Front Row

Fresh out of an Master of Fine Arts programme in theatre directing and some time in New York, Kelvin Wong is running an 'Intermediate  Directors' Lab' (aka 'workshop') for theatre practitioners who want to hone their skills. He breaks down the director’s role and helps us understand how to evaluate the skills of one.

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Dennis Lau plays his electric violin when he isn’t telling a musical story. This musician who has appeared in TEDxKL tells not only about playing but also about composing and mixing genres. In this interview during the holiday season, he plays some Christmas music.

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Over the years, this not-for-profit dance organization, Han Fong Dance Ensemble, has been promoting and staging Chinese dances in the country while winning accolades in Hong Kong and mainland China.  Next year, 2016, marks the 10th anniversary of HFDE’s founding, and our guests explain not only Chinese dances and the history of the dance ensemble but also the reasons for this retrospective performance. 

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Our guest has written and staged several popular Shakespeare plays as a one-man show: “I, Banquo”, “I, Cinna”, “I, Caliban” ‘‘I , Malvolio’ (based on Twelfth Night) and now in town, he is performing ‘I, Peaseblossom’ (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream). All these are targeted at the young. He shares with us why Shakespeare is still important for those whose mother tongue is not English.

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I went to ‘Becoming King’ - the Pakyung Revisited’, a full-length contemporary dance performance and left thinking not only about the vote I cast but also the voting process and the eventual selection of a winner. The performance was executed in the style of So-You-Think-You-Can-Dance, but in the context of the Mak Yong. 

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Our guest gives us a view into contemporary art in the region and the role it plays in creating the sense of the city. Contemporary art, he argues, raises questions about urbanization. He says, “In the same way that designers and planners build and shape cities, art explores visceral depths of human existence and civilization and making the invisible visible. Contemporary art is a reflection of our time, and artists are instrumental to how we sense, measure and interpret perceived reality.”

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The artist tells of his journey from flipping burgers to a school learning classical animation, and then, via a circuitous route,  producing three volumes of cartoons (with cute messages) which travelled the world as HJ Story.  In this  trajectory, he went from Canada to South Korea, owned a digital games company, gave that up to freelance and to test a new life as an artist.

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Through a performance of both her own story and that of Mak Yong in Jalan Primadonna, the dance drama, the actor-dancer-singer points out why she wants to ensure the survival of our country’s traditional dance culture. Zamzuriah Zahari also tells us about what it takes to stage her show in which she performs 17 songs. This episode of Front Row was co-produced with Nadiah Aziz.

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As the year comes to a close, the community choir  is back to present a concert of seasonal music showcasing a charming repertoire ranging from traditional must-haves, to modern tunes and contemporary favourites.  Our guest also tells how this choir has transformed since its birth in 1958.

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The 72-year-old Indian-born artist from Penang is being honoured with a retrospective at the Penang State Museum & Art Gallery. His work as a student was selected in the inaugural exhibition in 1965 when the gallery opened; now 50 years later he is back having led the life of an artist and he tells about his discovery of art and the influences in his artistic life.

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