sydney Indie Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, selected as First Time Filmmaker as part of the Lift Off Festival (Global), screened as a european premiere in Festival Internacional Signos Da Noite (Lisbon) and Internationales Festival Zeichen Der Nacht. He shot, directed and produced “Kara”.
In 2019, a feature documentary titled “Mr Toilet The World’s No.2 Man”, which he has lensed for the Singapore portion got screened in Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and now currently on a festival tour around America. In 2018, a short film titled “Grandma In July”, was lensed by Khairulhakim which got in as Top 10 Viddsee Juree Awards. Another film in 2017 was screened in Malaysia International Film Festival titled “Matilda” as well.
Khairulhakim has lensed programmes like “Undercover Asia (Japan)” which aired in CNA, “Make Me A Super”, a kids science programme which aired in Da Vinci Kids and Okto,“Memories On A Plate Season 1 and 2” which aired in Viddsee, “Forgotten Youths (Phillipines)” which aired in Channel U, “Forbidding No More (Georgia, North Korea) in Channel U, “Remarkable Living” which aired in CNA and online, Starhub’s Samsung Infinity-0 AD which has been aired online, Pokka Teazzle TVC which aired in most local channels and cinema, VICE’s “Can Vertical Farming Solve Asia’s Food Crisis?”, Philips Airfryer TVC”.
“There is never an end to learning.” Khairulhakim’s believes in learning, and his hunger to create better works will never stop him.
JERYL LEEDANCE ARTIST
Jeryl first started with chinese dance and then ventured into contemporary dance in Anderson Junior College and joined NUS Dance Synergy. She furthered her dance studies by pursuing a BA in Dance at LASALLE College of the Arts. After taking a 3 year long break, she is now happy and excited to perform with her quirky friends.
VALERIE LIMDANCE ARTIST
Valerie believes life must be spent pursing what makes us feel the most alive. The mysteries of the human body, multi-disciplinary and immersive works deeply thrill her. Two immersive experiences she has presented includes: San Junipero, an invitation to come to terms with one's mortality and Tardigrade Estate, which invited audiences to create their own virtual paradise.
It was in Anderson Junior College Dance Society under the tutelage of Silvia Yong where Valerie first met Jeryl, her then-senior and was starstruck by her dancing. Valerie went on to pursue a B.Sc. (Hons.) Political Science at National University of Singapore (NUS) where she worked on an Honours Thesis that examined the relationship between dance and politics in Singapore, specifically on how dance has been used as a political tool. Interestingly, at NUS Dance Synergy and subsequently, at LASALLE College of the Arts, Jeryl was again an inspirational senior. While studying dance at LASALLE, Valerie had the opportunity to perform with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in A Letter/ Singapore for the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2016. Valerie also interned at Frontier Danceland where she performed with the company in Improv-tu, a site-specific Improvisational work. In her graduation year, she performed in an excerpt of Silences we are familiar with by Kuik Swee Boon, artistic director of T.H.E dance company. Upon joining Raw Moves after graduation, Valerie was also part of a 4-hour durational performance titled Alice, Bob and Eve conceptualised by interdisciplinary artist, Teow Yue Han.
Currently, an independent dance artist, Valerie's desire to expand her movement practice brought her on a two month trip across Europe to learn from Tomislav English, David Zambrano, Ido Portal, Bruno Canverna (Formless Arts), Fighting Monkey, Eduardo Torroja (Ultima Vez). Her current movement practice involves stepping out of her comfort zone by cross training with different movement practices like bouldering, breakdancing, parkour, krump and is hoping to add tricking, muay thai and aikido to the list.
LIU YONG HUAYLIGHTING DESIGNER
Liu Yong Huay trained at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in Lighting Design (2016), under the National Arts Council Arts Scholarship (Postgraduate). In September 2017, she co-founded 微Wei Collective with Neo Hai Bin. She loves the collaboration of nature, space and art and wants to embark on creative projects that encompass these elements. She is honoured to be working with Decadance Co on the production of No Corners.
TEH JING LIN JAELSTAGE MANAGER
Jael is a multidisciplinary arts and festival coordinator. Having started out in festival management, her experience stretches across both Singapore and Melbourne. She has coordinated festivals and events such as Singapore Heritage Festival 2016 and 2018, Melbourne’s Piers Festival 2018, Victoria’s Multicultural Festival and Mapping Melbourne 2019.
As a stage manager, she has worked with both theatre directors and dance groups such as Jalyn Han, Darius Tan, The Glowers Drama Group and The Arts Fission Company.
EDWIN WEECREATIVE PRODUCER
Edwin picked up dance while MTV was still a thing, his passion outgrew MTV and he jumped off a cliff and auditioned for NAFA’s Dance Diploma programme after National Service obligations. Miraculously, he got in. Zero training, zero flexibility. He purely relied on his MTV dreams.
Fast forward 15 years, he has now co-founded Decadance Co after gaining confidence from being 2nd in command at a local dance company for a decade. He thinks he knows what he is doing. Let’s all hope so.
Edwin is now giving producing a go, as he is equally passionate about making art relatable, accessible and sustainable. This dancer isn’t afraid of paperwork and talking to strangers. In this day and age, we can’t afford to be mono-dimensional can we?
THANKYOUTHANKYOU
JING NG - for being so generous with his time, expertise and sound equipment
ELA EROZAN GURSEL & TINA AITCHESON DERKENNE - for being fabulous DecaHosts
PLAYInc - for supporting so many of the production’s logistic needs
UNEARTHED PRODUCTIONS - for sponsoring the drink ware
STACIE LEONG, SHAUN LIM, KEITH LEE, LILY MAE DERKENNE & KELLY OH - for being amazing volunteers at our front-of-house and reception
NI CHENG PIN - for being our production’s sai kang warrior
EILEEN CHEA - for being the occasional third eye during rehearsals
DARYL YEO, DONG TZ & JINGKAI KUANG - for capturing the show so beautifully
SUPPORTEDBY
NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL - No Corners is a recipient of the Performance & Participation Grant
ARTS FUND
LG SINGAPORE - Sound Partner for the early stages of No Corners
MILLET WORLD - Venue Partner