Fringe Highlights
20 January 2018, 3pm Esplanade Theatre Studio
60 mins with no intermission
Fringe Highlight ● Fringe Commission ● World Premiere
Share
20 January 2018, 3pm Esplanade Theatre Studio
60 mins with no intermission
Fringe Highlight ● Fringe Commission ● World Premiere
Share
*Concessions for students, NSFs, senior citizens and PWD card holders
Choreographed by award-winning theatre maker Edith Podesta, The Immortal Sole is a piece of dance theatre reimagining Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid.
Featuring performers Dapheny Chen, Koh Wan Ching, Ma Yanling and Yarra Illeto, the piece looks at patriarchal notions of female stereotypes, and how these proliferate within the social and cultural fabric as a contemporary girl “grows up” into a woman.
In The Immortal Sole, the Sea is a world of carefree abandon in which a young girl connects to her body; the Land is a world where etiquette, morality, and accepted behaviour hamstring a woman and her ability to stand on her own two feet.
Using supplementary material from ancient folklore on mermaids, to observations by fashion icons like Christian Louboutin, to the transformation of Miley Cyrus from the wholesome Hannah Montana to the hyper-sexualised siren in Wrecking Ball, The Immortal Sole explores the transition from girlhood to womanhood and what is gained and lost in becoming a woman.
Presented in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and with support from Cultural Matching Fund and Arts Fund.
“A lot of Singaporean women were ‘upgrading’ themselves, going to beauty salons, having plastic surgery and so on to keep their jobs. A woman’s looks are still worth more than her abilities.” — Amanda Heng
The Immortal Sole interrogates the concepts of beauty, inequality, and the perceptions of traditional women’s roles, which is axiomatic of many of the themes in Heng’s work, Let’s Walk. The Immortal Sole focuses on how these ideas are fostered in the fertile minds of young girls and then manifested through puberty.
The Immortal Sole will also investigate notions of ambition, mortality, and the awakening of those ideas as a “girl” makes her transition into a “woman”.
Click here to find the route to Esplanade.
Choreographed by award-winning theatre maker Edith Podesta, The Immortal Sole is a piece of dance theatre reimagining Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid.
Featuring performers Dapheny Chen, Koh Wan Ching, Ma Yanling and Yarra Illeto, the piece looks at patriarchal notions of female stereotypes, and how these proliferate within the social and cultural fabric as a contemporary girl “grows up” into a woman.
In The Immortal Sole, the Sea is a world of carefree abandon in which a young girl connects to her body; the Land is a world where etiquette, morality, and accepted behaviour hamstring a woman and her ability to stand on her own two feet.
Using supplementary material from ancient folklore on mermaids, to observations by fashion icons like Christian Louboutin, to the transformation of Miley Cyrus from the wholesome Hannah Montana to the hyper-sexualised siren in Wrecking Ball, The Immortal Sole explores the transition from girlhood to womanhood and what is gained and lost in becoming a woman.
Presented in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay and with support from Cultural Matching Fund and Arts Fund.
RELATION TO THEME
“A lot of Singaporean women were ‘upgrading’ themselves, going to beauty salons, having plastic surgery and so on to keep their jobs. A woman’s looks are still worth more than her abilities.” — Amanda Heng
The Immortal Sole interrogates the concepts of beauty, inequality, and the perceptions of traditional women’s roles, which is axiomatic of many of the themes in Heng’s work, Let’s Walk. The Immortal Sole focuses on how these ideas are fostered in the fertile minds of young girls and then manifested through puberty.
The Immortal Sole will also investigate notions of ambition, mortality, and the awakening of those ideas as a “girl” makes her transition into a “woman”.
“Indices of Vanishment is hypnotic and mesmerizing with its physical rigor and the dancers’ commitment to the performance, and whose actions speak volumes about the source material.” —Bakchormeeboy on Indices of Vanishment, choreographed by Edith Podesta
“It was refreshing to see Podesta, who has spent a lot of time in theatre here, bring in elements that are seldom seen in local contemporary dance. Besides the narrative thread, Podesta's choreography was also illustrative and expressive.” —Lee Mun Wai, The Straits Times Life!, on Indices of Vanishment, choreographed by Edith Podesta
“B*tch itself, commissioned by the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, has the potential to become a legendary work of theatre. It is a simple story with a complex heart.” —Akshita Nanda, The Straits Times Life!, on BITCH: The Origin of the Female Species by Edith Podesta
“She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart.” —The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Andersen
Getting Here
Click here to find the route to Esplanade.