NOMAD 2008 Fringe Festival Press Release

PRESS RELEASE FOR AMKSS NOMAD 2008 FRINGE FESTIVAL
05 May 2008

Ang Mo Kio Secondary School presents NOMAD 2008

Drama. Dance. Music .Visual Arts.

Come experience the swinging 60’s with us as we explore the theme of 1964 as part of
Ang Mo Kio’s biannual Arts Festival – NOMAD.

 

Artist Profile: Juraidah Rahman

A theatre enthusiast, Juraidah feels blessed for the various exposure in the theatre industry for the past 7 years, especially in wardrobe, production and stage management. Most recently, she was a Production Co-ordinator for The Necessary Stage’s M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2008: Art & History.
Her stage management experience includes Sing’theatre’s Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris (2008), No Regrets, A Tribute to Edith Piaf (2007), LASALLE College of the Arts’ Macbeth (2007), Singapore Repertory Theatre Young Company’s Down The White Road (2001) and W!ld Rice’s Happy Endings: Asian Boys Volume III (2007), Second Link (Singapore Theatre Festival 2006 & Kuala Lumpur), The Magic Fundoshi (2006), Boeing-Boeing (2005), The Visit of The Tai Tai (2004), and Animal Farm, which was part of 2004’s New Zealand International Arts Festival.

Juraidah was also a Production Co-ordinator with W!ld Rice from 2004 – 2006.

 

Artist Profile: Elnie Shumastri Mashari

Elnie S Mashari graduated from the Queensland University of Technology. She
is a prolific theatre practitioner for the last 12 years.

Elnie has acted in both English and Malay productions. In 2007, she toured
in China and The Darwin Festival, as part of Theatre Practice’s ensemble
cast Play Play. In  2004/2005, she is one of TNS actor-facilitator for a
Forum Theatre Workshop in India and with the theatre practitioners in Banda
Aceh as part of the reconstructing programme.

As a Production/Stage Manager, Elnie has involved in the last few Singapore
Arts Festivals, Wildrice’s Singapore Theatre Festival as well as Touring
Productions. Her recent projects were Impenjarament, Mobile, JBJ,
Fundamentally Happy (KL), Blithe Spirit and Off Centre.  In 2007, she
stage-managed the successfully Marina Countdown at the Esplanade. Currently,
she is producing Panggung ARTS debut production Ma’Ma Yong - About Nothing
Much To Do at the Playden, Arts House.

 

AMKSS Dance Club: “Status Unknown” Detailed Description

Scene 1.1 – MEMORIES UNFOLD / BIRTH

• Opens with scenes of the racial riots - Media used: projection
• Dancers running in and out in fluid movements to trigger each character’s memories
• Development of a foetus into a baby – Media used: projection of short video
• Both scenes will be shown concurrently to portray the contrasts
• Dancers act as moving tableaus as the images are projected on them

 
Scene 1.2 – GLORY

• Highlighting Singapore’s achievement – moving from a rural landscape into a progressive ‘Little Red Dot’
• Developing from a little baby to a young adult
• Images of the country’s pride (such as the Esplanade) will be projected on the dancers
• In terms of movements, dancers progress from small steps into simple movements like mimicking birds etc

 
Scene 2.1 – SYSTEMATIC / STRUCTURE ?

• Point to ponder: Does receiving education translate into being educated?
• Dancers – move in a synchronized robotic sequence
• Things are done quickly but are they effective/of any value?
• Projection: Words which are contradicting in meaning thrown out

 
Scene 2.2 – CONTRADICTION / INCONGRUENCE ?

• Solo dance item – to reflect the predicament of the older generation (with voiceovers)
• Significance: Do they get left behind due the progress of society? DO they get lost in the process?
• Emphasis on the importance of keeping abreast with changes without eroding one’s cultures/values system
• Do the senior citizens/old folks get marginalized as a result of modernization

 
Scene 3 – WHICH STEPS TO HEAVEN

• Finding one’s inner tranquility
• Knowing and recognizing our own limitations
• Dancers – stepping on paint (a metaphor of leaving one’s footprints behind)
• Walking out with lit candles
• What have you done today that will leave an impact on the country that we live in?

 

Artist Profile: Yeo Bee Loon

Graduated from LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts with a Diploma in Performing Arts (Dance), Yeo Bee Loon is currently a Dance Instructor, Performer cum Choreographer. She was awarded the Georgette Chen Arts Scholarship from the National Arts Council during her studies in LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts. She had also represented her school to perform in the Federal Academy of Ballet in Kuala Lumpur. Her portfolio includes being a dancer together with Odyssey Dance Theatre, Frontier Danceland and an overseas stint in India together with Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. She was also involved in the choreography for National Day Parade 2004 and 2007, Chingay Parade 2004 and 2008 under the dance items for Singapore Soka Association. Currently, she is teaching dance in primary & secondary schools, hoping to bring her passion to greater heights.

 

Assistant Stage Managers

With the advice of Mr Chio Kah Leong our teacher in charge of AVA, we’ve identified a list of Assistant Stage Managers who will be working with the professional stage managers brought into this project by ODP.

This information can also be found in the “About Us” Page

New Ju Wei (Sec 2-1)

Jeremy Tay (Sec 3-1)

Max Teh (Sec 3-1)

Yep Chin Ann (Sec 3-1)

Tan Chin Koon (Sec 3-3)

Ang Wei Kang (Sec 3-5)

Neo Yao Kian Andy (Sec 3-5)

See Kai Siang (Sec 3-A)

Don Gao (Sec 4-C)

Mohd Fazli (Sec 4-C)

 

Synopses for the Humanities Project Strands

Please note that the synopses for the Project Strands headed by the Humanities department have just been submitted and have now been uploaded onto the project strands page.

The two projects are:

1. An Oral History of Singapore in the 1960s

2. Mapping Ang Mo Kio - Ang Mo Kio from pre-1965 to the present day

To view the updates, please visit this link:

http://amkssnomad.wordpress.com/project-strands/

 

Festival Programme Outline

Dear all,

I’ve consolidated a very simple Programme Outline here, so that we have an overview of the order of events, in particular with the order of performance items in the fringe festivals.

Please write to me to correct any mistakes spotted, as the preparations progress. I’ll also be creating a Programme Notes Page, where we can all upload the programme notes for our individual items etc. This is already in some ways served by the individual pages dedicated to each of the art forms, however, some directors and artists have already started giving me more detailed write-ups of their items and I felt it would be better to reflect that kind of detailed thinking somewhere on this site as well.

Please see: http://amkssnomad.wordpress.com/festival-programme/

As always, thank you everyone for the continuing hard work!

Best regards,

Tian Hui

 

《有故事的人》 编导感言 (二)

首次到宏茂桥狮子乐龄之友协会，我的最初印象它只不过是一个慈善团体，一个提供乐龄人士消遣的场所。可是它逐渐地改变了我的想法。它不仅为乐龄人士提供物质上的需要，也给了他们在人生最后一段路程中所需要的东西，那就是关爱。
当他们聚在一起的时候，大家都会彼此嘘寒问暖。这不只填满了心灵中的空虚，也让生活有了色彩。生活对他们来说不会再是那么单调、乏味。有了新的生活目标和执著，乐龄人士会开心地走完生命中最后的里程碑。

– 杨旸（中三 3/1班）

 

《有故事的人》 编导感言（二）

2008年4月17日我们到 Ling Kwang Youth Centre 去采访中心的总干事 Mr Chang Chian Hui 。

听Mr Chang说，中心设立的目的是为了帮助那些四处闲荡的青少年，让他们放学后有地方可去，才不会交上坏朋友。

我觉得 Mr Chang的这分工作十分有意义，帮助青少年，引导他们走上正路。身为中心的总干事，Mr Chang 看着中心从八年前开始到现在，经过了许多风风雨雨。

所谓：‘助人为快乐之本’，所以 Mr Chang 没有埋怨，反而觉得自己收获很多。虽然开始非常艰难，资金也不是很多，他们还是熬到了现在。他们这种努力不懈与坚持到底的精神很值得我们学习。

从这次的访问中，我发觉自己的访问技巧进步了。我不再过于依赖写满问题的笔记，而是能随机应变。如果我依赖笔记，便无法听进采访者所说的话，也就无法及时想出新的问题。
– 林隽晟 （中三 3/1班）