When did you first come across the art form of wayang and Chinese opera? How did you connect with this art form?

Lenne: “My mother is a huge fan of the various styles of Chinese opera, and she would show me adaptations on TV as a child, such as Butterfly Lovers (梁山伯与祝英台), and Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦). It left a really strong impression on me – it was my first time seeing people crossdress, and the musical scores were unlike anything else I’d heard before.”

Rachel: “I believe it is watching street Chinese opera live when I was younger – to hear the music and singing, seeing the costumes and performers in full makeup in your neighbourhood was definitely a sight! I’m always curious to take a peek backstage to see how the performers prepare and transform into their characters on stage.”

Marc: “When I was younger the masks and costumes of Chinese opera scared me… But as I grew older, I learnt to discover that there was so much beauty behind the artform. The whole idea of Chinese opera is so unique and is such a precious fragment of history that I’ve always wanted to revisit and re-experience this cultural root of mine.”

What does the performance art of Chinese opera mean to you?

Rachel: “Heritage and culture. It gives us an insight into our traditional performing arts from our roots, which sadly is disappearing in Singapore.”

Marc: “Dedication, expression and heritage. It takes so much to create this form and to preserve it for as long as it has. The amount of work that goes in is insane!”

How did you come up with the idea of blending street dance with wayang?

Rachel: “I guess because our own dance background and experiences were heavily rooted in street dance and mainly Western-influenced dance styles, we would love to see what we can contribute to this Chinese traditional art form with what we have than to see them as very separate entities that can never cross over.”

Marc: “In street culture, it is about self-expression. We have always felt that we needed to express ourselves through our own ‘style’. So whenever we approach a topic that we are interested in, here being wayang, we wanted to talk about it using our language instead of just trying to look like we are doing pure wayang movements.”

What difficulties did you face when adapting your street dance practice with wayang?

Rachel: “For me, I think it is trying to stay true to the essence of both art forms in the process of the fusion.”

Marc: “The most ‘difficult’ was trying to make sure the movements still made sense. Such artforms have a long history and we do not want to change or worse still, desecrate the form. Moreover, we had to always check with the practitioners if the movements were correct.”

What were your sources of inspiration in crafting this performance?

Rachel: “The character! We were both playing warriors in our performance and it definitely gave us the mood and direction on how to channel that persona and energy into our movements and styling.”

Marc: “We did a short opera-inspired piece before and this was like our version 2.0. We were inspired by the look and feel of old opera and film.”

Dance has been said to be a universal language. By fusing the Western influence of street dance with the Eastern art form of wayang, what is the message you hope to express with this choreographed piece?

Rachel: “Inspiration is all around you. Being in Singapore, we are heavily influenced by western culture but I think it is important for us to be curious about our own roots and heritage too.  Although we do not have a long history and culture, we will be able to make more sense of this unique fusion between East and West in creating our own unique Singaporean culture.”

Marc: “We hope to allow everyone and anyone to say anything about everything. As long as we remain respectful, we can use our own voice to talk about something that is not local. People are either far too afraid to try or they do it, but instead end up offending or disrespecting the original art. Dance can exist as a universal language or a universe of languages.”

Why was it so significant to perform this dance choreography at Goh Chor Dua Pek Gong temple?

Rachel: “We were really blessed to be given the opportunity to perform and film at one of the last surviving Chinese opera stages in Singapore built in 1906. We hope to shed some light on these spaces and art forms that might be forgotten in this fast-paced city. Also to keep the essence of wayang, what better way to present it as true to its form, at a historical wayang stage.”

Marc: “The temple itself is a precious living heritage of the art form. We tried to keep as many elements as authentic as possible. We also felt being in a space that has a special energy is very different from just “restaging” it in a normal theatre or black box.”

How did it feel performing this specially choreographed dance piece at one of Singapore’s last outdoor ‘wayang’ stages?

Rachel: “There was a special feeling and energy to be on that stage as I wondered how many performances and stories were shared on this stage before. I felt a huge sense of pride to be able to set foot and dedicate my craft to this and with this stage.”

Marc: “Mystical and magical. It was a very special feeling, to be able to contribute our own voice to a space that has so much history.”

What was most memorable about working on this project ‘Spaces Between Us: Wayang’?

Lenne: “Bringing this shoot to life was an extremely daunting task, and I’m grateful that so many talented Singaporean creatives were willing to contribute their talents to this project. Besides the incredible crew on the ground, we couldn’t have done it without Wang’s super on-point musical contributions, and Danica’s hand-painted intro and credits sequence (which were inspired by old introduction sequences to Cantonese opera that was aired on TV). Wang is based in New York, whereas Danica is based in Los Angeles.

Being able to shoot this on an actual wayang stage made this project infinitely more meaningful as well – huge thanks to David, Dorothy and Dua Pek Gong for letting us shoot there!”

Rachel: “This project became greater than expected because of the talented people who came on board and offered their passion and expertise to make this initiative so incredible. It is our third time presenting a performance with Chinese opera influences but there is so much to learn every time and we have full respect for the performers who have paved the way and inspired us!

It’s also a pleasure working with the Choy Brother Opera Troupe again, who gave us advice, taught us the history and helped us with the beautiful costumes.”

Marc: “I shall just add on that the most ‘memorable’ was actually the headgear. It was our first time wearing the actual headpiece and I would never forget that experience. It was so beautiful yet we were suffering all the time, yes the price of beauty right?

We learnt that performers usually tie the headgear really really tightly so that it will not shift during the performance. For some, they might even blackout because of the amount of pressure on the head. Imagine what it was like for us first-timers. That also gave me a newfound respect for the performers; some of them who are much older than me, for the amount of dedication to train and endure the pain to create this beautiful art form that is wayang.”

Why is it so important to reclaim and showcase a piece of this cultural art form especially in this time?

Lenne: “I really enjoyed learning more about the roots of a cultural practice that I had taken for granted all my life.  It’s a great reminder of how much immigrants contribute to the “local culture” here – especially in a time when xenophobia and racism can feel so rife.”

Rachel: “Chinese opera community is badly affected by this pandemic and it must have made it even more difficult to bring this diminishing trade to the masses. We hope to shed new light on this almost forgotten art form here in Singapore and throughout this process, we have discovered and appreciated it even more.”

Marc: “In this day and age, information and things come and go so quickly. The more we create, the more we leave behind. It is always important to trace as much of our history as possible because that made us what we are today. We need to celebrate our past as this would then inspire others to discover it themselves. Putting a fusion of old and new out there helps us also to bridge the gap between today’s audiences and things that are considered ‘dated’.”