SINGAPORE - Do not be alarmed if you are walking along Orchard Road this weekend and spot a group of people leaping boundlessly through the air and landing on the side of Ion Orchard's media facade.
They are dancers from Bandaloop, an American troupe that are pioneers of vertical dance, and are in town as part of the mall's 10th-anniversary celebrations.
For their performance, six dancers, tethered to the wall with rope and harnesses, will be suspended from the fifth floor of the mall. They will dance against a light and sound display designed specially for the occasion by local artists.
Shoppers can catch Bandaloop in action at Ion Square - the outdoor space at the entrance of Ion Orchard - every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Sept 20 to Oct 6. Each performance will last about 15 minutes and start at 7pm, 7.45pm and 8.30pm.
Bandaloop was founded in 1991 and got its name from the 1985 novel Jitterbug Perfume by American Tom Robbins, who wrote that the Bandaloop are a tribe in the Himalayas and that they do a dance to help them achieve immortality. Troupe founder Amelia Rudolph picked the name as the idea of pursuing ageless beauty, new perspectives and honouring nature and community resonated with her.
Bandaloop have performed in both natural and urban settings all over the world - from the granite cliffs of Yosemite in the United States to the walls of the Old Jeddah City in Saudi Arabia.
And now, they will make Ion Orchard's unique facade their stage. This is the second time they are performing in Singapore - they were here in December 2006 for the National Museum's re-opening.
Bandaloop's executive director, Mr Thomas Cavanagh, 47, tells The Straits Times during a rehearsal on Wednesday (Sept 18): "The mall's undulating curves have a profound effect on the dancers' movement, which range from dreamy and orchestral on flatter surfaces, to a quick staccato on more convex areas. It mimics nature."
He draws a connection to how Ion Orchard's media facade was designed with direct reference to the contours and lines of the fruit and nuts that were harvested back when Orchard Road was a nutmeg plantation.
Dancer Roel Seeber, 44, who has been with Bandaloop for 11 years, says: "We bring dance to city centres, to audiences who may otherwise never get the chance to step into a concert hall."
Performing with the troupe, he adds, has "widened his perception of what dance is" by "taking it to such unexpected places" and deeply moving their "incidental audiences".
VIEW IT
WHERE: Ion Square, 2 Orchard Turn
WHEN: Sept 20 to Oct 6 - Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 7pm, 7.45pm and 8.30pm
ADMISSION: Free
