Talk:Dance in Singapore

Untitled
Removed the last section as i thought it seems like an irrelevant bio - if the person is a founder of Dance in Singapore or something, please help make the link clearer and feel free to revert. Dontsh000t (talk) 05:42, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Comment and commentary moved from article
Though small, the local dance community is very much alive with strong potential for artistic excellence. The only tricky part for this small nation is to allocate limited resources to the right people at the right time. With only about 20 years (local Arts Council set up in 1990s only) of experience in managing and promoting arts in Singapore, can there be a miracle for Singapore in doing it right sooner?

The benefit of having arts activities afterall lies in the social and spiritual aspects of living and not really the economic aspects. Good people wants to live here because they can fulfill their dreams, not because they can be entertained or buy sophisticated entertainment products...

Since the beginning, the development of dance in Singapore has been subjected to intervention by powerful individuals. What will be the fate of dance in Singapore and honest talents that seek to continue their passion?

SDT showcases the country's wealth in importing dance talents and choreography. It does not showcase local creativity nor wisdom in creating its own identity in the international arena. Thus, in Singapore the technical experts are highly valued over the creative ones. And indeed, while Singapore was a 3rd world country in the olden days it was true that having a perfect company of technical experts is a very proud thing. The proper structure for a typical artistic company would be to place the creative experts on the top followed by the technical experts to help in materialising the creativity. Will there be any revision in supporting creative experts more in the future since Singapore is now a 1st world country and creating our very own identity is going to be most important.


 * In short, the 1990s was an exciting time for dance in Singapore as mission driven individuals from low-middle income group of the society has equal opportunity to contribute in igniting the artistic dreams of friends/peers as well as the general public. This was faciliated through the availability of funding based on artistic merits.  However, by the turn of the century, the rule of the game has changed and pragmatism has infiltrated into the funding system for arts.  There are now less direct funding available for contemporary dance artists and almost all dancers have to teach in order to supplement their earnings.

Development of Dance Eco-system
As per year 2009, it has become apparent that a lot more synergy and cooperative effort is needed to develop a healthy eco-system of the dance scene of Singapore. Neither can the people that control the fund do it alone, nor can the artist with a strong vision be able to initiate change without financial support nor can the institution just produce dancers without understanding the needs of the local dance scene. What is the common goals between dance companies, government & institutions? How to encourage more dialogues among these parties to create a more vibrant scene? Is it possible to encourage more businesses in assisting the marketing of local arts events? Can the school do a better job in educating our youngsters in better appreciating artistic works? And the list goes on...

As per 2009, receiving of support of dance artists in Singapore is strongly based on their relationship skills, not so fairly on true appreciation of their artistic abilities and merits. Entertainment based personality in general does better in such a climate.

The development of dance must be based on appreciation of the dancers's discipline and hardwork. As the most difficult performing arts form to excel, without this appreciation dancers and artistic directors of dance will forever be suffering in silence on top of having to be discriminate as the less developed arts form in Singapore.

Professional judgement in putting the right people to the right appointment in general is lacking. Just like the case of appointment of soccer coach, principal dancer in Singapore can be appointed for big time teaching jobs though without proven records of teaching abilities. There is a general lack of understanding of professional areas in dance such as teaching, performing, choreographing and production making. Hence, technical elites have the opportunity to judge over creative elites, performing elites have the pleasure to judge over teaching elites etc etc etc. It is a thorough mess and disrespect of different experts in the highly complex field of dance. This created a strange situation of power struggle and a very unhealthy influence to the development of dance.

There need to be more care in the putting of different experts into power. Each must have proven practical testimony in their field of expertise and be judging only in their field of expertise. Artists in the field of dance must be respected based on their practical abilities to deliver results and not solely on paper qualification, dance is afterall a practical art form based on real experiences, passion and knowledge.

Put the right people in the right places!

Create a gracious atmosphere and not an antagonistic one.

Reconciliation of what Dance is in Singapore
How can these different idealism about dance be reconcile to achieve a fair distribution of funds and opportunities for the development of dance in Singapore?
 * For the high society and/or government, dance is something that is good for socialising and maybe showcase the prestige of the nation or company owners especially for bilateral occasion and exporting of performances to overseas.
 * For the average low to middle income group, dance is a form of exercise and self-expression.
 * For the dance artists, dance is the softening power to promote gracious living and a civilised nation through neutralising the harsh effect of pragmatism to the society.

(Piano non troppo (talk) 13:09, 19 March 2010 (UTC) I am *not* the author of this text)

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