Front Row

How effective is art in changing culture and behavior? ‘The Good Malaysian Woman: Ethnicity, Religion, Politics’, is organised by the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) and Interpr8 Art Space to enable public discourse and personal inquiry. Works are by 22 artists: their views, thoughts, representation of what it means to be a woman in Malaysia today.

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Following the One Million Youth Gathering in 2011 and 2013, the Ministry of Youth and Sports will organize the Festival Belia Putrajaya come 23 May. There will be an eclectic mix of activities for young people. The event's curators, The Cuz and Performance Director, Rosheen Fatima tell us more.

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Going through time to hear how this percussion instrument and the sound it makes has evolved and how the instrument too has changed. Drumming is a democratic musical activity. Have beat can drum.

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On a performance, by the Tokyo-based Hanchu-Yuei collective, that fictionalizes differing viewpoints on the value and purpose of life that have emerged in Japan since the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Questions of trust in society are raised. “By ‘trust’ I mean ‘calculability’ or ‘controllability’. Not only capitalism and radioactivity but also our lives and relationships are uncontrollable,” says Masashi Nomura, the programme director.

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Sesatre who plays the Indian bamboo flute (bansuri), has performed for royalties, with international orchestras and Siti Nurhaliza. He tells about this folk instrument that has risen to be included as a musical instrument for classical music. He has a music CD coming out soon.

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As part of its mission, Pusaka has been organizing public lectures and exhibition-performances of hte often forgotten traditional ances of Malaysia. This Sunday, PUSAKA will put together a lecture and a performance of the Main Puteri at the Black Box in Publika, Solaris Dutamas. Admission is  freen and Pauline Fan from PUSAKA is here to help us understand and appreciate this healing dance.

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Taking the English version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and translating it into Bahasa Malaysia. The original--first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987--is a play written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield--who formed the Reduced Shakespeare Company that parodies the plays of William Shakespeare. It is performed by three actors.

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On its fifth tour to Malaysia, the Singapore Dance Theatre brings examples of fine choreography under the artistic guidance of Janek Schergen. It will be presenting George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Toru Shimazaki’s Absence of Story and the Val Caniparoli’s African-inspired Lambarena and Don Quixote pas de Deux.

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Wei-Ling Gallery is participating in Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK) the prominent platform for art in Asia, in May 2014. This will mark the gallery's second showing at Art Basel Hong Kong and this time around, and it will be presenting the contemporary artist, Choy Chun Wei.

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Cheryl Tan talks about her latest project, SINGAPORE NOIR, an anthology of dark fictions and sordid stories all featuring our long lost and sometimes estranged neighbours to the south. SINGAPORE NOIR is a part of the general NOIR series that have been edited by the likes of Joyce Carol Oates and Dennis Lehane.

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