SDT 2020 | DARE TO DANCE
Message from Janek Schergen

In 2020, Singapore Dance celebrates its 32nd performance season. The many developments that have taken place, since the establishment of SDT, are significant and are what make up our very memorable history. The identity of SDT has always been to keep one aspect of the repertoire in our heritage, with the tradition of classical ballet, and to match it, equally, with venturing forward into the world of neoclassical and contemporary choreography to balance our performances onstage. As was once brilliantly said by Dame Ninette De Valois, founder of The Royal Ballet, “respect the past, herald the future, but concentrate on the present.”

Romeo and Juliet will begin our performance season in March at the Esplanade. This unique production was conceived and choreographed by Choo-San Goh and first presented by Singapore Dance Theatre in 2000. As we all acknowledge that children are our future, we always have our children’s ballet series, Peter and Blue, waiting for us, in June, to introduce young audiences to the magic of dance. International tours this year are planned to take us to Malaysia, Hong Kong and the USA.

The second half of the year brings back our ever-changing repertoire in the Masterpiece in Motion series, celebrating our 32nd anniversary and featuring a new world premiere ballet by Tim Rushton, the company premiere of Ibsen’s House from Val Caniparoli, plus Organ Concerto, originally created for us by Nils Christe. Ballet Under the Stars returns in September at the Fort Canning Park with two weekends of contrasting repertoires. Passages Contemporary Season, always our strongest new repertory season, becomes a “Festival of New Works” with completely new ballets from Natalie Weir, Timothy Harbour, and Loughlan Prior. Our 2020 season will conclude at the Esplanade Theatre, with The Nutcracker, the most memorable ballet for both children and parents alike.

One of the most important elements of our mission has always been the development of new choreography, and to remain true to that, we have premiered 31 world premieres and 20 company premieres in the last several years. This season will add many world premieres, company premieres, as well as jewels from our permanent repertoire by internationally respected choreographers. The company was conceived to give our audiences memorable experiences and it continues, till this day, as our core mission. The brilliance and beauty of dance, as an art form, is there, timelessly, to share with our audiences and create anticipation for what is ahead.