The Vault: RE:CALL is an inter-disciplinary exploration of the creative synergies between dance and theatre. It is a performance response to the text Recalling Mother and its conceptual framework as a “living script”. First written and performed by Claire Wong and Noorlinah Mohamed in 2006, and in revised iterations later on in 2009, 2015 and 2016, Recalling Mother is an evolving text featuring two women telling stories about their mothers and the complexities in their relationships with them.
RE:CALL is devised by two female performers Ho Shu En and Syimah Sabtu who come from different backgrounds and dance training, and are collaborating for the first time under the artistic guidance of movement artists Hasyimah Harith and Norhaizad Adam. The performance playfully combines their responses to the original text and their personal relationships with their mothers.
Accompanying the performance showcase is a workshop where the performers will share their devising techniques and processes with dance participants and facilitate the creation of participants’ own responses to the text of Recalling Mother.
RE:CALL is produced by the Arts Management Collective in collaboration with P7:1SMA and Centre 42, with the support of Dance Nucleus and Checkpoint Theatre.
PRESENTATION
21 August 2021 (Saturday)
3pm – 4pm
Black Box @ 42 Waterloo Street
21 August 2021 (Saturday)
7pm – 8pm
Black Box @ 42 Waterloo Street
22 August 2021 (Sunday)
3pm – 4pm
Black Box @ 42 Waterloo Street
Doors will open early for pre-show information viewing and contact tracing.
Admission: Free, donations encouraged
REGISTER HERE
WORKSHOP
22 August 2021 (Sunday)
10am – 1pm (3 hours)
Online
Admission: $12 per participant
REGISTER HERE
WATCH PARTY & DIALOGUE
3 September 2021 (Friday)
8pm
Online, via Zoom
Admission: Free, donations encouraged
REGISTER HERE
Artistic Team
Ho Shu En, Artist/Performer (Arts Management Collective)
Ho Shu En is a dance artist and trained arts manager from Singapore.
She is currently a dance artist with Soka Youth Dance Crew (SYDC), The Passionate Dancing Elders (TPDE) and SMU Eurhythmix (Emix). Her dance practice is inspired largely from street dance and her belief in dance as a living expression of the human spirit.
She is also currently an arts manager with The Theatre Practice, and a core member of the Arts Management Collective. Overall, she strongly believes in the power of the arts to tell stories that enable introspection, connect people and allow for the communal contemplation of complex issues.
Syimah Sabtu, Artist/Performer (P7:1SMA)
Syimah Sabtu is a dance artist from Singapore. She graduated from Republic Polytechnic (Theatre and Arts Management) and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Dance).
Syimah’s practice is rooted in Malay folk dance and contemporary dance, where she examines the kinesics state of the dancer’s body. Syimah is currently investigating the Dualities of Being, exploring layered connections between personal histories, narratives and beliefs nestled within our bodies.
Syimah believes that art should be accessible for anyone from all walks of life.
Syimah is currently a core associate with P7:1SMA Ltd and an artist in residency at Dance Nucleus, ARTEFACT#1.
Hasyimah Harith, Artistic Director (P7:1SMA)
Hasyimah Harith has agency to reclaim power over her body. She plays with pleasure, also known as ‘nafsu’ in Malay, and celebrates sensuality through the lens of a Malay woman today. With love and mastery of Malay folk dance wisdom and embodiment, she advocates for a community-based practice that takes action through designing performance experiences. She calls attention to co-authorship and solidarity at the heart of relationships. Currently, she is a dance practitioner and Company Manager of P7:1SMA Ltd.
Norhaizad Adam, Artistic Director (P7:1SMA)
Norhaizad Adam is a dance artist and performance maker based in Singapore. Trained in Malay folk dance, he has developed a post-dance artistic practice that observes how concepts of nationalism and traditionalism have affected the Malay body. He continually blurs the rules and transmission of the Malay folk form, thus subverting the way minority identity is constructed and sustained. Currently, he is the Artistic Director of P7:1SMA Ltd.
Rosemainy Buang, Sound Designer & Sound Editor
Rosemainy is a Gamelan musician, composer and educator. Traditionally trained in Gamelan for the past 10 years, Rose looks forward to creating and collaborating with other art forms and practitioners. Fuelled by the philosophy of gamelan in which establishing a relationship between the musician and the music requires more than hitting the right notes, Rose aspires to ascend towards rasa – the highest form of aesthetics in karawitan.
Producing Team
ARTS MANAGEMENT COLLECTIVE
The Arts Management Collective (AMC) is an ever-evolving independent group of trained arts management students and alumni from Singapore Management University under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Hoe Su Fern. Founded in 2018, it exists as a platform for members to develop and collaborate on meaningful arts management-related projects, and gain relevant knowledge, skills and exposure to the arts. Past projects include a policy review of the National Design Centre (2018), envisioning exercise of the future Singapore Night Festival (2020), fundraising activities and an educational series about arts management.
Arts Management Collective Instagram: @artsmgmtco
Carissa Lim, Production Management
Carissa Lim is a trained and aspiring arts manager, with experience in arts and cultural policy research, and information systems management. As a founding member of AMC, she believes in the power of the arts to connect people and foster new perspectives.
Victoria Wong, Production Management, Stage Management & Dramaturgy
Victoria Wong is an aspiring arts manager with interest and experience in performing arts management. She hopes to enable good art to happen in better and safer conditions.
Charlotte Tan, Visual Design, Communications and Marketing, & Documentation
Charlotte Tan is a recent arts management graduate, with keen interests in theatre and photography. She aspires to be an arts manager who will communicate the value of the arts to bridge divides and offer meaningful experiences.
Janice Yap, Visual Design, Communications and Marketing, Documentation & Dramaturgy
Janice Yap is a Year 3 arts management student, with a trained background in visual arts and budding interests in theatre and arts research. With a strong belief that engaging with the arts is essential to the human experience, she hopes to become a caring arts manager who will enable artistic creativity to thrive.
Jeffrey Kang Jiwoo, Documentation and Research
Jeffrey Kang is a final year arts management student, with internship experiences in both the performing and visual arts. He hopes to work in the arts and bridge the gap between conceptual knowledge and poignant experiences.
Megan Hon, Documentation
Megan Hon is a recent arts management graduate, with trained culinary skills and experience. She is a firm believer in the relational value of the arts, and is keen to enable greater access to the arts as part of our everyday lives.
Hoe Su Fern, Mentor
Hoe Su Fern is an arts researcher, educator and advocate. She is currently Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Arts and Culture Management Programme at the Singapore Management University. She has spoken, researched and published on arts and cultural policy, urban cultural economies, placemaking and the conditions of artistic and cultural production. She has a wealth of experience in developing, managing and/or coordinating local, regional and global projects in varying formats; all of which advocate for the value of the arts and culture in urban life. Her practice is informed by her pursuit for practice-oriented and engaged arts research, and her interest in enhancing research impact beyond academia.
Centre 42, P7:1SMA and Arts Management Collective would like to sincerely thank:
- Checkpoint Theatre, Claire Wong and Noorlinah Mohamed for their generosity and help in the research process on the text Recalling Mother
- Dance Nucleus for their hospitality and grace in providing essential rehearsal venue support
RE:CALL is powered by National Youth Council and Young ChangeMakers. Any materials, information or views expressed are those of the organisers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other supporting organisation(s).
Reading Materials
#1: ARTS MANAGERS: GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND
As part of Centre 42’s Blueprint Issue #16, Arts Managers: Going above and beyond is about how a group of budding and existing arts managers as part of Arts Management Collective (AMC), comprehend the intricacies of arts management and learn to navigate through the different roles an arts manager undertakes, through the producing process in The Vault: RE:CALL.
#2: SMU-X STUDENTS PRESENTS RE:CALL
The Singapore Management University (SMU) news featured The Vault: RE:CALL under ‘Highlights’, as the production was conceived as an assignment for a module under the SMU Arts and Cultural Management programme, ACM201: SMU-X’s Introduction to Performing Arts Management. Students in the module were mentored by Assistant Professor Hoe Su Fern and Ma Yanling, the Company Manager of Centre 42. Click to read to view the course instructors reflections on RE:CALL!
#3: DEAR WATERLOO STREET, FROM AN EMERGING ARTS MANAGER
In this article on ArtsEquator, our dance artist Ho Shu En reflects on the significant role of Waterloo Street, specifically the arts organisations in the arts belt, in her journey as an emerging arts manager. Click to view Waterloo Street through her perspective, as well as her adorable illustrations, which also featured RE:CALL as a milestone in her personal and professional growth.
Programme Booklet
This programme booklet serves as supplementary information for the audience who attended the live showcases on 21 and 22 August 2021.
Click on the image to read!
On 26 March 2021, our dance artists Shu En and Syimah performed in Rumah P7:1SMA @ Stamford Arts Centre for PERMISI, our first preview of RE:CALL as a work-in-progress showcase.
PERMISI is a non-curated platform provided by P7:1SMA for anyone to ‘make it and share it’ with friends from their larger community.
The aim of this work-in-progress showcase and sharing is to enable knowledge-sharing and exchange, which will hopefully serve two objectives:
(1) to deepen and refine our own processes and project, and
(2) to kickstart conversations about cross-disciplinary collaboration, exploration and experimentation.
This recording of The Vault: RE:CALL showcased the work-in-progress showing on 26 March.
In lieu of the COVID-19 restrictions, the team had also put up two questions for the audience to respond via post-its for the post-show, as a form of safe measurement.
On 21 and 22 August 2021, our dance artists Shu En and Syimah performed in the Black Box @ 42 Waterloo Street.
Reviews from the Arts and Culture Management community who managed to attend the live showcase of RE:CALL on 21 & 22 August, can be found on AMC’s Instagram (@artsmgmtco).
Pre-Show and Post-Show Information
On 21 and 22 August 2021, this pre-show and post-show information ran in the Rehearsal Studio @ 42 Waterloo Street prior to and after the showcases.
This pre-show and post-show information detailed the origins of The Vault: RE:CALL, tackled the inter-disciplinary exploration of dance and theatre, and showcased the reflections of the artistic team throughout the journey.
Click on each image to view the content of the six posters!
On 3 September 2021, Arts Management Collective held an online watch party and dialogue to showcase the recorded session of The Vault: RE:CALL on 21 August 2021.
Over 30 guests attended the online watch party and joined in the dialogue panel facilitated by Dr Hoe Su Fern as part of AMC, featuring invited panellists such as Claire Wong from Checkpoint Theatre as the original creator of Recalling Mother, Nabilah Said from ArtsEquator, and Dominic Nah from The Second Breakfast Company, to share their thoughts and reflections of watching the showcases both online and in-person. We also invited our dance artists, Shu En and Syimah from the artistic team of RE:CALL, as well as Yanling from Centre 42 to share their reflections being part of this whole journey from the beginning.
Click on the images below to see photos from the event.
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The Vault: RE:CALL is a performance response to the play Recalling Mother, about the personal stories two women tell about their relationships with their mothers. It comprises a movement showcase and a participatory workshop engaging with the devising process of the script and the performers’ movement choreography. RE:CALL is produced by Arts Management Collective, presented by Centre 42 and P7:1SMA, with support from Dance Nucleus and Checkpoint Theatre.
