Are you a youth filmmaker interested in a collaboration with youth choreographers and dancers? *SCAPEdance’s site-specific mentorship programme, dance/canvas, is extending the open call for filmmakers to collaborate with the choreographers in their creative journey in creating a 3 – 10min dance film. During this collaboration, you can expect guidance from veteran dance and film creators and an honorarium for the collaborative work.

Interested youth filmmaker may send their portfolio and video reels (and questions, if any) to dance@scape.sg by 7 September 2020, 6pm.

 

Mentors

Prior to graduating with Honours from New York University’s highly competitive and prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, Melissa Quek was a dance-artist performing professionally with the tammy l. wong Dance Company in Singapore. With the National Arts Council Arts Bursary (Overseas), she attained a BFA with a double major in Dance and English and American Literature. In 2010, she received a coveted grant award from the University of Surrey’s Department of Dance, Film and Theatre to undertake Masteral studies and she completed her Masters of Arts, Dance Cultures in 2011.

Melissa had a successful professional career as a dance-artist, performing and choreographing internationally in the USA, Canada, Korea, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Her choreographic commissions in Singapore include the Substation Open-Call 2010, the M1 Fringe Festival 2009, Esplanade’s Octoburst! 2018 and she has been in the ArtGround’s Groundbreaker’s incubator residency in 2018 and 2019. She has also performed for choreographers Ricky Sim, Low Mei Yoke, Albert Tiong and Kuik Swee Boon. In 2017 she began The Kueh Tutus, a collective dedicated to creating dances and experiences for young and very young audiences. With her current role as Head, she enjoys expanding conceptions of dance for young audiences.

Melissa has a huge penchant for writing. Despite her busy schedule, Melissa has contributed reviews for The Business Times, short articles for Esplanade’s website, and in 2010, she was chosen by the Goethe Institute to represent Singapore at the Dance Reviewers workshop in Jakarta.

Her research and choreographic work deals with designing optimal dance experiences for specific age groups within the young and very young audience demographic.

Melissa contributes as a dance expert in dance curriculum design and serves on various grant and award panels for organisations and committees in Singapore, including the National Arts Council and the Ministry of Education.

 

Jeremiah Choy

Jeremiah Choy is a trained lawyer who went full-time into directing, acting, writing and choreography in 1997. Since 1988, he has performed and toured in many critically acclaimed productions with TheatreWorks. He was part of the Best Actor (Ensemble) in the Descendents of the Eunuch Admiral in the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre in 1996.

Choy directed various productions such as A Broadway Christmas Carol and Machine where he was nominated the best Director for the DBS Life! Theatre Awards in 2002. He also produced and co-directed Margaret Chan in Emily of Emerald Hill in Singapore Arts Festival 2010, and directed The Conference of the Birds for Singapore Arts Festival 2011. In addition, he directed and co-wrote DragonTales, which premiered in Manila in 2010. He helmed the Play Den Productions, a joint venture with the Arts House, which is a platform for Singapore works. He directed ChildAid in 2011 and will be directing ChildAid 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre. He has been a resident Judge of the Singapore Youth Festival’s Drama Competition since 2000. He directed Selamat for Spotlight Singapore in Cape Town 2011 and Living Dreams for Spotlight Singapore in Bratislava and Prague 2012. He has just curated and wrote for this year’s NS45: Fathers and Sons and co-curated for four hubs Singapore Heritage Festival 2012: Jurong Point, Bugis, Century Square and i12 Katong.

He had directed The Swing Thing, the closing show for NUS Arts Festival in March 2013.

He was the Artistic Programme Director for the Social Functions of World Bank IMF 2006 and APEC 2009 and is currently the Artistic Director for p. L.a.Y!, a Young NTUC’s performing arts group. Choy was awarded the inaugural Outstanding Kent Ridge Hall Alumni award in 2010.

Choy founded the Orangedot Group of Companies comprising Orangedot Productions Pte Ltd, Orangedot Entertainment Pte Ltd, Orangedot Management Pte Ltd and Orangedot Talents Pte Ltd. The four companies complement and complete the services in the arts and entertainment industry from providing consultancy and production to looking after the needs of the people in the industry. He was also founding member and President of the Association of Singapore Actors.

Choy has various stints of teaching at several educational institutes in Singapore. He had taught at National University of Singapore Department of Theatre Studies, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts and Singapore Management University School of Social Sciences.

 

Norhaizad Adam

He uses dance to perform the ironic. He is a Dance Artist and Choreographer based in Singapore, he explores the equilibrium of traditional and contemporary, yet relating to his democratic living. He questions the power of socio-politics and looks at how nationalism and traditionalism have affected the Malay diaspora. He places his body in the process of social-dramaturgy thus offering a “sympathy body” that experiences relatable dilemmas on permission and self-worth.

Deconstructing traditional Malay dance, he continually blurs the rules of the folk form and transmission. Dance is a strategy. Malay is a concept. Norhaizad seeks to subvert the presentation of minority identity, advocating towards the context of post-dance. Currently, he is the Artistic Director of P7:1SMA Ltd (www.p71sma.com) and an associate member of Dance Nucleus. (www.dancenucleus.com).