What do an Indian classical dancer with experience in Western contemporary dance, a historian and researcher who has written on Indian classical dance, and a physical theatre director & performer have in common? An epic collaborative effort to honour Waterloo Street, in the multi-disciplinary Project Transit: Echoes of Waterloo.
Amalgamating Celebrations of Heritage
The project is led by director and choreographer Veshnu Narayanasamy, an artist in residence at Stamford Arts Centre for the Traditional Arts Residency 2019, and is a journey through the cultural significance and memories of the Waterloo Street Area. An important heritage site, the area was where early migrants of varying ethnicities and religion have gathered and left their mark, it has faded into obscurity in the ever-changing modern world.
Narayanasamy said: “This project is an exploration of arts development in understanding the necessity of our cultural heritage by acknowledging the co-existence of modernity with ritualistic/spiritual cohesiveness in Singapore.”
The Artistes of Waterloo
Echoes of Waterloo will feature a troupe of nine performers from a myriad of dance and drama backgrounds. The project is an expression of traditional arts with a modern twist, interwoven with video projections to capture the fleeting history of the area.
“The Waterloo Street area to some people may be described as the ‘real Chinatown’, with its bustling temple and festive bazaars, along with all that hawker food and even trishaws as a nostalgic mode of transport, but it is really much more,” historian and researcher Wong Chee Meng said. “On a personal level, it comes with random and esoteric memories of intercultural encounters, as well as snapshots of an urban environment in constant transition.”
Project Transit: Echoes of Waterloo will be presented at Stamford Arts Centre at 7.30pm on 24 and 25 October.
The event is invitation-only (NAC regulations) and will be free. Interested parties can contact the team at projecttransit19@gmail.com. Only 40 guests will be admitted for each showing, which includes a post-show dialogue after the performance.
The Fandom Menace 