by Alex Yong

Possibilities of Maybes, 22 May – 21 June 2009 @ Threesixty Art Development Studio

Sightings at the opening of this group show featuring Edroger Cassidy, Mohd Saharuddin Supar, Mohd Yusoff Erman Shah, Ahmad Syakir Hasim, Mohd Fuad Md Arif, and Nadhirah Anuar.

by Bilqis Hijjas

This is a musical of how Prince Siddhartha became the Buddha — a figure whose contribution to humankind, according to the musical, was to teach them to turn away from transient and material happiness, towards more eternal themes. But when his tale of modesty is told with all the pomp and circumstance that can possibly be mustered, doesn’t the term “Buddhist musical” seem an oxymoron?

by Bilqis Hijjas

On the way to see director Loh Kok Man’s new version of his work now entitled Toilet, I was expecting lots of grit and grime, blood and guts all over the walls, grotesquerie and grimness. What I found was altogether different: light polished vignettes, all scrubbed and disinfected. And while I enjoyed the production in the end, I couldn’t help feeling that something was missing.

by Alex Yong

Sightings at the opening of Nor Azizan Rahman Paiman’s Malaysia-365 Days of 2008

Exhibition ongoing between 14 – 29 May 2009 @ Wei-Ling Gallery

by Alex Yong

Sightings at the opening of Natural, a show of new paintings by Munkao and Saharil Hasrin Sanin

Exhibition ongoing between 14 – 31 May 2009 @ The Annexe Gallery

by Alex Yong

Tanah Air: Art for Nature 2009 Exhibition Opening on May 16
17 May to 31 May 2009 @ Rimbun Dahan

by Bilqis Hijjas

Big changes are going on at Sutra Dance Theatre. January Low is leaving to spread her wings elsewhere and with her exit comes a whole new era for Sutra, and Alarippu to Moksha, Sutra’s regular performance which serves as a launching pad for student dancers, was a good opportunity to check out the shape of things to come.

by Alex Yong

Fathullah Luqman: Gerak Kilat
09 May to 23 May 2009 @ Pelita Hati’s House of Art

by Alex Yong

Jason Wee: Ruins – Captain’s Log Entries On Days With No End
06 May – 23 May 2009 @ Valentine Willie Fine Art

by Yin Shao Loong

In conjunction with last weekend’s Art for Grabs fair at the Central Market Annexe political scientist and historian Farish Noor delivered another of his occasional lectures on Southeast Asian history. This time on ‘Batik as a Trans-Cultural Signifier.’

by Bilqis Hijjas

Some things are so entrenched in popular consciousness as practices that demean and objectify women that no degree of revisionist history can erase the taint. So it was with some trepidation that I went to see my friend Canela teach her pole-dancing class at the recent open day of Dancespace Ampang.

by Bilqis Hijjas

International Dance Day was on Wednesday, and with it came the official launch of AsiaDanceChannel.com, an online magazine promoting dance in Asia and encouraging businesses to develop CSR plans that benefit the development of dance.

by Bilqis Hijjas

Most dance productions have to be seen in person. No video, no matter how accurately captured and carefully edited, can compare with the ability of the human eye to encompass the width of the stage in one instant, then hone in to focus on the swivel of an eyeball in the next. That said, there are a few occasions when watching a dance production in person is so frustrating and uncomfortable that a video comes as a welcome blessing. ”Seven Skins’ at the launch of The Light Show at the Annexe Central Market was one such instance.