Dance work Amazing Beasts & Botanicals inspired by Sichuan archaeological finds
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The Arts Fission Company dancers (from top) Aisha Polestico, Marveen Ely Lozano, Adly Azizi and Andine Elaina rehearse for Amazing Beasts & Botanicals.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
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SINGAPORE – The Arts Fission Company is staging its first ticketed contemporary dance work since 2019 with Amazing Beasts & Botanicals at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium on July 26 and 27.
The show, inspired by the Sanxingdui (three-star mound) ruins in Sichuan, China, is created by Cultural Medallion recipient Angela Liong, the company’s co-founder and artistic director.
Her interest in the ruins was sparked by Mystery Men: Finds From China’s Lost Age, a 2007 exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum which featured 103 discoveries from Sanxingdui, including large bronze masks and heads. It was the first time the artefacts from Sanxingdui were exhibited in South-east Asia.
In a small office next to Arts Fission’s dance studio at Cairnhill Arts Centre, Liong says: “The artefacts were so different from what we usually perceive as traditional Han Chinese art, but I think those from Central or South-east Asia can relate to them more because the figures feature big eyes, mouths and noses. I think the sculptor took some artistic licence to make the pupils protrude so that they looked a bit alien-like.”
The exhibition left a deep impression on her, but nothing came of it until her husband visited the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research in Beijing in November 2023 to give a lecture.
Liong says: “He went to see the museum built for the excavation and sent me pictures. It piqued my interest again and I thought it might be interesting to do something about the figures.”
Choreographed by Liong, Amazing Beasts & Botanicals is also a collaboration with composer Chua Jon Lin and sculptor Yeo Chee Kiong, both of whom have worked with Arts Fission in the past.
For this production, Yeo is putting his own spin on the Tree of Life myth. Inspired by a bronze head with protruding eyeballs, he stacked multiple heads on top of one another to create a tree trunk, exaggerating the eyeballs to resemble branches. His creations form the set against which dancers will perform.
Sipping a cup of freshly brewed Chinese tea, Liong says : “During the Covid-19 period, we couldn’t do any performances so, in the past three years, we’ve dropped live performances and focused on film-making. Chee Kiong collaborated with us to create trigrams for our dance film [In]finite Octagon.”
Cultural Medallion recipient Angela Liong creates a new performance inspired by the Sanxingdui ruins in Sichuan, China.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Arts Fission’s last live production in 2023 was the age-inclusive family show Moon Rabbits, a celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
While Liong has yet to see the final version of the sculpture, her excitement was palpable.
Arts Fission worked with Chua during a 2022 collaboration with Ding Yi Music Company, where she composed a new piece for the performance.
In addition to composing for Amazing Beasts & Botanicals, Chua is also introducing old Chinese instruments to the performance. The first is a Jiahu gudi (bone flute), known to be the oldest instrument in China. Made from the bones of a bird, it produces a haunting sound, much like a piercing shriek.
The other instrument is a sheng, a reed instrument that consists of vertical pipes. Originating in the Han Dynasty, it was one of the main instruments in kunqu, one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera, as well as some forms of Chinese orchestras.
“It creates a mournful sound that is unique,” Liong explains.
The incorporation of the unique sculpture and ancient instruments contributes to a dance that is heavily influenced by history.
Liong says: “To me, collaboration is about compatibility and camaraderie because you’ve to have fun working with these people. I also want to learn something new from them, so having people of different ages and backgrounds coming in as collaborators is good.”
The co-creators all did their own research for the show and Liong also made her dancers read up on the figures.
She says emphatically: “It’s not just ‘five, six, seven, eight and move’ as a demonstration. The way I work is very different, and it’s important for the dancers to understand exactly what the project is about and where we’re going with it.”
Amazing Beasts & Botanicals features Arts Fission dancers Aisha Polestico, Andine Elaina, Adly Azizi and Marveen Ely Lozano. Lozano is also assistant choreographer and has created one of the two quartets in the show.
The show features two quartet performances, as well as two solos and a duet.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Liong says: “Because this is based on archaeological finds, I wanted to look at it in an unconventional way. Unlike most choreography that has a build-up and climax, this jumps right into the action. I experimented with the piece being off-centre, constantly dropping or pulling to create tension. The resulting imagery is like crumbling, as opposed to the harmonious seeding of Marveen’s quartet.”
The dance will also feature a solo for each of the male dancers and a duet for the two female dancers. Three musicians from Morse Percussion will perform onstage with the dancers, along with wind and percussion soloist Lee Jun Cheng.
Liong says: “I’m hoping that one day, we might be able to take this to China to show them what a South-east Asian view of the artefacts might be like.”
Book it / Amazing Beasts & Botanicals
Where: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium, Level 9, 1 Straits Boulevard sistic.com.sg/events/beasts0724
When: July 26 and 27, 8pm
Admission: $35
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