By Zedeck Siew “I believe we never stop learning,” said actor Anne James, sitting down at a long table. She was right on time for the day’s session, arriving just before me; everyone else was running a little late. Australian director Lawrence Strangio — whose critically acclaimed adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “Alias Grace” ran at […]
By Chuah Siew Eng Music as a tool of political consciousness doesn’t happen often enough — perhaps unsurprisingly for a society wary about the uncontrolled consequences of freedom of expression. But that rare occasion of bands banding together to bandy an important issue did happen recently when, on the last weekend of May, groups like […]
By Kathy Rowland Can I use the word “inscrutable” to describe an ethnic Chinese man without being accused of resorting to cliché? Because inscrutable is really the adjective that springs to mind when I think of James Lee, the chess master, moving bodies like pawns in Myra Mahyuddin’s A Sleepwalker in Transit, on a rainy Sunday afternoon […]
By Benjamin McKay There will be some among you who believe that talking about problems, about crises and about rights is a passive act. All talk, no action. I disagree with those sentiments. Talk, conversation, dialogue, argument and general discourse ARE actions. Identifying problems and the responses to those problems are important diagnostic activities too. […]
By Zedeck Siew Stella Maris, a mission school in Pudu that shares its premises with a chapel under restoration, found itself playing host to the Asian Youth Artsmall Exchange, a 9-day workshop for those interested in taking the arts to marginalised communities. Organised by Five Arts Centre, one of the pioneers of community arts in […]
By Revathi Murugappan “My mother told me I was very good at art, singing and dancing so she wanted me to be an artiste like her. But my life changed after I contracted polio,” says Manri Kim, the youngest and tenth child of Honju Kim, a Korean traditional dancer. Polio eventually led to Manri’s paralysis […]
By Jerome Kugan As many local arts practitioners know extremely well, funding for the arts is a big problem. It’s not that the (newly-formed) Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (or its previous incarnations) does not freely hand out ang pows to needy (and occasionally starving) dreamy creatures who champion artistic causes. Nor the fact […]
By Cassandra Chong Cassandra Chong is a very enthusiastic student at the International College of Music (ICOM). Last week she attended a three-day workshop by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, facilitated by the charming composer Fraser Trainer, who is the Creative Director of the London Sinfonietta, and has done composition workshops for schools in Norway, Finland, […]
By Cheryl Lim A group of local arts practitioners gathered at the Actors Studio Bangsar on October 9, 2003 for a two-hour workshop organised by Kakiseni in collaboration with Genting City of Entertainment, and conducted by Toby Gough, the man behind Lady Salsa as the artistic director, and a participant in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, […]
By Tan Sei Hon Last September, twenty five arts students met in the woods of Taman Alam in Kuala Selangor for a five day workshop entitled “sonneratia”. As a botanical aside, sonneratia is the scientific name for the ‘Berembang’ trees that grows in the wild in the mangrove forests of Kuala Selangor. It produces an […]
