Straits Times | Dancers rehearse in back alleys in National Museum's new digital gallery

SINGAPORE - In a back alley behind a row of shophouses, an Indian dancer performs bharatanatyam by the light of a streetlamp.Another dancer rehearses silat moves in the street with the aid of plastic pails and a stick. On the rooftop above him, a third arches her back and spins a red parasol.Their performances are projected on screens in Art Of The Rehearsal, a digital installation in the National Museum of Singapore's new space Gallery10. Located in the space previously occupied by the dining hall of Chinese restaurant Chef Chan's, it is the first of the museum's galleries to allow food and drink and is open to the public for free.

 

Art Of The Rehearsal is Gallery10's first permanent showcase. The commissioned work by multidisciplinary artist Sarah Choo Jing and Shanghai-based commercial cinematographer Jeffrey Ang uses digital media to showcase traditional dance forms. It is a three-channel video installation of nine dancers from various cultures practising their steps in a setting that is a collage of the back lanes of Kampong Glam, Little India and Chinatown. Choo, 26, says of the mishmash of locales: "It's everywhere and nowhere. These are the back alleys people don't visit, but where the hustle and bustle of night life happens."