Dance lovers can jump for joy as the Damansara Performing Arts Centre presents a triumvirate of performances this October, titled Creature Trilogy. The showcase brings together three renowned Malaysian choreographers and dancers who have risen through the ranks in their respective countries of residence, and now return home to dazzle audiences with brand new works.
Originally part of the Damansara International Arts Festival, which never came to fruition this year due to the pandemic, the stars of the show are Raziman Sarbini, Pexstret Liu Yong Sean, and Suhaili Micheline, residing in the United States, South Korea, and Australia respectively. They will bring a range of styles and movements with solo works, and then a collaborative piece from all three at the end.
Suhaili Micheline
A name synonymous with dance in the region, Suhaili Micheline has toured the world, giving performances, holding workshops and hosting talks. Meanwhile, she is the Director of the prominent Aurora School of Dance, one of Malaysia’s premier institutions to learn the art form numerous awards to its name.
Micheline has devoted her life to fostering the talent of young dancers and giving back to the community in a myriad of ways, be it through volunteering or outreach programmes.
Catch her perform new piece FRIDGE-Sapiens in Creature Trilogy, which is sure to be packed with her signature expressive movements and plenty of engaging choreography!
Liu Yong Sean
A graduate of the Korean National University of Arts and ASWARA, Liu Yong Sean has been based in South Korea for some time, initiating dance exchange programmes, cross-cultural seminars, conferences and performances, acting as both producer and performer. The Artistic Director of Pexstret Dance Theater is a busy man!
His work sees him create complex emotional exchanges through the biomechanics of dance, having given his first performance on Malaysian soil at DPAC in 2018. He has snagged the top spot at multiple dance competitions both in South Korea and Malaysia, and travels around Asia and Europe to promote and perform.
Interestingly, his solo piece in Creature Trilogy has no typical title but is prefaced with a poem: “Forgot to wear a hat and accidently got onto Cinderella’s thief ship, The snowy summer made me fall in love with the thorns of the rose, I planted seeds everywhere and I stopped to listen it, Do I let him free love”. Find out how this translates into dance this October.
Raziman Sarbini
Sarawakian-born Raziman Sarbini has worked with Malaysia’s leading choreographers including Suhaili Michelin, Joseph Gonzales, Wong Kit Yaw and Umesh Shetty, and has been involved in international productions including kung-fu musical Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise and Father: Vision of the Floating World with the Akram Khan Company in Bangladesh.
The work he’ll be presenting in Trilogy was first performed at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts where Sarbini holds a Masters in Dance. The Other Creatures takes its cues from the ancient Indian board game Moksha Patam, more popularly known in the west as Snakes and Ladders. The game’s underlying concepts are those of karma and kama, or actions/deeds vs desire/lusts, and how one navigates these through life, leading either to salvation or disgrace.
Sarbini’s choreography is inspired by these concepts, while also attempting to communicate the ways in which power should be wielded once it is obtained.
Watch these three master choreographers alongside other dancers on 17 and 18 October when Creature Trilogy takes over the stage!
Creature Trilogy
Where Damansara Performing Arts Centre, Petaling Jaya
When 8pm (17 Oct), 3pm (18 Oct)
Admission RM58 (standard), RM50 (Dcard member)
Tel 03-4065 0001/0002
dpac.com.my