By Irene Lee and Biddy Low
Into its fourth year, SPROUTS is the national competition for choreographic talent that focuses on the originality and creativity of choreographic concepts. This year, the organizers are taking the competition to the next level with an exciting twist: An All Stars edition in which finalists and winners from the past three years will pit their works against each other at a Final Showcase on 15 September 2012.
Jointly organized by the National Arts Council (NAC) and local contemporary dance company, Frontier Danceland, SPROUTS All Stars 2012 showcases five of the exciting talents discovered in the previous three editions of SPROUTS.
Publichouse met two of the contestants, Khairul Shahrin and Christina Chan, who shared their thoughts about the competition and their experience as local artists in Singapore.
“I think Singapore’s art scene is flourishing,” says Khairul. “I think we’re pretty lucky that we have this support from the government”. His sentiment comes from his recent experience of meeting dancers from countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar who have a high interest in the arts but little support from their governments.
Christina also expressed similar thoughts. “It has gotten a lot better than the past,” she says. Much of her decision to study performing arts abroad was largely because there was little opportunity to do so in the Singapore art scene back in the early 2000s.
However, even with the large expansion of the art industry since, there is still much room for improvement especially when it comes to promoting societal awareness and garnering more interest in the arts.
“Singapore brings in amazing shows all the time, just look at how huge Esplanade is and I’ve been to shows where there’s nobody there. Its really sad,” Christina says.
“I know how receptive Singaporeans are to foreign arts,” Khairul says. “If they see a Singaporean do something and they see a foreigner do something, they will probably think the foreigner looks better”.
True enough, the government has pumped in a lot of investment on proliferating art in general, but more needs to be done in the societal context. As Khairul suggests, “People should look into local arts being pushed out there.”
Tickets for SPROUTS may be purchased through Sistic for $10 or $15.
Check out the videos below for our interviews with Christina and Khairul as well as for snippets of their upcoming performances.