The Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) was founded in 1988 by Goh Soo Khim and the late Anthony Then. Under the directorship of Goh Soo Khim, SDT has developed into a premier professional dance company that has grown from seven to 24 dancers. Over the years, The Company performs five to six seasons, including the widely popular Ballet Under The Stars (BUTS) at the Fort Canning Park.

The Company’s repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballet, from renowned choreographers and staging directors like Goh Choo San, George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Stanton Welch, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Thierry Malandain, Mauricio Wainrot, Val Caniparoli, and Graham Lustig, David Dawson, Jorma Elo and Edmund Stripe.

With the appointment of Janek Schergen as Artistic Director in January 2009, the Company is poised for new achievements in the international and Singapore dance arena. Janek is also the Artistic Director of the Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation which oversees the licensing and production of Choo San Goh's ballets and the annual Choo San Goh Awards for Choreography.

SDT also actively reaches out to the public to create greater awareness of dance through outreach to schools with our Arts Education Programme (AEP), Dance Appreciation Series (DAS) jointly presented with Esplanade Co., and One@The Ballet – a new initiative to help public gain more understanding about life as a dancer at SDT.

Message by Janek Schergen, Artistic Director

Classical favourites, neo-classical masterpieces, and cutting-edge contemporary works form the three pillars of most major ballet companies around the world. As Singapore’s largest professional dance company, SDT continues to nurture talents within our stable of dancers who are equally adept at all three genres. Whether it is the romanticism of Swan Lake or the pageantry of The Nutcracker, the ageless artistry of Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, or the edgy aesthetics of newer pieces like David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin and Jorma Elo’s Glow-Stop, SDT dancers stand out on stage each and every time.

It is no wonder then, that recent reviews in international dance publications like Dance Europe have used words like “effervescent“ and “exuberant“ to describe the Company and our dancers. When we perform an eclectic triple bill programme, critics and audiences alike have been known to wonder if they had just witnessed three different companies in action. We will continue to work towards becoming the epitome of versatility, and, as expressed in our Company’s mission statement, to become world-renowned “for our unique ability to shine in classical, neo-classical, and contemporary repertoire with works that are timeless and inspiring.”

In 2010, the Company will acquire another ballet by George Balanchine, and for the first time, stage a story-driven children’s ballet titled “Peter and Blue’s Forest Adventure”. Of course, we will look forward to receiving you at our annual Ballet Under The Stars, which in 2009 achieved record high attendances of over 10,000 in its three-night run. A new full-length production of the ballet The Sleeping Beauty is also in the works.

There will be a slew of outreach activities this year, including One@ the Ballet, which received overwhelming responses when it was initiated earlier in 2009. Passages, a choreographic platform for fresh young talents, will also be part of our efforts to incubate new works for our repertoire.

I hope you enjoy this year’s programmes and wish all of you a prosperous and wonderful year of 2010!

Janek Schergen
Artistic Director
Singapore Dance Theatre