FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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A fine romance for Festival of Dance and Music

A fine romance for Festival of Dance and Music

Singapore Dance Company puts love in the spotlight by staging the wedding scenes from three much-loved ballets

THERE’S NOTHING more romantic than a wedding but when the Singapore Dance Company adds ballet to the mix, the occasion is elevated to a whole new level.
The Singapore Dance Theatre, which turns 30 this year, brings a triple dose of love to Bangkok’s 20th International Festival of Dance & Music by staging the wedding scenes from three ballets – “Coppelia”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Don Quixote” for its performance entitled “Classical Weddings” this Wednesday at the Thailand Cultural Centre.

A fine romance for Festival of Dance and Music

Swanilda and Franz celebrate their wedding in “Coppelia Act 3”. :Photos/Bernie Ng

In “Coppelia Act 3” choreographed by Arthur St Leon, Swanilda and Franz say their vows. “Sleeping Beauty Act 3” with choreography by Marius Petipa, is a grand celebration of the wedding of Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund with fairy tale characters from all over the kingdom joining the happy event. . The wedding scene from “Don Quixote Act 3” is also choreographed by Marius Petipa and here the focus is on Kitri and Basilio who celebrate their marriage with a show-stopping grand pas de deux. 
All three stagings are by Janek Schergen, the artistic director of the company and promise the audience a bouquet of experiences. 

A fine romance for Festival of Dance and Music

The Singapore Dance Theatre, founded in 1988 by Goh Soo Khim and Anthony Then, is the city-state’s premier professional dance company with 32 dancers. With a repertoire that ranges from classical to contemporary, the company dancers perform the works of renowned choreographers like Choo-San Goh, George Balanchine, Stanton Welch, Xing Liang, Val Caniparoli, Edmund Stripe, Kinsun Chan, Edwaard Liang, Nils Christe, Toru Shimazaki, Christina Chan, Timothy Harbour and Francois Klaus.
Under the leadership of artistic director Schergen the company has added 29 world premieres and 19 company premieres and several new productions to its repertoire, in addition to numerous revivals of the existing repertoire.

A fine romance for Festival of Dance and Music

Schergen’s illustrious career has taken him from Royal Winnipeg Ballet to Washington Ballet and the Royal Swedish Ballet. He has also staged his own production of “The Sleeping Beauty” for Ballet Met, The Milwaukee Ballet, and Norwegian National Ballet among others. 
As artistic director and board member of the Choo-San Goh & H Robert Magee Foundation, he has staged more than 120 productions of Choo-San Goh’s works worldwide. His stellar role in the growth of ballet in Singapore and the region has been recognised with the Award for Culture at the Leadership Awards 2015. He is also a recipient of Singapore’s National Day Award - The Public Service Medal in 2017.

Supporting the festival are Crown Property Bureau, Bangkok Bank (PCL), Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (PCL), BMW Thailand, B.Grimm Group, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Indorama Ventures, Ministry of Culture, Nation Group, Major Cineplex, PTT (PCL), Singha Corporation, Thai Union Group, Thai Airways International, Tourism Authority of Thailand and True Corporation Public Company Limited

Love En Pointe
Tickets are available at Thai Ticket Major counters, online at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and by calling the hotline at (02) 262 3191.
For more information, visit www.BangkokFestivals.com.

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