Ringing in the Year of the Goat

SINGAPORE TURNS 50 this year and the city state’s Esplanade national performing arts centre is lining up 15 festivals and 19 programme series throughout 2015 to mark SG50, as the occasion is being dubbed.
Esplanade producer Mimi Yee explains.
“Our celebration of SG50 is an invitation to the community to enjoy, be inspired and renew their ties with the centre through a meaningful line-up of special commissions and collaborations involving a wide range of Singapore artists across art forms and generations.”
The celebrations kick off with Huayi–Chinese Festival of Arts, which is held during the Lunar New Year and is a time for renewal and new beginnings. The festival invites all to “live life to the fullest and give it meaning and purpose in the Year of the Goat”.
Yee notes that the Esplanade presents two Chinese festivals a year. The second, which takes place mid-autumn is “Moonfest”.
“There are some differences though,” she says. “‘Moonfest’ offers performances of traditional Chinese arts in a three-day festival format while Huayi is about presenting the works of eminent Chinese artists with programmes that range from the traditional to modern, and from mainstream to experimental. There might be an overlap in the genres presented but the presentation style distinguishes what programmes go into each festival.”
“Outside these two festivals,” she continues, “Esplanade also presents Chinese programmes all year round and these complement the other Chinese performances that our audiences get to see in Singapore. In addition, we’ve also presented selective large-scale theatre productions outside of Huayi, such as Hong Kong Arts Festival’s production of ‘Murder in San Jose’, Stan Lai’s ‘The Village’ in 2012 and, coming up a week after this ‘Huayi’, ‘The Teahouse’ by the Beijing People’s Arts Theatre.”
Kicking off Huayi tomorrow evening is the lion dance.
“The lion dance is an auspicious ceremony in the Chinese culture and we have it every Chinese New Year. Being our first festival of the year, Huayi’s lion dance opening is meant to bring good luck and a prosperous year to the centre and good wishes to the audience.
 “Huayi brings in the local community as well as foreign visitors who are here to celebrate the festive season. Hence, our selection of free programmes is based on accessibility and variety.”
As for the programming agenda, Yee says, “It’s not so much about balancing local and foreign acts but rather presenting works that we believe will be more meaningful and will touch and inspire our audiences. ‘Huayi’ presents some of the most dynamic artistic expressions by eminent Chinese artists from Singapore and beyond and this has always been more of an emphasis than a balance of local and foreign works.”
Huayi’s highlights include Edward Lam Dance Theatre’s “What Is Sex?”, a Taiwan-Hong Kong co-production and Tan Dun’s symphony for 13 micro films, harp and orchestra in “Nu Shu – The Secret Songs of Women”, both of which are being staged this weekend.
Next weekend, dance aficionados from around the region will fly in to watch Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s “Rice” – the way they did two years ago for the company’s “Water Stains on the Wall”.
“Esplanade has forged a strong friendship and professional relationship with the company since 2003 when we presented ‘Moon Water’,” Yee notes. “This relationship is based on a shared belief in creating inspiring dance that draws on Asian aesthetics. Esplanade is pleased to be a co-producer of ‘Rice’, a work created by Lin Hwai-min in celebration of the company’s 40th anniversary. We share their joy and are pleased to partner them in producing works for the world stage that will reach out to wider audiences.”
When “Rice” was staged at London’s Sadler’s Wells last year, The Guardian described it as “A sharply moving synthesis of man and nature, east and west, death and rebirth”.
Yee is hoping to welcome Thais to Singapore and the Esplanade to the festival.
I hope they will come here to celebrate Chinese New Year. Besides the food, shopping and sight-seeing that Singapore has to offer, we’d love to see them at Esplanade during this festive period as ‘Huayi’ entertains the crowd with interesting and inspiring arts performances and activities.”
The writer thanks the Esplanade’s See Ling Ling and Gina Koh for all assistance.
 AFTER THE ROAR
- Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts runs from tomorrow until March 1 at the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay in Singapore.
- Many programmes are free. For the ticketed ones, book at www.Sistic.com.sg. For more details, visit www.HuayiFestival.com.