How It Got Started

In December 2021, three Singaporean artists – a contemporary dancer, a writer-actor-director, a sound designer – wondered if text and dance could enrich each other and communicate more powerfully to audiences. If so, what can we do to help contemporary dance and text fuse better? How do we help the moving body (dancer, actor, anyone) become more sensitive to text as stimuli? How do we enrich the experience of text thru the moving body?

Aiden showed us the ways contemporary dancers/choreographers instinctively respond to text. Jonathan showed us the ways writers create text and actors interpret it. Sze Min showed us how designers draw inspiration from text. We intertwined these processes - seeking a seamless fusion of text and body, conveying meaning separately yet embodying the same truth. 

In this journal, we trace the steps of our discovery process and share useful frameworks that can refine the creative choices made!

MOVINNG TEXT is supported by National Arts Council