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A MESSAGE FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR,
KUIK SWEE BOON

In February 2021, the critically-acclaimed production of As It Fades was restaged at Our Tampines Hub’s Festive Arts Theatre and it has given us the confidence and clarity on how to deepen our connection with the community. In 2022, we will continue with this important task through the restaging of the full-length production Mr. Sign. Through sharing a work of such technical virtuosity and alluring physicality with the heartland communities in Singapore, we want to bring the general public closer to contemporary performing arts.

Then in February, April and September, hopefully in coexistence with the new viral Omicron, PheNoumenon and Mr. Sign will tour the UK, Italy, Estonia and Portugal.

While it is a bittersweet farewell to the familiar name of M1 CONTACT, we are looking forward to embarking on our new chapter with an unexpected surprises. The first is the opening of the sister festival "Stre@m" - An Asian Digital Dance Platform, co-host with Seoul International Dance Festival in March, followed by officially changed CONTACT to cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival in June, which encompasses the spirit of continuity and perseverance to promote and create outstanding contemporary dance. cont.act will emphasize live performances only as a way to send off an old era. It will be titled "Breathing Ground".

In October, I will continue to explore in-depth the positioning and limitations of contemporary Asian culture and personal identity, the ambiguous interpretations of authority and freedom, the contradictions as virtual and reality intertwine. The theme of the work is “Man is nothing but what he makes of himself” from philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)'s L'existentialisme est un humanisme (Existentialism is a humanism). This work is the first dance production commissioned for the Esplanade's new Singtel Waterfront Theatre opening next year, with the use of forms including 3D projection as well as 3D sound.

For the year-end production in 2022, we will also be preparing a very special, exciting program in conjunction with the Main company and the Second company. This will be another collaboration between the two companies since the original production of As It Fades in 2011 and the restaging of the same production at our 5th Anniversary in 2014.

Due to the pandemic and the immaturity of the digital market, I think 2022 is destined to be a very difficult year for the performing arts. I hope you will be patient and continue supporting the Main company in their efforts to create even better works and to keep an eye out for our Second Company’s incubation programme liTHE.

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2021年二月，《從消逝出发》在淡滨尼节日剧场演出中广受好评让我们更有底气，也更清楚该如何継续深化舞蹈艺术于社区的计划。2022年，我们将通过全幕的《符号先生》更大胆地推进这项重要的工作。把适合的經典剧目带进新加坡的社区，通过精致的肢体魅力拉近一般观众与当代表演艺术的距离。

之后二月，四月和九月，希望在与新病毒奥密克戎（Omicron)共存下，《现·象》和《符号先生》能夠巡演英国，意大利，爱沙尼亚和葡萄牙。

今年的《《觸·当代舞蹈节》则会有意想不到的惊喜。首先是迎来三月开幕，和首尔国际舞蹈节共创的姐妹舞蹈节《溪流》—亚洲数码舞蹈平台；接下来六月的《觸·当代舞蹈节》英文名正式改为cont·act Contemporary Dance Festival！背後的動機包含了如何承載過去十二年的歷史，展望新的改變，繼續以堅韌，完全投入的精神來推廣出類拔萃的當代舞。明年的《觸》也将会以＂只有现场演出，没有数码节目＂的形式来送別一个旧的表演艺术时代。

十月我将继续深入探索关于当代亚洲人的文化和身份定位与局限，在虚拟与现实交织下，我们对权威和自由的模糊诠释，矛盾。工作主题为《人除了自我塑造什么都不是》，出自保罗·萨特的《存在主义也是一种人道主义》。这部作品是滨海艺术中心今年开幕的新电讯浜海多功能剧场委约的第一部舞蹈制作，内容形式的应用包括3D投影以及3D音响。

2022年的年终制作，我们也将联合主团和二团准备一个非常特别，精彩的节目。这将是继2011年的《從消逝出发》，2014年的五週年特别演出后，两个团真正意义上的合作。

因为疫情和数码市场的不成熟，我认为2022年注定将是表演艺术非常艰巨的一年，希望大家耐心期待並支持主团努力创作出更棒的作品，同时关注二团的培训计划比如liTHE青年舞展等。