Artists & Guests

Roberto Zappalà founded Compagnia Zappalà Danza in 1990 as a home for his ideas of dance that are naturally humanistic and philosophical. He has since created more than 80 works that have been staged all over Europe, in Latin and South America, China, Korea, the Middle East as well as North and South Africa. Zappalà has also collaborated with many companies including Balletto di Toscana, La Scala Theatre Ballet School, Norrdans, ArtEZ, Goteborg Ballet and the Theater am Gaertnerplatz of Munich. He created his signature choreographic language, MoDem (his short form of ‘democratic movement’) and has devoted himself to sharing this language through seminars held in Europe and beyond. Zappalà has written essays on his methodology of work, recently published in Omnia Corpora, and is also responsible for the conception and restoration of Scenario Pubblico, a unique European choreographic centre launched in 2002. This allowed his company to extend and deepen their choreographic research through MoDem. In November 2013, Zappalà received the Italian Association of Theatre Critics Award.

Adele Goh is a Singapore-based independent artist and creator. She trained at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, graduating with a BA (First Class Honours). In 2012, she performed with Moving Visions Dance Company in the UK. In 2013, she moved to Israel for the Masa programme, where she studied and performed with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. From 2013-2018, she joined Frontier Danceland as a company artist. Some notable performances include Akalika 7 by Olé Khamchanla in the Singapour en France le festival in Paris, and An Old Woman Picking Up A Stone From The Ground And Carrying It Back To Her House by Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof and Flat by Shahar Biniamini, a double-bill hosted by Batsheva Dance Company.

During her time in the company, Goh also choreographed many original works. Notably, she was commissioned by M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival in 2019 to create a solo in collaboration with Germaine Cheng, titled Disappearing Act, which has since been selected to be performed at Odoru Akita International Dance Festival in Japan and Internationale Tanzmesse NRW in Germany in 2020. Disappearing Act has also led to Seoul International Dance Festival’s pairing of her with award-winning Korean dance artist, Kwon Hyuk, for a co-creation that will premiere at this year’s M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival.

Kwon Hyuk trained at Hansung University in dance and choreography before establishing Company SIGA as one of its members. He distinguished himself as an exemplary dancer when he won gold in the contemporary dance category at the 44th Dong-A Dance Competition in 2014 and the first place at International Dance Competition Hellas in Greece in the same year. Armed with exceptional technique and great physicality, he started his career as a choreographer through MODAFE (International Modern Dance Festival) Spark Place.

His first creation, Empty, is a solo dance performance of which he has since created a trilogy. In 2017, he presented a new dance piece, Cittaslow, as part of First Art Support Program that was very favourably reviewed by critics. Cittaslow exposed Hyuk’s style, that focuses on being interesting within a slow tempo. Company SIGA’s Rush also won the Best Choreography Work Award 2017 at Incheon International Contemporary Dance Festival. He now participates in various kinds of shows both as a dancer and choreographer.

Ruby Jayaseelan is an inter-disciplinary movement artist from Singapore. Her formal training in Bharathanatyam was with Cultural Medallion recipient, the late Srimathi Neila Sathyalingam of Apsaras Arts (Singapore) and Kalakshetra Foundation (Chennai, India) and her Ashtanga Yoga practice is certified by Samyak Yoga (Mysore, India). These trainings, along with her roots in Eastern techniques and intense exposure to Western techniques of somatic and experimental movement, have informed her movement pedagogy and practices. She performs, teaches and collaborates on world stages and streets, focusing on the holistic understanding and practice of art, movement and its philosophy. She is currently an Associate Artist with Teater Ekamatra and has worked with local theatre and dance companies in prominent works like Ghost Writer, The Necessary Stage and Hungry Stones, Chowk, as well as her own creations, Flowers, Birds and Guns, Sakhi and Purushi for festivals such as PinkFest.

Bani Haykal experiments with text and music. As an artist, composer and musician, he considers music (making / processes) as a metaphor for cybernetics and his projects revolve around modes of interfacing and interaction in feedback/feedforward mechanisms. Haykal is a member of b-quartet and soundpainting ensemble Erik Satay & The Kampong Arkestra. Manifestations of his research culminate into works of various forms encompassing installation, poetry and performance. In his capacity as a collaborator and a soloist, he has participated in festivals including MeCA Festival (Japan), Media/Art Kitchen (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Japan), Liquid Architecture and Singapore International Festival of Arts (Singapore) among others. His two major ongoing projects are an online public repository of canned laughter and applause based on research which looks into the histories of synthesisers relating to notions of artificiality and bouldering route setting as a framework for composition.

Irfan Kasban is an interdisciplinary artist, who has been involved in theatre-making since 2006. Through writing, directing, performing, and production design, he hopes to celebrate the collision of space and time - constructing intricate universes as a shared experience. He is interested in performance as ritual healing.

Syimah Sabtu holds a Diploma in Dance from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA, 2018), and a Diploma in Theatre and Arts Management from Republic Polytechnic. She has choreographed a few works, EMOH TON SI EMOH, a work that explores masculinity and femininity, and H A S E R a work that explores the duality of being which recognises silence in strength, with the latter most recently showcased at the Singapore M1 Contact Contemporary Dance Festival 2019 and Dance Bridge Festival 2019 in Kolkata, India.

In her years of dance, she has worked with both local and international choreographers, including Norhaizad Adam, Lee Mun Wai, Noramin Farid, Goh Lay Kuan, Lim Fei Shen, Dr Filomar Tariao, Ezekiel Oliveira and Martín Piliponsky. In August 2018, Sabtu participated in the Gaga Summer Intensive with Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is currently an Apprentice Project Artist with P7:1SMA Ltd., a dance company in Singapore.

Sabtu has been awarded the Arts & Cultural Award by Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan in 2016 & 2017, and the Merit Award by Tan Chin Tuan Foundation in 2018.

Syarifuddin believes that dance as movement is a universal language that deserves equal recognition regardless of forms and genre.

He is in search of different ways to move and communicate in our physical realm. Actively observing inclinations towards intrigue and wonder, he negotiates his existence through the dichotomy of his actions and impulses.

He is currently exploring the relationship between sound and movement. Deriving his movements from street dance and mainly practicing HipHop, House, Dancehall & African.

Photo by Shania Regina.

Jonit On is a dance artist in Singapore working closely with P7:1SMA Ltd. and The Human Expression (T.H.E.) Second Company. Since graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, she has been working as a performer for various local companies and on independent projects. She also supplements her training with intensives and workshops locally and overseas which exposes her to various movement styles including the Malay traditional form. She has had the privilege of working with and performing works by Norhaizad Adam, Anthea Seah, Lim Fei Shen, Ezekiel Oliveira and Shahrin Johry. On has also performed at local platforms such as liTHE by T.H.E Second Company, Singapore Biennale and da:ns festival.

Stephanie Rae Yoong developed an interest in dance at the age of 7 through ballet under The Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. She trained under Zaki Ahmad and Wee E Ching at CHIJ Toa Payoh and participated in competitions with the Dance Ensemble locally and overseas.

While undergoing Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA)’s Dance Program, Yoong took a liking to interdisciplinary collaborations and projects. She performed in an interdisciplinary project, Remembering World War Two at Singapore: Between Light and Darkness (2017), headed by Grace Leong in collaboration with the theatre and music department for the National Museum Singapore. Stephanie also collaborated with the music department to create the piece Away From Home (2017) under the guidance of Mdm Lim Fei Shen and Dr. Joyce Koh. In 2018, her choreography titled D for dyslexia was chosen to be performed at Intensi-5 2018: Dancing left of centre (a platform for exploring choreography and the creative process).

Upon graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with a Diploma in Dance in 2018, she joined RAW Moves as an Apprentice Dancer, performing in Close Company (2018), Close Company's Australian premiere at OzAsia Festival (2018), Alice, Bob & Eve (2019), Ghost Call (2019) and Subtle Down Tempo No (2019). Her choreographic work Fragments was featured in RawGround: Competition (2018) and she was also a facilitator for (Young Dancers company) A Little RAW Company's annual showcase A Green Dot (2018).

Wayne Ong graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Dance and Biochemistry (Honours with Distinction) in 2011. While a student, he trained in contemporary dance with distinguished faculty members David Dorfman, Adele Myers, Shani Collins, and guest artists Nicholas Leichter, Kyle Abraham, Andy LeBeau and Shane O’Hara. As a professional contemporary dancer, he has worked with Anna Myer and Dancers (Boston, USA) and Frontier Danceland (Singapore), where he also served as the program leader for the M1-Frontier Danceland Pulse Programme from 2014-2016. He has also taught ballet and contemporary dance at Auckland Dance Academy (New Zealand), and ballroom at Ballroom In Boston (Boston) and Viva Dance (New Zealand).

Ong is now an independent artist and hopes to share God’s love with people.

Leia Ang received her dance training at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore), graduating with a diploma in dance in 2007. She danced with Frontier Danceland (Singapore) from 2007-2010, and subsequently with the support of NAC, she further pursued her education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Dance. She graduated, summa cum laude, and returned to Singapore in December 2012, where she danced for Re: Dance Theater, and taught at LASALLE College of the Arts, where her passion for dance education grew. As such, she went on to attain her Masters of Dance Studies at the University of Auckland, where she continues to deepen her comprehension of dance education and was introduced to the rigour of research writing. Currently, she seeks creative venues to share these learning with those God places in her life.

Rebecca Margolick is a choreographer based in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Her works have been presented in Bulgaria, Poland, Israel, Mexico City, Montreal, Seattle, San Diego, Wells B.C, Vancouver and NYC. Her solo Bunker + Vault won the Jury Prize for ``best indoor choreographic work`` at the 2019 Festival Quartiers Danses in Montreal. She was a Dance Artist in Residence at Banff Centre for the Arts in December 2019. In January 2020, she will begin the New Directions Choreography Lab Fellowship at Ailey School. She was a 2017 GPS Fund Artist in Residence at Derida Dance in Sofia Bulgari, and a 2015 LABA Fellow at the 14th St Y NYC. She is a member of UNA Productions and was a member of Sidra Bell Dance NY from 2012-2016. Freelancing, she has worked with Jerome Bel, Shy Kuebler, Barak Marshall, among others. She graduated with a BFA from New York University Tisch School.

Fabio Liberti graduated from Codarts, Rotterdam Dance Academy. He has been engaged full time in dance companies in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Denmark as a dancer. As a choreographer, he has won several awards - first prize at the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition 2018 (Holland) and Norrdans Production Prize (Sweden) with the piece DON'T, KISS; first prize at Skopje DansLab 2017 (North Macedonia) and second prize at Solo Dance Contest in Gdansk (Poland), with the piece SOLO FOR REAL; first prize at the Choreographic Contest Warsaw Zawirowania Dance 2016 (Poland) with the piece LET'S DU-ET; the Critic Award at Hannover International Choreography Competition 2014 (Germany) and the third prize at Copenhagen Choreography Competition 2013 (Denmark) with the piece BLINKING.

His independent works have been performed at numerous venues and festivals in Europe and he was commissioned to create pieces for the Danish Dance Theatre (Denmark), Dark Circles Contemporary Dance (Texas), Mainfranken Theater Würzburg (Germany), Landesbühnen Sachsen Dance Company (Germany), EDGE Dance Company (England) and Norrdans (Sweden).

Jernej Bizjak studied at Codarts, Rotterdam Dance Academy. In September 2010, he joined IT Dansa, a youth dance company in Spain, where he performed works by Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Alexander Ekman, Rafael Bonachela, Steijn Celis and Catherine Allard. He joined Danish Dance Theatre in Denmark in November 2012 and worked with Tim Rushton, Örjan Andersson, Idan Sharabi, Fabio Liberti, Alessandro Sousa Pereira, Didy Veldman and Wubkje Kuindersma. He is currently freelancing and has participated in various productions and independent projects with Cross Connection Ballet Company, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, Korzo & NDT, Fors Works, Institute 0.1, Dansehallerne, LW Dance, Helsingborgs Stadsteater and Andersson Dance amongst others. In 2017, Bizjak received third prize at 21st International Solo Tanz Theater Festival Stuttgart and second prize at Solo Dance Contest in Gdansk, Poland.

Ravid Abarbanel is a dancer, choreographer and teacher based in Israel and Spain. Born in 1986 in Central Israel, she started dancing at the age of 5. She began professional training in the ‘Maslool’ - Professional Dance Program in Tel-Aviv before continuing her studies at the Rotterdam Dance Academy in The Netherlands. In 2012, she was awarded a full scholarship to the ``DanceWEB`` program at the “ImpulsTanz” festival in Vienna, Austria . Her first solo piece Underneath premiered as part of the Suzanne Dellal Center’s Shades Dance Festival 2015 and went on to win the third prize for choreography at the International Dance Theatre Competition in Stuttgart, Germany. Thereafter, she was invited to perform the solo in several cities in Germany and abroad including at the Brans Crossing SoloDue Festival (Cologne) where it won the best performer prize. In August 2016, she created Crumbling, which premiered as part of the Tel Aviv Dance Festival along with her short dance film Crumbling Underneath. She received the ‘Ehud Manor’ Prize for her creation WildHome, a collaboration with Carmen Larraz and Mario G.Saez. In 2019, she created HomeLima for Ballet San Marcos in Lima, Peru and was awarded a full scholarship to participate in the American Dance Festival (ADF) ICF program.

A passionate artist, she is determined to share her passion with others and teaches on a wide range of dance platforms, mainly focusing on her movement research ‘Happy Body’, based on release technique, improvisation and natural movement.

Tomer Giat was born in 1993 in Jerusalem. He started dancing by the age of 6 at Zehava Barak Dance Studio in Rehovot, where he grew and developed his dance technique for 10 years. In 2011, he graduated from Aharon Katzir High School in Rehovot and from 2011-2014, he studied at the ‘Maslool’- Professional Dance Training Program in Tel Aviv, under the management of Neomi Perlov & Offir Dagan. During this time, he was also assistant to choreographer Roy Assaf (restaging Emanuel Gat’s Rite of Spring) , teaching repertoire and rehearsal directing. Upon graduating, he was the assistant and personal manager of choreographer Idan Sharabi and Idan Sharabi & Dancers (IS&D). Between 2014-2016, he performed with Idan Cohen Dance Company and Dafi Altabeb Dance Group.

For the past three years, Giat has been working as a freelance dancer performing in Israel and internationally, working with numerous creators from the Israeli dance scene including Niv Sheinfeld & Oren Laor, Rachel Erdos, Ravid Abarbanel, Merav Cohen, Gilad Jerusalmy, Amit Yardeni, Or Marin, Oran Nachum and Maya Michlal Gelfand. In addition, he teaches dance classes, repertory, master classes and treat people with Fashikom® method and Holistic Massage Therapist leading by Tal Ziv CKTI.

He was awarded a scholarship as part of ‘ATLAS’- create your dance trails program for the ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival 2019 and a 2019-20 scholarship from the America-Israel Culture Foundation (AICF).

Pat Toh is a performance maker whose practice centers working on, with and about the body. She seeks strategies beyond the traditional paradigms of narrative in theatre or representational gestures in dance, reducing the human body to raw processes of breath, muscularity and energy. Her work is often concerned with the conditioning of the body; drawing from sports, its culture, practices and politics to inquire into forms of control and resistance.

In 2012 her work Pretty Things was nominated for “Production of the Year”, “Best Director” and “Best Ensemble” in the Life Theatre Awards. In 2014, Toh was part of Substation Directors Lab where she researched the physicality of fighting. Between 2014-2015, she created Homogenous (Raw Series, Esplanade) and developed it into Terra Incognita for the M1 Fringe Festival. In 2017, she was Substation artist-in-residence and created Sole, a one-on-one massage performance. That same year she choreographed A Map of Scars, Bruises and Broken Bones as part of Substation Discipline the City exhibition. In 2018 a work-in-progress of The Map was showcased at the Indonesia Dance Festival.

Alice Ma graduated from HKAPA with a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Dance, majoring in modern dance and choreography. After graduation, she has been active in stage performances and also cooperates with different artists. She has been featured in Hong Kong Arts Festival, New Vision Arts Festival, E-Side Dance Company, Hong Kong Dance Company, Y-Space, Hong Kong Dance Alliance, City Contemporary Dance Company, Musica Viva, Music Lab etc.

She is also obsessed with choreography. Her recent creations include the Hong Kong Arts Festival - The HK Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series Wu, Over-master, E-Side Dance Contemporary Soulless, the City Contemporary Dance Company Dance Youth 2015, Y-Space i-Dance Festival Upstairs and Downstairs and so on.

Ji Kyungmin graduated from Chung-Ang University, majoring in Contemporary Dance and Dance Education in the Graduate School of Education. In 2007, Ji founded Goblin Party, a choreographer's collective in Korea, and has been actively performing pieces all around the world since then. In 2011, and 2012, he was selected as the Rising Star by the Korea Performing Arts Centre. He won the best prize for the AK21 at Busan International Dance Festival with his piece Human's Empire. He also worked with choreographer Idit Herman from Israel's Clipa Theater, Danish choreographer Martin Forsberg in For Works, and many other renowned artists.

With his latest solo piece, SHYNESS, he won his first Jury Prize in the Solo Contest at MASDANZA in 2017. Once Upon A Time, another well-received work by Ji, received the Excellent Artwork for Dance Creation award by the Korea Arts Council in 2016, and was selected as one of the Best Five Artworks of the Year by the Korea Dance Critics Association the same year. After his appearance at Aerowaves with his co-choreographed piece Silver Knife, Goblin Party has been invited to more than 10 overseas festivals just for the years 2019 and 2020.

Hasyimah Harith engages in conversation circles to inform her practice. She rounds up a fearless collective energy to self-soothe and celebrate ‘nafsu’ (lust in Malay). With Malay folk dance training, she questions nature and nurture through the lens of a Malay woman today. Harith seeks to collaborate with communities and design a pedagogy for Singapore Malay dance that has relevance to contemporary worldly issues. She proposes that transmission of wisdom and values in embodying a form is a change agent in everyday life. Resisting becoming a silenced ‘perempuan joget’ (social dancer in Malay), she brings private acts into public space to examine judgement of the female body.

Bokyung Jung came to prominence on the international stage by winning the ACT Prize with her work On the Road at the 2010 Bilbao 'ACT Festival'. Throughout her career, she has won numerous awards with her pieces Thank You, Gaksi and ONE, 源; amongst the nation’s most prestigious awards. She has been working as a Primary Choreographer and Dancer for Limhaksun Dance We and as a professor at Korean National University of Arts where she encourages young makers to create Contemporary Korean Dance.

Park Hyeri graduated from Sung Kyun Kwan University in 2019 and is currently strengthening her dance skills working on diverse performances and also creating choreographies for the performance I and Flaw. She has not only built her career as a dancer and a choreographer but also worked as an actress and is now putting great effort into bringing these two specialties together to create new works.

Tan Sen Cai is a distinguished individual who believes that the arts are essential for human being and envisions dance to be a therapy and a medium to connect people both emotionally and spiritually. He was awarded the Singapore National Arts Council Scholarship for his artistic pursuit at TNUA in 2015 where he graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance (BFA) in 2019.

He began his formal dance training with the Singapore Ballet Academy where he had completed his Royal Academy of Dance Examinations up to Advanced Foundation. He was also a member of T.H.E (Second) Dance Company from 2010-2015 and had been involved in many of their major productions, including the CONTACT Dance Festival, Emerging Choreographers, Exxonmobil and liTHE.

During his artistic pursuit at TNUA, he had also performed in a variety of repertories of renowned choreographers including Soldier’s Mass by Jiri Kylian which was being restaged by Roslyn Anderson and Urtzi Aranburu where he performed alongside talented dancers like Bryan Arias (Puerto Rico), Leigh Warren (Australia), Repertoire of Cloudgate Dance Theatre Cursive by Lin Hwai-Min (Taiwan), Zhang Xiaoxiong (Taiwan), Dong I-Fen (Taiwan) and Jeong Yun Lee (Korea).

Fiona Kwek began her classical ballet training under the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus from 8 years old. She received her pre-tertiary education at School of the Arts, Singapore, where she trained in contemporary and ballet and graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma. Fiona joined T.H.E (Second) Dance Company as an apprentice in 2013 after training under distinguished artist, Silvia Yong. She further pursued her dance education at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) practicing diverse movement disciplines and graduating with a BFA degree. During her time in Taiwan, she performed works of Cloud Gate Dance theatre by Lin Hwai-Min including “Cursive” and “Legacy”. Part of the TNUA program, she was a dancer in Focus Dance Company 2018 and performed masterworks such as “The Wall” choreographed by artistic director of Cloud Gate 2, Cheng Tsung-Lung.

``There is never stillness in movements, it is always alive and changing, be it inside or outside the body.`` Pei Yun Chua is a movement artist who is currently developing her choreographic palette through the use of touch as a kinaesthetic tactile approach to making dance. As an inaugural recipient of the Angela Wu Peihui Dance Award, she graduated from the BA (Hons) Dance Program with First Class Honours at LASALLE College of the Arts, where she was also awarded the LASALLE Award for Academic Excellence (BA category). Her current interest lies in interdisciplinary projects that would allow her to experience and explore the different trajectories in the process of performance making.

Maybelle Lek is a multifaceted movement artist. She pursued training at School of the Arts, Singapore and Rambert School, London. Lek is a recipient of the Linbury Trust Bursary Award in 2016 alongside 4 others in her cohort. She graduated in November 2017 with a Distinction in her Master’s Degree. Lek has performed with Moving Visions, VERVE and Rambert Dance Company, to name a few. In total, she has performed in over 25 venues and worked with 12 choreographers from the UK, EU and Singapore. She joined T.H.E Second Company in August 2018. Since then, she has danced in liTHE 2018 and M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival 2019.

Xenres Kirishima Chi Ji Hong started his dance journey at the age of 19 when he joined Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in July 2016. Since then, he was given many opportunities to be part of numerous performances both in school and in collaboration with companies. Some of his major performances include NAFA’s Diploma in Dance Annual showcase Crossings in April 2017, NAFA’s 80th Anniversary SEED Opening Ceremony, and NAFA 80th Anniversary Crossings 2017/2018 and 2019 Showcase. Many of his works have been chosen to be featured in performances such as Phenomenon One, Intensify II, NAFA Scholarship Tea Session and IBGPS Gala 2019. He also competed in a Contemporary Dance competition by The Flux Collective and was awarded top prize winner “Judge’s Choice”. Currently, he focuses on devising an inter-culture style of contemporary dance that is heavily inspired by the philosophies of Taichi, Aikido and Capoeira, and is developing his own movement vocabulary and technique titled “Water Breath Technique”.

At age 3, Chloe started her dance training with Attitude Performing Arts Studio. She attended School Of The Arts, Singapore (SOTA) from 2011-2016, graduating as one of the top scorers in the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme. She has done choreographic works by Iratxe Ansa, Catherine Coury and Loni Landon, and is currently pursuing her BFA degree at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee on a merit scholarship.

uri Senjani Apriliani was born in Surabaya on April 26, 1994. Puri learned self-taught dance from childhood before studying dance academically at the Surabaya State University Department of Dance. She graduated in 2016. Since 2014, she has actively teaching dance at several institutions and actively organising a dance community in Surabaya engaged in traditional and contemporary dance with Sawung Dance Studio. Senja also dances in White Stone by choreographer Hari Ghulur that has been performed several times at Indonesian festivals. She has also created solo dance works, performed at several dance festivals in Indonesia such as the 2019 ArtJOG festival, and at the 2019 Jogja International Street Festival.

Born 1995 in Singapore, Nah Jieying started training as an artistic gymnast and a Chinese dancer. She moved on to Contemporary Dance and Ballet training for 6 years in School of the Arts, Singapore. Graduating with an International Baccalaureate Diploma, she became a dancer with T.H.E Second Company from 2011 to 2015. She is a recipient of the National Arts Council Scholarship (Undergraduate) 2016 for overseas study at London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS). At LCDS, she was awarded the Peggy Hawkins Scholarship in recognition for her work, and graduated in 2018 with first class honours for a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. She joined T.H.E Dance Company as an apprentice in January 2019.

Gavin Webber started dancing late after many lost years spent hitch-hiking, skiing, writing, camping and studying. Eventually he decided to start making art instead and joined Meryl Takard’s Australian Dance Theatre and following that Belgian company Ultima Vez. Throughout his career, Webber has worked between Australia and Europe and as Artistic Director of Dancenorth from 2005-2009, he took the company from regional Australia to national and international tours. He is presently co-Artistic Director of The Farm, a company based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, whose work has been seen across four continents. With The Farm, he has collaboratively created works such as Cockfight, Frank Enstein, The Crossing, Throttle, The Ninth Wave and Helpmann Award Winning TIDE. In 2017 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Individual Performing Arts Award and in 2019 The Farm was awarded a Drover’s Award for Best Touring Production for Cockfight. He still writes, camps and studies but the hitch-hiking and skiing is over for the time being at least.

Kayah Guenther is a NSW artist whose practice crosses dance/theatre and film. He has a range of experience working with Gavin Webber (The Farm), Philip Channells (Dance Integrated Australia), Travers Ross (YT Dingo) and Paul Gazzola (OSCA). Through Screenworks, he collaborated with HW Collective and Gavin Webber on the award-winning short film, The Battle (2015). 2019 saw him in Adelaide with Paul Gazzola for the second development Of Boys and Men, development and performance season at Metro Arts for a work titled Explain Normal with Daniele Constance and Phluxus Dance Collective and a development in Launceston at Tasdance with Gabriele Comerford titled The Gentle Warrior. Guenther travelled to Bega for a project titled Move Me with Gabriela Green Olea funded through Regional Arts NSW. He performed The Crossing with Gavin Webber at HOTA , Hong Kong and Kuala Lumper and a first development with his sister Maitreyah titled Siblingo - A Life In Translation at HOTA.

Ben Ely has established a 20-year career in music primarily working with the group Regurgitator. He has branched out into film scores, TV theme music, Remixes, Live scores, Music Production and various other endeavours. Regurgitator received at least 8 ARIA Awards for their album releases over the years and sold close to a million albums in Australia alone. Regurgitator also composed a new reinvented score for the 180min long Japanese anime film AKIRA , which was performed to a sold out crowd at the Sydney Opera House for the very first Graphic Comic Festival held in Australia. Ely has worked in other groups such as Decoder Ring, composing and producing the soundtrack and score for the Australian film title, Somersault, which won an AFI Award for Best Picture. For this same production, Ely received an AFI Award and an Australian Screen Film Award. He has worked in countless other bands and smaller projects including collaborating on the Dancenorth & Tasdance’s production, Threefold with contemporary dance works by choreographers Gavin Webber (AUS), Raewyn Hill (NZ) and Huang Yi (TWN). He also performed in and composed for Gavin Webber’s Rockshow (2009) in Brisbane and has been a member of The Farm since 2013, co-creating TIDE and The Last Blast.

Founder and Artistic Director of T.H.E Dance Company and the M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, Kuik Swee Boon was born in south Malaysia, Batu Pahat. He was the first Asian principal male dancer with Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza (CND) from 2002 to 2007. During his career with the CND, he worked mainly with Nacho Duato as well as renowned choreographers including Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin and Wim Vandekeybus. Prior to joining the CND, he began his dance career in 1990 with the Singapore People’s Association Dance Company and Singapore Dance Theatre. Kuik’s exceptional artistry led him to receive a nomination in 2003 for the Benois De La Danse Award. In 2007, he was awarded the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council of Singapore. He founded T.H.E Dance Company in September 2008. Since its establishment, T.H.E has quickly ascended to become a well-known company locally and in Asia. His critically acclaimed works include Silence (2007) and As It Fades (2011), both performances recognised as amongst the best of shows in their respective years. Kuik’s works have also toured to prestigious international festivals, including festival-closing performances at the Les Hivernales festival (2012) in Avignon, France.

Described as a dance company ‘at the top of its game’, The Human Expression Dance Company (T.H.E), along with our semi-professional training arm, T.H.E Second Company, are names synonymous with ground breaking contemporary dance of the highest quality and artistry. Founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Kuik Swee Boon with 6 members, T.H.E has become a household name in Singapore and the region, having commissioned and performed at most major local arts festivals (Singapore Arts Festival, Esplanade da:ns festival, Huayi - Chinese Festival of Arts, to name a few) and in prestigious international festivals such as Les Hivernales Festival in Avignon, France; Oriente Occidente Festival in Rovereto, Italy; SIDance Festival and Seoul Performing Arts Festival in South Korea; Beijing and Guangdong Dance Festival in China; Yokohama Dance Collection at TPAM and Niigata International Dance Festival in Japan; Auckland Arts Festival (New Creation Commission) 2016 in New Zealand; amongst others.

Driven by a desire to create an inspired and nurturing platform for local and regional dance artists, we initiated the very first annual Singapore contemporary dance festival CONTACT in 2010. Testament to its quality offerings and indelible impact, long-time Company platinum sponsor M1 Limited came onboard as the festival’s Title Sponsor starting 2014.
With our unique brand of highly physical and kinetic works, T.H.E digs deep into the universal human experience. At the heart of our works lies a connection with heritage and collective history as Singaporeans, juxtaposed with incisive, insightful observations on modern society: elements that set apart our repertoire of original creations. A continual pursuit of authentic expression led Kuik to initiate the “hollow body” methodology. The practice aims to nurture our dancers as all-rounded performers able to convey the essence of their identity and lived experiences through the full spectrum of physical, emotional, philosophical and meaningful expression.

Born and trained in Singapore, Marcus Foo started his formal dance training at LASALLE College of the Arts under the tutelage of Dr. Caren Carino, Ravenna Tucker and Jaime Redfern. 

Upon graduating from LASALLE, Foo became a member of the L.A. Dance Connection Performance Company (Singapore) directed by Lionel Araya and later a project dancer from 2007-09 with Moving Image Arts (Singapore) now known as John Mead Dance Company.

From the period of 2010 – 2015 he performed with The Human Expression (T.H.E) Second Company. His performances with T.H.E includes As It Fades (2014), The Singapore Writer’s Festival 2012, Bedfellows (2013) and M1 CONTACT Dance Festival 2010 – 2014. Marcus presented a solo work in Hong Kong for the 5th Contemporary Dance Asian Male (2015) showcase presented by E-Side Dance Company and was a dancer for British choreographer Joe Moran, in his 2016 residency at the Delfina Foundation, London.

In recent years, Foo began taking on the role of a choreographer. He has choreographed for T.H.E SECOND Company for their annual platform liTHE in 2013, 2014, 2017 & 2018. International collaborative efforts include works for BIENNALE des DANSES des SEYCHELLES with Parisian dancer Jimmy Vairon, Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2014 with Korean dancer Jin Byoung Cheol and DancePort 2018 (Tokyo) with Yokohama Dance Collection winner (2013) Daisuke Inoue and Seoul Dance Collection winner (2013) Lee Sang Hyun. In 2017 he choreographed for the 3rd edition of Dance in Situ (Singapore), a platform that explores contemporary dance within public spaces in Singapore.

As a dance educator, Foo has taught technique classes for Republic Polytechnic (2008-2010), Le Grande School of Dance (2007-2010), Nanyang Technological University (2012-2015), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (2010-2012), National Junior College (2014-2015) and most recently for LASALLE College of the Arts.

In 2017, Foo completed his postgraduate studies at LCDS and graduated with a Master of Arts degree with distinction from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. He most recently completed his 200hr Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Movement Academy (Singapore) validated by Yoga Alliance, the international standard for Yoga Teacher Training.

Foo is currently an associate artiste of T.H.E Second Company (Singapore).

Jackie Ong graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) with a Diploma in Dance and was awarded the NAFA scholarship in 2010. He joined T.H.E Second Company in 2009 and has participated in all M1 CONTACT festival performances since.

Ong performed in the original As It Fades, the Singapore Arts Festival 2011 commission for T.H.E Dance Company, in 2014 for the re-staging and 2017 in Niigata, Japan. He was one of the performers for Permission to speak, sir, Singapore:Inside Out commission in 2015 that traveled to London, New York, and Beijing. In 2016 he did a month-long residency in Seoul and collaborated with award-winning artists Choi Minsun and Kang Jinan for a work that premiered at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2016, followed by M1 CONTACT Festival 2016.

Most recently, Ong performed in Double, choreographed by Albert Tiong for M1 CONTACT Festival and subsequently in Macau and Shanghai.

Goh Shou Yi first discovered his zeal for dance when he was enrolled in an all-male ballet class at the age of twelve. He completed his full-time dance education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and went on to further develop his craft at the State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, with full scholarships awarded by the National Arts Council, Singapore. During his time in New York, Goh had the opportunity to meet and train closely with many established artists such as Janet Panetta (Tanztheater Wuppertal). This affinity with dance also brought him to many other cities of Europe, Asia, and Australia, exposing himself to many other styles of dancing and practices. Since his homecoming, Goh was selected by Lianhe Zaobao as a ``rising star to watch`` (2015 ‘艺术新星-照耀未来星空’) in January 2015.

Goh joined T.H.E Second Company in 2009 and has choreographed for its liTHE showcase in 2014, 2015, and 2017, as well as T.H.E Dance Company’s New Vision platform. His works have also been performed by art institutions in Singapore, and been featured in festivals in Singapore – Esplanade Da:ns festival, M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, and abroad – d’MOTION International Dance Festival in Malaysia, Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) and N.D.A Festival in South Korea, and Gothenburg Fringe Festival in Sweden.

Goh has also been involved as a choreographer in theatre projects such as Toy Factory’s PRISM (2017) directed by Rei Poh.

Photo by Tan Ngiap Heng

Goh Jia Yin began artistic gymnastics at a young age and had her first Chinese Dance class at the age of 12. Now a Business graduate-turned-dancer, Jia Yin earned her BFA (Dance) from SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, under a scholarship from the Singapore National Arts Council after she completed her Diploma in Dance at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).

Goh has danced, performed, and worked with international artists including James Cousins (UK), Kerry Nicholls (UK), Zhang Xiao Xiong / Wu Chien-Wei (Taiwan), Pichet Klunchun (Thailand), Jeffrey Tan (Singapore), Albert Tiong (Singapore), Naoko Ito (Japan), MADBOOTS DANCE (US), Francesca Harper (US), and Sarah Foster (NZ). She performed with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, based in New Jersey, for its 2015/16 season. Now based in Singapore, she is a certified GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Instructor eager to share her knowledge and find creative solutions for her clients and students. She teaches dance and the Gyrotonic work at various studios and institutions including The Moving Body Group, NAFA, and Firstpointe. Goh also undertakes choreographic projects, as well as performs with The Human Expression (T.H.E) Second Company helmed by Silvia Yong.