Invisible Habitudes 《看不见的归属》

 

1. About Invisible Habitudes《看不见的归属》

In a world of rapid political and social change, we are constantly bombarded by loud volumes of opinions and beliefs, many extreme and absolute. Finding one’s personal belief and identity becomes increasingly complicated. Invisible Habitudes, conceived by Singapore’s T.H.E Dance Company’s founding artistic director and main choreographer and former co-artistic director of Malaysia’s d’MOTION International Dance Festival, Kuik Swee Boon, in collaboration with Taiwanese musician Wang Yu-jun, Singaporean lighting designer Adrian Tan, costume designer Loo An Ni, and six dance artists from T.H.E, explores these issues through the language of dance—where solidity and fluidity intersect—in a dialogue between the body and its environment.

Commissioned by Singapore’s Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay for da:ns festival 2018, Invisible Habitudes has resonated on global stages, including a tour across five different European performing arts festivals in 2019. After its return to Singapore and Taiwan in November 2024, the production will now tour to Malaysia with a fresh infusion of energy—featuring new cast members who bring their unique voices to a narrative rich with memory, childhood, gender, culture, and ethnicity. With each body upholding inclusivity and compassion as antidotes to the relentless pursuit of one’s convictions at the expense of others, this reinvigorated version seeks to untangle the complexities of a fluid identity, searching for an inherent, fundamental sense of belonging.

Invisible Habitudes marks T.H.E’s return to the DPAC stage after almost a decade. The work is developed from T.H.E’s signature HollowBody™ methodology, an approach of training and creation based on improvisation that emphasises on the body as a biological vessel and an extension of a person's thoughts, emotions, and spirit. T.H.E will also be conducting HollowBody™ workshops at DPAC during the production week to connect with local dance practitioners in Malaysia.

2. Key Creative Team

Artistic Direction & Set Design: Kuik Swee Boon
Choreography: Kuik Swee Boon in collaboration with performers
Music Direction & Composition: Wang Yu-jun
Lighting Design: Adrian Tan
Costume Design: Loo An Ni
Set Realisation: ARTFACTORY

3. Choreographer’s Bio

Kuik Swee Boon is the Founder and current Artistic Director of T.H.E Dance Company and the annual cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival, which were established in Singapore in the respective years of 2008 and 2010. He was also the Co-Artistic Director of Malaysia’s d’MOTION International Dance Festival from 2013 to 2015.

As the first Asian principal male dancer in Spain’s Compañia Nacional de Danza (CND) from 2002 to 2007, Swee Boon’s dance experience spans performing in works by then Artistic Director Nacho Duato, as well as renowned guest choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, 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 subsequently became a principal dancer in Singapore Dance Theatre before his career continued in Spain.

In 2003, Swee Boon’s exceptional artistry led him to receive a nomination for the Benois De La Danse Award. Prior to founding T.H.E, he was also awarded the Young Artist Award from the National Arts Council of Singapore (NAC) in 2007. In 2021, he was also selected to be one of the Singapore Fellows of a three-year Fellowship Programme with the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) based in New York.

Since its establishment and under the direction of Swee Boon, T.H.E has quickly ascended to become a well-known company locally and in the region. As the Main Choreographer of the Company, his critically acclaimed works include Silence (2007), As It Fades (2011), collaboration works RE:OK...BUT! (2011) and Above 40 (2015), which were recognised as amongst the best of shows in their respective years. In 2018, he was commissioned by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s annual da:ns festival to create their first ticketed outdoor theatre performance, Invisible Habitudes, which was performed by the Company and its collaborators, and eventually made its rounds to six European cities in June and July 2019. Prior to that, his works have also toured to other prestigious international festivals in Asia and Europe, including festival-closing performances at the Les Hivernales Festival in Avignon, France. He was also commissioned by Korea National Contemporary Dance Company to create a new work, The Last Puppet, for one of their annual seasons, which premiered in November 2021. Most recently, he was commissioned by Esplanade’s da:ns festival 2022 to create Infinitely Closer (2022), which also marked the opening of the new Singtel Waterfront Theatre.

In 2016, Swee Boon also began developing the HollowBody™️ methodology for T.H.E’s training and performances. The methodology aims to nurture the Company’s dance artists as all-rounded performers who are able to convey the essence of their identity and lived experiences through the full spectrum of physical, emotional, philosophical and meaningful expression. His research process of the HollowBody™️ is ongoing as he continues to extend the development of the methodology and refine it for people beyond the Company — both for the trained dance artist and the layman.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Swee Boon has also been exploring various digital dance projects, including the liveness of live-streaming and a 360° immersive virtual reality (VR) adaptation of his 2019 work, PheNoumenon. The latter remains as the first full-length 360° immersive VR dance performance in Singapore to date, and has digitally toured to Italy and Israel in 2021 after launching in December 2020.

4. Collaborators’ Bios

Music Composer
As a sound artist, film score composer, theatre composer, and singer-songwriter, Wang Yu-jun’s current works encompass various disciplines, including music, film, theatre, and performance. Her recent focuses are among the "experimental poetic" extended from experimental sound and literature; the "multi-dimensional audio-visual" space expanded through dialogic images; the "polyphonic relationship" between music, sound, history and humanities, as well as the "resonant soundscapes” that collects the fusion of environment and vocal sounds. Three-time recipient of the Golden Indie Music Award, including winning the Best Folk Single Award at the 3rd Golden Indie Music Awards with the song Wait to be Yourself from The tracks on the Beach. She also founded the band Yujun Wang & TIMEs, and received the Best Folk Album Awards at the 5th Golden Indie Music Awards for Abandoned Garden and at the 10th Golden Indie Music Awards for The Initial Longing. Her musical composition includes that for the VR film The Man Who Couldn't Leave, which won the Best Experience Award at Venice Immersive event at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. She was also featured in the 15th Gwangju Biennale Pavilion at the American Pavilion in Korea. In 2024, Yu-jun also premiered a personal musical theatre work 明Dawn to Dawn at The Coronet Theatre in London, receiving a 4-star rating from The Reviews Hub, and released a new personal album Absence of Solitude.

Lighting Designer
Since graduating from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2006, Adrian Tan has been designing shows for the local and international arts scene. His work spans a wide spectrum, including the performing arts and outdoor light installations.

He has worked with most major theatre and dance companies in Singapore, creating designs and spaces for operas, dance productions and experimental works produced by companies like Singapore Lyric Opera, Singapore Dance Theatre, T.H.E Dance Company, W!ld Rice, The Necessary Stage and Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. Several of his works have received theatre awards, including shows like Monkey Goes West and Another Country by W!ld Rice, A Cage Goes In Search Of a Bird by A Group Of People, BITCH for M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, and Dark Room, which was commissioned by Esplanade as part of The Studios.

Costume Designer
Loo An Ni is fascinated with the tactility of objects and spaces. This brought her into theatre where possibilities are limitless. She has taken various roles in costuming, from design and construction to wardrobe management. Her costume design credits include PheNoumenon (Kuik Swee Boon & T.H.E Dance Company), La Meh-Lions (Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay’s Flipside festival 2019), and First Fleet (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre).

First Fleet was awarded Production of the Year and Best Costume in The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards 2020.