A triple-threat Singaporean performer, as well as a highly sort-after choreographer and instructor, Gani has a long string of stage experiences locally and abroad and awards under his belt. He has worked with reknowned artistes like Glen Goei, Najip Ali, Lea Salonga, Jacintha and Dick Lee to name a few.  

He has appeared in many productions directed by Ong Keng Sen such as the original cast of “Beauty World” in ‘88 as well as the touring cast of ‘92, “Mortal Sins”,“Broken Birds: An Epic Longing” and the Japan premiere of “Lear”. This inter-cultural , post-modern production also toured Hong Kong (Hong Kong Arts Festival 99), Singapore, Jakarta and Perth (Perth Arts Festival) as part of its Asian Tour. Playing the role of the dynamic ‘Retainer’, “Lear” also participated in the Berlin International Arts Festival (Teater de Welt 99) and Coppenhagen International Arts Festival (International Sommerscene 99) as part of its European Tour. Immediately after, he acted in their musical entitled “Haunted” where his performance received outstanding reviews. He then played the role of “Erica” in the Theatreworks’ offering entitled “Comrade Mayor” (2001). 

This year saw him continuing his stint as Artiste-in residence at Ang Mo Kio Sec Sch where he developed their dance syllabus for the Intergrated Arts programme which will lead to an Arts Festival for the school in July with the theme of “1964”. Concurrently, he was choreographer and performer for the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, following which he was performer and choreographer for MIPIM Festival held in Cannes, France. Following which, he will choreograph for the May Day Rally followed by the “Singapore Season - Genereration/s” in Moscow in June where he is co-conceptualiser, co-choreographer as well as lead performer - this collaborative effort was directed by Ivan heng and original music by Iskandar Ismail; staged at the Victoria Theatre (preview) and The Theatre Hall of The Moscow International Performing Arts Centre as part of their “World Cultural Captitals in Moscow” project. Following which he was choreographer for the inaugural Singapore International Water Week - 24 June 2008. 

2007 saw him continuing his Artiste-in-school post in Ang Mo Kio Sec Sch. Concurrently, he was also Artiste-in-residence at Lasalle SIA School of The Arts choreographing “Once On This Island”, a Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical which was performed by the debuting graduation class of the Musical Theatre course. In the midst of that, he was choreographer and co-creator for the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Tourism Forum held at the Convention Halls of the Swisshotel Singapore. He was also the lead performer for the grand opening of the National Museum. He was choreographer for the May Day Rally original musical entilted “Labour of Love”, written and directed by Jeremiah Choy, music by Babes Conde and staged at University Cultural Centre; concurrently, he is resident choreographer and trainer for NTUC Youth Club. He then returned from KL where he developed and performed the role of “Caliban” in an Asianised/Bali-nised version of Shakespeare’s Tempest entitled “URMI” staged at Istana Budaya, directed by Sabera Shaik and produced by Theatre Masakini. He also won the Malaysian Cameron Awards for theatre for “Best Ensemble Performance” for his performance in Wild Rice’s “Second Link”. On returning to Singapore, he was guest judge for Suria’s Anugerah competition for the Wild-card Round as well as the grand finals. He is also a featured soloist for that year’s National Day Parade performing the new national theme song entitled “Will You” composed by Jimmy Ye. Following that he performed in “SingaPOPera” as part of Soundwaves Series 2007, a joint musical production between Dick Lee and People’s Association which was staged at University Cultural Centre. He then co-directed, choreographed and performed for “A Singapore Evening” as part of the Singapore Season in Beijing and Shanghai. Following which, he performed the role of “Simon” in Escape Theatre’s year end production of “Lord Of The Flies” at the Esplanade Theatre Studio which was directed by multiple Life Theatre Award winner for best director, Samantha Scott-Blackhall.  

2006 started with him playing multiple roles in Wild Rice’s production of “Connecting The Dots” which opened at the Hong Kong Fringe Club as part of their “Spotlight Singapore” Festival 2006. Currently, he was Artiste-in school (AIS) teaching dance and movement for Ang Mo Kio Sec Sch’s Intergrated Arts Programme (IAP). He also choreographed an original musical by Singapore Chinese Girls School Choir entitled “Room 2829” which was written and composed by the students themselves and staged at the Victoria Concert Hall; he has been resident choreographer for the school for the past three years where they also received the silver awards at the 17th International Choir Competition 2005 held in Sydney where they also performed in The Sydney Opera House and various schools around the city. For Esplanade, he performed a solo acoustic set as well as a featured soloist for Nguyen Le’s Celebrating Jimi Hendrix as part of the Mosaic Music Festival 2006. Concurrently, he also choreographed the pre-rally show for the May Day Rally held in Suntec Covention Centre. In May, he performed the role of “Selva” in Dick Lee’s latest original musical entitled “Man Of Letters” as part of NUS centennial celebrations at The University Cultural Centre. He then choreographed Yishun Sec Sch’s 20th Anniversary musical entitled “Dare To Dream”, as well as developing and choreographing the opening number to Anglican High School’s anniversary celebrations incorporating all of their various CCA groups. He also reprise his multiple-roles for “Second Link” as part of Wild Rice’s Singapore Theatre Festival in August which also performed in Bangsar’s Actor Studio, Kuala Lumpur. He was also a featured soloist performer in National Day Parade 2006 entitled “Our Global City, Our Home” which was held for the last time at the National Stadium. Then, he co-choreographed The Elite Model Search - Asia Pacific Region 2006 in Shanghai. In November , he was show-director, choreographer and performer for the opening and closing performance for the World Lottery Association Convention and Trade Show 2006 held at the Convention Halls of the Swisshotel Singapore. He then designed/developed and performed a solo dance piece for the opening of the President’s Design Awards held at the Asian Civilisation Museum. Following that, he was a featured collaborator and performer with Iskandar Ismail and The Arts House in developing the show for “Spotlight Singapore” entitled “Generation/s” in Tokyo City View Raponggi Hills Mori Tower, Tokyo.  

In 2005, he started teaching dance and movement as part of  Ang Mo Kio Secondary School’s Creative Arts Programme (CAP) as Artist-in-school (AIS) piloted by MOE and NAC; this led to the schools arts festival entitled “NOMAD: Travelling”. Being interested in arts and education, he also co-created and performed in Project Chilli Padi’s (subsidiary of Wild Rice Theatre Production’s theatre and education outreach arm for schools) “Poetry In Motion” which toured various schools since 2004. He was also guest performer and sang his own composition for the Singapore Pavillion in the World Expo 2005 held in Nagoya, Japan. Concurrently, he was movement negotiator for “Impenjarement”, a multi-disciplinary movement piece directed by Alin Mosbit for Teater Ekamatra as part of the core programme for the Arts Festival. He then co-conceptualised, choreographed and was lead performer for the Opening Ceremony of the International Olympic Conference (IOC) held at the Esplanade Theatre. Following that, he played multiple roles in the highly successful “Second Link: Tikam-tikam, Malaysian Roulette” by Wild Rice Theatre production for the closing of the Writers’ Festival. Following which he played the role of The Indian Fairy, Muneru Valliba in their year end Pantomime musical “Oi! Sleeping Beauty”. 

2004 was a packed year where he juggled between performing, acting and choreographing. He choreographed Singapore Tourism Board’s new branding launch of “Uniquely Singapore” where his work was also featured in Berlin and Cape Town. Then he choreographed Toy Factory’s Dance Theatre production “East Side Story” staged at The Attic and directed by Life Theatre Awards winner Beatrice Chia. Following which, he choreographed the opening number to the International Indian Academy Awards 2004 (IIFA Awards) held at the Indoor Stadium. Concurrently, he also co-devised, and acted and sang in The Necessary Stage’s production of “Sing Song”. Following which he acted multiple roles in Wild Rice’s production of “The Visit of The Tai Tai” staged at The Victoria Theatre where he also choreographed the closing number of the play. He also played multiple roles for a short film entitled “Bubble Tea Kit” and was a guest actor for an episode of MTV’s “Rouge”. Apart from performing for various charitable organizations such as the Yellow Ribbon Campaign, The Duck Race and World Aids Day just to name a few, he was a guest singer as well as choreographer for Dick Lee’s concert in December. 

In 2003, he co-devised and choreographed the musical review “Three Men and A Boot”. Following which he was choreographer and played the role of “Greta” in Toy Factory’s award winning production “Bent”. Then, leading a cast of 14 actors from 6 Asean countries, he performed in a multi-cultural, multi-media post-modern production entitled “PRISM” which debuted in Japan and went on to perform in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Phillipines and Indonesia; produced by Toy Factory and Kageboushi Theatre Co Japan. 

In 2002 he was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he developed the role of the evil “Alang Bakhil” in “Opera Uda & Dara” written by the late Usman Awang, a joint opera production by Actors Studio and Five Arts Centre. Following which, he was “Hysterium” in Gardner&Wife’s musical production of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Forum”. Both of which he received very good reviews in their local press. 

2000 saw him leading a stella cast of Asian and European performers, in a multi-cultural, multi-media opera musical production entitled “The Saviour” which was produced by J-Art Foundation and was performed in Seoul, Korea for the ASEM III Summit, followed by “Savior II” in 2001.

 

A versatile singer and performer, he has appeared in such varied roles such as a 70 year old headman in Kampong Amber with Adrian Pang and produced by Music & Movement. SRT’s productions which he has participated in include the roles of Jesus Christ in Godspell, Rapunzel’s Prince in “Into the Woods” and “They’re playing our Song”, both of which starred Lea Salonga, and the voice of Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors” of which he also choreographed. He was also the choreographer for “Sing To The Dawn” which opened the Arts Festival that year. 

A dynamic dancer and choreographer, he has choreographed “live” shows and television extravaganzas in Singapore. He has also choreographed fashion shows and product launches for labels such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Diesel, D&G, BMW, Shaeffer, among others and the Smirnoff Fashion awards.  

As a singer/entertainer, he has performed in various clubs in Singapore as well as the region between 1993-94 such as Hard Rock Café (regional tour with defunct R&B/Jazz Band “TNT” and “Rhythm Asia”) after he left the army. He has performed private D&Ds as well as sang theme songs for major company functions such as AIA Insurance, Prudential, SIA, Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion shows, Coca Cola and Panasonic to name a few. He was the lead singer/actor during the opening of the Singapore Indoor Stadium entitled “My country, My Singapore” (1990); featured vocalist for the National Day Parade since 1995 (voice recording) and was the featured soloist in The National Day Parade 1999 (live); featured vocalist for recordings of The Sing Singapore Albums among others. On New Year’s eve of 2003, he developed and performed a solo vocal performance at the Esplanade with Phillip Tan, an award winning composer and soundscape-designer.  

He has also choreographed various plays which incorporate movement and dance locally such as The Necessarry’s Stage’s production of “Brainstorm” where he choreographed “Untitled Man Part One”, and Drama Box’s production of “Want

United People” in the 1999 Arts Festival. He was also choreographer for 3.14 Company’s Production of “Club Tempest”, and Toy Factory’s site-specific physical-theatre production of “The Seventh Drawer” where he also played the lead role of “Dog” which he co-devised and was nominated for “Best Supporting Actor” at The Life Theatre Awards. 

His foray as a director saw him participating in Theatrework’s overnight theatre carnival in Singapore where he choreographed, wrote, directed and performed a post-modern quasi-traditional solo piece entitled “Invok-Asian”. He directed a provocative drama/movement piece for Toy Factory’s Production of “Made in K.K - Waiting”, and choreographed and acted the lead role in their musical production of “Guys and Dolls”, and also choreographed their production of “I Have A Date with Spring”.  He last directed and performed “Diary of a Madwoman” as well as acted the lead in “Half Century”, as part of Theatreworks’ 30 Plays in 30 Days Playwright Festival. 

He was featured as a lead actor along side Azean Irdawaty in a UTV/TV3 award-winning telemovie production of “Primadona” in 2000. He has also done regional print and TV ads such as Motorola, M1, L&M company to name a few.