Singapore butoh dancer uses traditional art form to warn about the dangers of technology
The TL;DR: On Jan 30 and 31, butoh performer Elden Zachery, one of two artists from *SCAPE’s Experimentation Ground Residency Programme in 2025, will present his work Morningstar, which sounds a warning about over-reliance on AI.
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In Morningstar, Elden Zachery plays a techno-cult leader to highlight his worries about people’s growing reliance on artificial intelligence.
PHOTO: RE:EVENTE
SINGAPORE – Traditional art meets high technology on Jan 30 and 31 at *SCAPE when butoh dancer Elden Zachery performs Morningstar, playing the character of a techno-cult leader in order to highlight his worries about people’s growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI).
“There’s a lot of fear that AI is an inevitable and uncontrollable thing, and that it’s going to make us all jobless and homeless,” said the 23-year-old.
“I want people to realise that we have the tools to rein it back in if we don’t want that to be our future. A line in the sand needs to be drawn somewhere.”
Mr Zachery’s work is the culmination of a six-month residency under *SCAPE. He was one of two artists in the Experimentation Ground Residency Programme, which supports young artists under the age of 35 who are pushing artistic boundaries with experimental and unique art forms. The programme ran from August 2025 to January 2026.
The resident artists each received up to $10,000 in project funding, access to *SCAPE’s rehearsal and meeting spaces, and a platform to showcase their work at *SCAPE’s annual creative arts festival COMMA, which runs from Jan 16 to 31.
Mr Zachery’s project was selected for the residency because it “offers a bold and original exploration of how artificial intelligence shapes human belief, behaviour and identity”, said Mr Charles Kang, festival director of COMMA 2026 and assistant manager of programmes for creative arts at *SCAPE.
“By supporting risk-taking and process-driven exploration, the residency plays a key role in nurturing emerging artists and strengthening the development of original contemporary works within the festival,” Mr Kang added.
Mr Elden Zachery crawling on the ground as part of his performance Morningstar.
PHOTO: RE:EVENTE
Mr Zachery choreographed the entire performance, and tapped other artists he knew to help him with stage and costume design. To prepare for the performance, he has been rehearsing at least twice a week, three to four hours each time, since October 2025.
“This is the biggest platform of my career, and being part of the residency feels like affirmation that I can take (butoh) more seriously,” said Mr Zachery.
Shortly after graduating from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in apparel design and merchandising, he was introduced to the art form in 2022 by a butoh dancer he met through a mutual friend.
Mr Zachery is a multi-disciplinary butoh dance performer and costume crafter.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
“I was a young fashion graduate with a taste for the avant-garde. Cool people around me were doing it, and I picked it from there,” he said.
Butoh is a Japanese avant-garde form of dance theatre characterised by its performers’ full white make-up, jerky yet controlled movements, and its disregard for the niceties of modern dance.
“(Butoh) is very malleable and forgiving. It allows me to express the truest form of what I want to express,” said Mr Zachery, who works full-time as a stylist.
Looking ahead, he hopes to be able to perform butoh as a career. “I’m not sure if it’s possible, but doing this full-time is a dream of mine,” he said.
Morningstar is held on Jan 30, 7.30pm; and on Jan 31, 2pm and 7.30pm; at *SCAPE Ground Theatre. Tickets are available at /
