Dancers and Musicians from NAFA Respond to Cao Fei’s Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission

Every year, the Gallery invites students from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) to respond to the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission in their own way. Under the guidance of Dr Joyce Koh, Vice Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies, and dance lecturer Madame Lim Fei Shen, they choreograph a site-specific performance. This creative process encourages them to learn and think more deeply about art. In early February 2020, curator Sam I-shan gave 48 NAFA students a tour of 浮槎 Fú Chá, the fourth installation of the series by artist Cao Fei so that they could begin formulating their response to the artwork.

浮槎 Fú Chá straddles fantasy and reality. The title alludes to a fable about a raft that traverses the milky way and the sea, a metaphor that extends to the region’s history of migration, Singapore’s identity as a port city shaped by numerous diasporic communities, as well as the fengshui of the Gallery’s rooftop garden, which is surrounded by the landmarks of the civic district including the current Supreme Court, Parliament House and the skyscrapers of the Central Business District. These references locate the work within a wider scenography, rooting the surrealistic rocking ship firmly in its locale and this reality. 

Reality, however, dealt a harsh blow. While the students’ in-situ performance was scheduled for April 2020, it was circumvented by COVID-19 safe management measures that resulted in the Gallery’s closure that same month. Undeterred, students put up the performance at NAFA’s dance studios instead. Despite restrictions that prevented the meeting of more than five people, the dance and music improvisation students choreographed six works—Departure, Teko, The River, Repetition, Architecture and At Odds—that drew on 浮槎 Fú Chá’s themes of migration and struggle.

In Departure, Teko and The River, the students reflected on the perilous journeys migrants undertake to seek a better life. Departure paid homage to them, with dancers stretching and tossing their bodies to depict the hard-won struggles of a bygone generation in Singapore. In The River, the dancers slinked and glided in tandem, undulating and rippling in a motion that resembled billowing waves. In Teko, four exuberant dancers floated and swayed across the dance floor, coming together and drifting apart at once, embodiments of hope and opportunity.

Repetition, Architecture and At Odds paired the uncertainty of migrants’ journeys with the mundanity most certainly involved, as well as the world of possibilities that open up when migrants arrive at their new home. In Architecture and Repetition, the dancers moved in syncopated harmony, alluding to the monotonous grind of life. Finally, the dancers showed off their acrobatic dexterity in At Odds, combining dance-fight movements with kicks and twirls.

The absence of an audience underscored the poetry of these performances meant for the ostensibly destination-less 浮槎 Fú Chá: it has always been about the journey. 

Watch the six responses here, or at our Youtube channel:

Editor's note: Experience 浮槎Fú Chá for yourself at the Gallery (City Hall Wing, Level 5, Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Gallery) before the exhibition closes on 31 Dec 2020.